Biography Education Academic Positions Research Interests Present Research Lab Members Memberships Grants Received Publications Back to Faculty

Ted Schuur, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Botany

• Ecosystem Ecology
• 418 Carr Hall
• (352) 392-7913 (Voice)
• (352) 392-3993 (Fax)
• tschuur@botany.ufl.edu
• Link to Schuur Lab Web Site
• For updated information please go to Schuur's Web site

Biography

I am an ecosystem ecologist interested in the controls over fluxes of energy and materials through terrestrial ecosystems.

I am particularly interested in the interactions between organisms and the physical environment that regulate the structure, function, and development of terrestrial ecosystems.

Education

• University of California / Irvine, Department of Earth System Science, National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Bioinformatics, 2000-2002. Postdoctoral Advisor: Dr. Susan Trumbore
• University of California / Berkeley, Ph.D. in Ecosystem Ecology. May 1999. Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management/Ecosystem Sciences Division.
  Dissertation: The Effect of Water on Carbon Cycling and Soil Carbon Storage in Mesic to Wet Hawaiian Montane Forests
  Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Pamela Matson
• University of Michigan, B.S. magna cum laude in Cellular and Molecular Biology. May 1991. Department of Biology.
  Thesis: Low Molecular Weight Polypeptides of Photosystem II
  Thesis Advisor: Dr. Charles Yocum
  

Academic Positions

• Assistant Professor, University of Florida, 2002 - present

Research Interests

• Terrestrial Ecosystem Dynamics
• Isotopes in Ecology and the Environment
• Plant-Soil Interactions
• Biosphere-Atmosphere Carbon Exchange
• Global Carbon Cycle
• Global Change

Present Research

My research focuses on the interaction between carbon cycling in terrestrial ecosystems and climate change. I am particularly interested in the exchange of carbon between plants, soils, and the atmosphere, and the response to changes in climate and disturbance regimes.

My research program uses isotopes and environmental gradients as powerful approaches towards understanding basic patterns and processes in ecosystems . I use field and lab experiments to address research questions at the ecosystem scale, and environmental gradients to apply these results in a landscape-scale context.

Field sites are distributed globally from the tropics to the arctic to answer basic questions about ecosystem dynamics, and to understand the response of terrestrial ecosystems to global change.

Lab Members

• Dr. Jason Vogel, Postdoctoral Researcher
• Dr. Juan Posada, Postdoctoral Researcher
• Grace Crummer, Laoratory Technician

Courses Taught

Undergraduate

Introduction to Ecology (PCB 3034)

Graduate

Principles of Ecosystem Ecology
(BOT 6935/4935)

Tropical Ecosystems
(PCB 6356)

Graduate/Postdoctoral

Use of Radiocarbon in Ecology and Earth System Science
(To be taught July 2005.)

Membership in Professional Organizations:

• Member of the Ecological Society of America, 1994-present
• Member of the American Geophysical Union, 1999-present
• Reviewer for Ecological Applications, Ecosystems, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Functional Ecology, Oecologia, National Science Foundation, Kearney Foundation

Grants received

2005-2008 NSF DEB Ecosystems: “The Carbon Balance of Arctic Tundra in Response to Permafrost Thawing: Using Radiocarbon to Detect the Loss of Old Carbon” $550,000; PI: Schuur (UF), co-PI: Sickman (UF).

2006-2007 NSF DEB Ecosystems: “REU Supplement: “The Carbon Balance of Arctic Tundra in Response to Permafrost Thawing: Using Radiocarbon to Detect the Loss of Old Carbon” $6,000 (UF budget); PI: Schuur (UF).

2005-2006 US National Parks: “Development of Monitoring Techniques to Detect Change in Carbon Cycling in Relation to Thermokarst in National Parks and Preserves” $11,750 (UF budget); PI: Schuur (UF).

2004-2005 NSF Geosciences Carbon Cycle: “REU Supplement: “Collaborative Research: Climate Controls Over Ecosystem Respiration: Using Isotopes to Determine the Sources and Age of Respired Carbon” $5,000; PI: Schuur (UF).

2002-2006 NASA New Investigator Award: "The Response of Soil Carbon to Permafrost Melting in High Latitude Ecosystems: Using Radiocarbon to Detect the Effects of Climate Change” $358,000 (UF budget); PI: Schuur (UF)

2002-2006 The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. “The Sensitivity of Tropical Forest Ecosystem Dynamics to Precipitation” $340,000 (UF budget); PI: Schuur (UF)

2004-2006 NSF DEB LTER: “Alaska's Changing Boreal Forest: Resilience and Vulnerability: 2004 Bonanza Creek LTER Renewal Proposal” $10,000 (UF budget); PI's: Chapin (UAF), Schuur (UF), many others

2005-2007 US Department of Interior, Joint Fire Science Program: “Managing Fire with Fire in Alaskan Black Spruce Forests: Impacts of Fire Severity on Forest Succession and Future Forest Flammability” $150,000 (UF budget); PI's: Hollingsworth (Forest Service), Johnstone (UAF), Chapin (UAF), Verbyla (UAF) Schuur (UF), Mack (UF)

Selected Publications

Schuur, E.A.G ., and S. E. Trumbore. 2006. Heterotrophic contribution to soil respiration from boreal black spruce forest: using isotopes to partition sources to soil carbon dioxide flux. Global Change Biology 12:165-176.

Zarin, D. J., E. A. Davidson, E. Brondizio, I. C. G. Viera, T. Sa, T. Feldpausch, E.A.G. Schuur , R. Mesquita, E. Moran, P. Delamonica, M. J. Ducey, G. C. Hurtt, C. Salimon, and M. Denich. 2005. Legacy of fires slows carbon accumulation in Amazonian forest regrowth. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 7: 365-369.

Gaudinski, J.B., T.E. Dawson, S.Quideau, E.A.G. Schuur , J.S. Roden, S.E. Trumbore, D.R. Sandquist, S.W. Oh, and R.E. Wasylishen. 2005. A comparative analysis of cellulose preparation techniques for use with 13 C, 14 C, and 18 O isotopic measurements. Analytical Chemistry 77:7212-7224.

Kane, E. S., D. W. Valentine, E.A.G. Schuur , and K. Dutta. 2005. Soil carbon stabilization along climate and stand productivity gradients in black spruce forests of Interior Alaska. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 35:2118-2129.

Santiago, L. S., E.A.G. Schuur , and K. Silvera. 2005. Nutrient cycling and plant-soil feedbacks across a precipitation gradient in lowland Panama. Journal of Tropical Ecology 21:461-470.

Mack, M.C.*, E.A.G. Schuur*, M.S. Bret-Harte, G.R. Shaver, and F.S. Chapin III. 2004. Ecosystem carbon storage in arctic tundra reduced by long-term nutrient fertilization. Nature, 431: 440-443. *These authors contributed equally to this work.

Dioumaeva, I, S. Trumbore, E.A.G. Schuur, M.L. Goulden, M. Litvak, A. Hirsch. 2003. Temperature dependence of decomposition of peat from upland boreal forest. Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmosphere 108(3):8222.

Schuur, E.A.G. 2003. Net primary productivity and global climate revisited: the sensitivity of tropical forest growth to precipitation. Ecology 84:1165-1170.

Amundson, R., A.T. Austin, E.A.G. Schuur, et. al. 2003. Global patterns of the isotopic composition of soil and plant nitrogen. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 17(1):1031.

Randerson, J.T., I. Enting, E.A.G. Schuur, K. Caldeira, and I.Y. Fung. 2002. Temporal and spatial variability of troposphere D14CO2: Post bomb contributions from fossil fuels, oceans, the stratosphere, and the terrestrial biosphere. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 16(4): 1112.

Schuur, E.A.G., M.C. Mack, J.W. Harden, and S.E. Trumbore. 2002. The isotopic composition of carbon dioxide from a boreal forest fire: inferring carbon loss from measurements and modeling. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 17(1):1001.

Schuur, E.A.G., O.A. Chadwick, and P.A. Matson. 2001. Carbon cycling and soil carbon storage in mesic to wet Hawaiian montane forests. Ecology 82:3182-3196.

Schuur, E.A.G., and P.A. Matson. 2001. Aboveground net primary productivity and nutrient cycling across a mesic to wet precipitation gradient in Hawaiian montane forest. Oecologia 128:431-442.

Schuur, E.A.G. 2001. The effect of water on decomposition dynamics in mesic to wet Hawaiian montane forests. Ecosystems 4:259-273.

Miller A.J., E.A.G. Schuur, and O.A. Chadwick. 2001. Redox control of phosphorus pools in montane forest soils in Hawaii. Geoderma 102:219-237.

Schuur, E.A.G. and P.A. Matson. 2000. Land Use Change: Global Effects of Local Changes. In Earth System Science: Patterns and Processes. Gary Ernst, ed. Cambridge University Press.

Kitayama, K., H. Raitio, D. Mueller-Dombois and E.A.G. Schuur. 1998. Wood volume, foliar chemical composition, and soil nitrogen turnover of Metrosideros polymorpha (Myrtaceae) stands on a slope of Mount Haleakala, Hawaii. Biotropica v.30, n.3.

Kitayama, K., E.A.G. Schuur, D.R. Drake, and D. Mueller-Dombois. 1997. Fate of a wet montane forest during soil ageing in Hawaii. Journal of Ecology, v.85, n.5: 669-679.

Schuur, E.A.G. and T.R. Haigh. 1992. Seed yields in monocultures and mixtures of three perennial grains. The Land Institute Research Report, n.9: 31-34.

>> top

Have a Question? Contact us.
Last Updated 6/28/05
Site maintenance and Feedback
Holloway@Botany.UFL.EDU