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Jason Kaye Assistant Professor Ph.D., 2000, Colorado State University Send e-mail to Jason.Kaye@asu.edu

Terrestrial Biogeochemistry

My research focuses on feedbacks between terrestrial ecosystems and environmental change. Many of these feedbacks are driven by changes in biogeochemical cycles, i.e. changes in the storage and movement of energy and nutrients in the Earth system. I am specifically interested in how changes in land-use and atmospheric nitrogen deposition alter terrestrial biogeochemistry. For example:

Land use - urban ecosystems: Urban ecosystems often receive large inputs of water and nitrogen that accelerate carbon and nutrient cycling through plants and soil microorganisms. We have found that fluxes of greenhouse gases from urban soils to the atmosphere are much higher than in adjacent agricultural and native grassland ecosystems.

Land use - fire management: For the past century, fire suppression has been the dominant fire management tool in the Southwest, but recently ecological restoration (thinning and prescribed burning) is becoming a widely applied alternative. I am interested in how these forest management choices affect carbon storage and nutrient cycling.

Nitrogen deposition: Human activities are dramatically increasing the amount of nitrogen in the biosphere. We have found that soils have a large capacity to store new nitrogen in stable organic pools, partially mitigating effects of nitrogen pollution on water quality and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. Urban ecosystems will provide an interesting test of this idea because persistent, high nitrogen inputs may saturate stable organic nitrogen pools in soils

Selected Publications

Kaye, J.P., I.C. Burke, A. Mosier, and J.P. Guerchman. (In press). Methane and nitrous oxide fluxes from urban soils to the atmosphere. Ecological Applications.

Binkley, D., J.P. Kaye, M. Barry, and M.G. Ryan. (In press). First rotation changes in soil carbon and nitrogen in a Eucalyptus plantation in Hawaii. Soil Science Society of America Journal.

Kaye, J.P., D. Binkley, and C. Rhoades. 2003. Stable nitrogen accumulation and flexible organic matter stoichiometry during primary floodplain succession. Biogeochemistry 63:1-22.

Kaye, J.P., D. Binkley, X. Zou, and J. Parrotta. 2002. Retention of 15nitrogen in non-labile soil pools beneath three tree species in a tropical plantation. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 66:612-619.

Kaye, J.P., J.E. Barrett, and I.C. Burke. 2002. Stable carbon and nitrogen pools in grassland soils of variable texture and carbon content. Ecosystems 5: 461-471.

Kaye, J.P., S.C. Resh, M.W. Kaye, and R. Chimner 2000. Nutrient and carbon dynamics in a replacement series of Eucalyptus and Albizia trees. Ecology 81:3267-3273.

Kaye, J.P., S.C. Hart, R.C. Cobb, and J. Stone. 1999. Water and nutrient outflow following ecological restoration of a ponderosa pine/bunchgrass ecosystem. Restoration Ecology 7:252-261.

Kaye, J.P. and S.C. Hart 1998. Ecological restoration alters N transformations in a ponderosa pine-bunchgrass ecosystem. Ecological Applications 8:1052-1060.

Kaye, J.P. and S.C. Hart 1998. Effects of canopy type and restoration on soil respiration in a ponderosa pine-bunchgrass ecosystem. Soil Science Society of America Journal 62:1062-1072.

Boone, R.D., K.J. Nadelhoffer, J.D. Canary, and J.P. Kaye 1998. Roots determine the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration. Nature (London) 396:570-572.

Kaye, J.P. and S.C. Hart 1997. Competition for nitrogen between plants and soil microorganisms. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 12:139-143.