Smith Lab News

Mar 19, 2018:

Lizz's light by Nitrogen addition experiment is up and running! She is examining the relative influence of light and N on leaf- and whole plant-level processes. This (relatively) simple experiment will help us better understand how N influences productivity. We hope to use her results to improve the processes represented in Earth System Models.

Mar 18, 2018:

The Smith Lab was just approved to set up a Nutrient Network (or "NutNet" ) site in Lubbock! Along with the core measurements, we will specifically focus on physiological responses to nutrient addition in West Texas Rangeland species. Get in touch if you'd like to collaborate!

Mar 16, 2018:

Check out our new Eos meeting report on modeling global change ecology. The report, led by Susan Cheng with help from Nick and Alison Marklein, examines major topics of discussion from our ESA ignite session last August.

Spring 2018:

We have students in the lab! Mahum Haque, undergraduate (Biological Sciences), will be examining chlorophyll allocation under different light and N environments. Austin Cooper, undergraduate (Biological Sciences), will be examining biomass and nutrient partitioning under different light and N environments. Jorge Orchoa, undergraduate (Natural Resource Management), will be helping to set up out new NutNet experiment. Josh Gutierrez, undergraduate (Biochemistry), will be helping Lizz mix and apply different fertilization treatments in her greenhouse experiment.

Jan 17, 2018:

We just published an new study in Annals of Botany - Plants. The study comes out of the Boston Area Climate Experiment (BACE), a warming by precipitation manipulation experiment in Waltham, MA. In the study, led by Vikki Rodgers, we examined seedling trait responses (from leaf- to whole-plant scale) to the treatments and found that warming exacerbated plant sensitivity to rainfall. These results are consistent with other results at BACE that suggest that warming, while beneficial under high rainfall, can induce water loss that can exacerbate the negative impacts of low rainfall on ecosystem functioning. See PI Jeff Duke's publications for more results from the BACE.