Publications

Extreme summer heat waves are known to induce foliar and stem mortality in temperate forest ecosystems, yet our mechanistic knowledge of physiological thresholds for damage is lacking. Current spatiotemporal simulations of forest growth responses to climate change fail to explain the variability between co-...

Molecular composition of the Arctic soil organic carbon (SOC) and its susceptibility to microbial degradation are uncertain due to heterogeneity and unknown SOC compositions. Using ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry, we determined the susceptibility and compositional changes of extractable dissolved organic matter...

Ammonia synthesis consumes 3 to 5% of the world’s natural gas, making it a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Strategies for synthesizing ammonia that are not dependent on the energy-intensive and methane-based Haber-Bosch process are critically important for reducing global energy consumption and...

External dose coefficients for environmental exposure scenarios are often computed using assumption on infinite or semi-infinite radiation sources. For example, in the case of a person standing on contaminated ground, the source is assumed to be distributed at a given depth (or between various depths) and extending...

Climatic conditions in tropical forests combined with the immobility of phosphorus due to sorption on mineral surfaces or result in soils typically lacking in the form of phosphorus (orthophosphate) most easily metabolized by plants and microbes. In these soils, mineralization of organic phosphorus can be the major...

Considerable progress has been made in ecological and evolutionary genetics with studies demonstrating how genes underlying plant and microbial traits can influence adaptation and even ‘extend’ to influence community structure and ecosystem level processes.Progress in this area is limited to model systems with deep...

Estimated dose rates that may result from exposure to patients who had been administered iodine-131 (131I) as part of medical therapy were calculated. These effective dose rate estimates were compared with simplified assumptions under the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regulatory Guide 8.39, which does not...

Large spills at hydropower facilities can produce environmentally unfavorable supersaturated total dissolved gas (TDG) conditions. Enhanced coordination between adjacent hydropower facilities is required when a large, brief spill creates a pulse of TDG that is transported into a downstream reservoir. A premium is...

Due to rapid urbanization, industrialization and population growth, wetland area in China has shrunk rapidly and many wetland ecosystems have been reported to degrade during recent decades. Wetland health assessment could raise the public awareness of the wetland condition and guide policy makers to make reasonable...