RESEARCH

The vegetation and soils of the Arctic tundra comprise a vast amount of the global terrestrial carbon pool. Both direct and indirect effects of warming threaten to alter how carbon is cycled in stored in this region through a host of ecosystem processes. My research focuses on leaf-level carbon cycling in tundra vegetation in the North Slope of Alaska to answer questions about patterns of photosynthesis and respiration under environmental change. Specifically, I address effects of soil nitrogen and phosphorus availability, warmer growth temperatures, canopy position, and seasonality on processes underlying foliar gas exchange physiology.