 Sarah E. Hobbie
Associate Professor and
Director of Graduate Admissions,
Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
Ph.D., University of California - Berkeley, 1995
Contact Information
Phone: 612-625-6269
Fax: 612-624-6777
E-mail: shobbie@umn.edu
Graduate Faculty Memberships
Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior; Natural Resources Science & Mgmt; Conservation Biology
Research Interests
Ecosystem ecology, carbon and nutrient cycling, decomposition, species effects on ecosystem processes, plant-soil interactions
Statement
I am broadly interested in all areas of ecosystem ecology, and especially in the interface between plant community and ecosystem ecology. In particular, I am interested in how plant species effects on ecosystem processes compare in magnitude to other factors that influence these processes. A related interest is whether we need to know how plant community composition will change to predict the response of ecosystem processes to human-caused global change.
Because one of the primary ways that plant species influence ecosystem processes is through their differential effects on litter decomposition and nutrient cycling, I have become interested in basic questions regarding the regulation of decomposition of plant litter. For example, I am interested in whether the same nutrients that limit plant growth also limit rates of decomposition, and when and where decomposition is carbon- versus nutrient-limited.
I hope that through my research I can both increase our basic understanding of how ecosystems function, but also improve our ability to predict how global changes caused by human activity (for example, climate change and nitrogen deposition) will alter ecosystems.
Selected Publications
Hobbie, S. E., P. B. Reich, J. Oleksyn, M. Ogdahl, R. Zytkowiak, C. Hale, and P. Karolewski. 2006. Tree species effects on decomposition and forest floor dynamics in a common garden. Ecology 87:2288-2297
Reich, P. B., S. E. Hobbie, T. Lee, D. S. Ellsworth, J. B. West, D. Tilman, J. M. H. Knops, S. Naeem, J. Trost. 2006. Nitrogen limitation constrains sustainability of ecosystem response to CO2. Nature 440:923-925
Hobbie, S. E. 2005. Contrasting effects of substrate and fertilizer nitrogen on the early stages of decomposition. Ecosystems 8:644-656.
Hobbie, S. E., L. Gough, and G. R. Shaver. 2005. Species compositional differences on different-aged landscapes drive contrasting responses of tundra to nutrient addition. Journal of Ecology 93:770-782
Reich, P. B., J. Oleksyn, J. Modrzynski, P. Mrozinski, S. E. Hobbie, D. M. Eissenstat, J. Chorover, O. A. Chadwick, C. M. Hale, and M. G. Tjoelker. 2005. Linking litter calcium, earthworms and soil properties: a common garden test with 14 tree species. Ecology Letters 8:811-818
Hobbie, S. E. and L. Gough. 2004. Litter decomposition in moist acidic and non-acidic tundra with different glacial histories. Oecologia 140:113-124 Additional Links
Research Web Site
IGERT Training Grant
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