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Phone: (612) 625-5700
Fax: (612) 624-6777
Email: wiggins@umn.edu

University of Minnesota
Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
100 Ecology Building
1987 Upper Buford Circle
St. Paul, MN 55108

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Jennifer S. Powers

Assistant Professor, Depts. of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, Plant Biology and Soil, Water & Climate

Ph.D., Duke University, 2001

Contact Information

Phone: 612-625-5721
Fax: 612-624-6777
E-mail: powers@umn.edu

Graduate Faculty Memberships

Research Interests

terrestrial biogeochemistry, ecosystem processes, microbial ecology, tropical ecology and landscape ecology

Statement

I use experimental and observational approaches to investigate and biogeochemical and ecosystem processes across local, regional, and global scales. In particular, my research focuses on understanding:

• the patterns of carbon and nitrogen dynamics in forest ecosystems,
• the effects of anthropogenic environmental changes including land-cover change, global warming and nitrogen deposition on element cycling processes,
• the feedbacks among soil fertility, plant processes and microbial communities, and,
• how individual plant and microbial species influence element cycling processes.

My research interests are diverse, but they are linked by the common theme of understanding the relationships among ecological processes, the patterns they generate, and the effects of anthropogenic environmental changes across a range of spatial and temporal scales. I use a diverse set of tools including microbiological techniques, soil chemistry, stable isotope analysis, remote sensing, geostatistics, and geographic information systems (GIS) to extrapolate from fine to coarse spatial scales and to connect ecological processes to patterns. The bulk of my field work is in tropical ecosystems.

Selected Publications

Powers, J.S. 2006. Spatial variation of soil carbon concentrations and stable isotopic composition in 1-ha plots of forest and pasture in Costa Rica. Biology and Fertility of Soils. 42: 580-584.

Powers, J.S., and E. Veldkamp. 2005. Regional variation in soil carbon and ?13C in paired forests and pasture of Northeastern Costa Rica. Biogeochemistry 72: 315-336.

Powers, J.S., K.K. Treseder and M.T. Lerdau. 2005. Fine roots, arbuscular mycorrhizal hyphae and soil nutrients in four Neotropical rain forests: patterns across large geographic distances. New Phytologist 165: 913-921.

Powers, J.S., M.H. Kalicin, and M.E. Newman. 2004. Tree species do not influence local soil chemistry in a species-rich Costa Rican rain forest. Journal of Tropical Ecology 20: 587-90.

Powers, J.S. 2004. Soil carbon and nitrogen storage following contrasting land-use transitions in Northeastern Costa Rica. Ecosystems 7: 134-146.

Powers, J.S., J.M. Read, J.S. Denslow, and S.M. Guzman. 2004. Estimating soil carbon fluxes following land-cover change: a test of some critical assumptions for a region in Costa Rica. Global Change Biology 10: 170-181.

Powers, J.S., and W.H. Schlesinger. 2002. Relationships between soil carbon distributions and biophysical factors at nested spatial scales in rain forests of Northeastern Costa Rica. Geoderma 109: 165-190.

Powers, J.S., and W.H. Schlesinger. 2002. Geographic and vertical patterns of stable carbon isotopes in tropical rainforest soils of Costa Rica. Geoderma 109: 141-160.

Powers, J.S., P. Sollins, M.E. Harmon, and J.A. Jones. 1999. Plant-pest interactions in time and space: a Douglas-fir bark beetle outbreak as a case study. Landscape Ecology 14: 105-120.

Powers, J.S., J.P. Haggar, and R.F. Fisher. 1997. The effect of overstory composition on understory woody regeneration and species richness in 7-year-old plantations in Costa Rica. Forest Ecology and Management 99: 43-54.

Additional Links

Research Web Site