Jennifer Powers 
Assistant Professor, Departments of Plant Biology, Ecology, Evolution & Behavior,
and Soil, Water & Climate
Ph.D., Duke University, 2001
Areas of Interest
terrestrial biogeochemistry, ecosystem processes, microbial ecology, tropical
ecology and landscape ecology
Contact Information Mailing Address:
Dr. Jennifer Powers
Department of Plant Biology
University of Minnesota
250 Biological Science Center
1445 Gortner Ave.
St. Paul, Mn 55108
Office: 306 Ecology Building
Phone: (612) 625-5721
Fax: (612) 624-6777
E-mail: powers@umn.edu
Web Site: Powers Lab Research Interests
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: i) the patterns of carbon
and nitrogen dynamics in forest ecosystems, ii) the effects of anthropogenic
environmental changes including land-cover change, global warming and nitrogen
deposition on element cycling processes, iii) the feedbacks among soil fertility,
plant processes and microbial communities, and, iv) 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. My current work
deals explicitly with microbial communities and their functions in an effort
to understand how microbes influence soil carbon dynamics. The bulk
of my field work is in tropical ecosystems.
Selected
Publication
Powers, J.S. , 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. In press.
Powers, J.S. , and E. Veldkamp. 2005 . Regional
variation in soil carbon and d 13 C 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.
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