Margaret Torn

Last updated
Margaret Susan Torn
Alma materUniversity of California, Berkeley
Scientific career
InstitutionsLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Thesis Environmental controls over methane flux from ecosystems and the potential for feedbacks with climatic change  (1994)

Margaret Torn is an ecologist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory known for her research on carbon cycling, especially with respect to the interactions between soils and the atmosphere.

Contents

Education and career

Torn grew up in Marin county and worked in the family's food business, the Torn Ranch, where they handled nuts and dried fruits. She started college at the College of Marin before transferring to University of California, Berkeley. [1] She earned a B.S. (1984), an M.S. (1990), and a Ph.D. (1994) from the University of California, Berkeley. [2] From 1994 until 1998, Torn was a postdoctoral fellow at University of California Irvine and Stanford University. In 1998, she joined the Earth Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and was promoted to senior scientist in 2013. Beginning in 2018, she is also an adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley. [2] In 2015 she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Zurich. [3]

In 2017, Torn was named a fellow of the American Geophysical Union who cited her as follows: [4]

For fundamental contributions to understanding soil carbon stabilization and sustained leadership in quantifying feedbacks between the carbon cycle and climate

Research

Torn's research combines observational data and experimental manipulations to examine the impact of changing climate conditions on the carbon cycle, with a focus on the interactions between soils and atmosphere. Torn has experimentally warmed soils and then measured the impact of changing conditions on gas fluxes from the soils. [5] [6] [7] She works on the factors controlling the release of greenhouse gases from the tundra in the north slope of Alaska, [8] [9] [10] [11] how climate change impacts the severity of forest fires, [12] the carbon sequestered in fungi found in soils, [13] and the decomposition of black carbon using archived soil samples from Russia. [14] [15] One theme in her research is assessing the factors that govern the persistence of organic carbon in soil. [16] [17] [18]

Selected publications

Awards and honors

References

  1. ↑ The Carbon Cycle with Margaret Torn, October 13, 2011, retrieved 2021-07-28
  2. 1 2 "Margaret S. Torn". Earth and Environmental Sciences Area. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  3. ↑ "Margaret Torn Receives Honorary Doctorate". Earth and Environmental Sciences Area. 2015-04-28. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
  4. 1 2 "Torn". Honors Program. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  5. ↑ Harte, John; Torn, Margaret S.; Chang, Fang-Ru; Feifarek, Brian; Kinzig, Ann P.; Shaw, Rebecca; Shen, Karin (1995). "Global Warming and Soil Microclimate: Results from a Meadow-Warming Experiment". Ecological Applications. 5 (1): 132–150. Bibcode:1995EcoAp...5..132H. doi:10.2307/1942058. ISSN   1939-5582. JSTOR   1942058.
  6. ↑ Saleska, Scott R.; Harte, JohN; Torn, Margaret S. (1999). "The effect of experimental ecosystem warming on CO2 fluxes in a montane meadow". Global Change Biology. 5 (2): 125–141. Bibcode:1999GCBio...5..125S. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2486.1999.00216.x. ISSN   1365-2486. S2CID   56231360.
  7. ↑ Hicks Pries, Caitlin E.; Castanha, C.; Porras, R. C.; Torn, M. S. (2017-03-31). "The whole-soil carbon flux in response to warming". Science. 355 (6332): 1420–1423. Bibcode:2017Sci...355.1420H. doi:10.1126/science.aal1319. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   28280251. S2CID   206654333.
  8. ↑ Torn, Margaret Susan; Chapin, F.Stuart (1993-01-01). "Environmental and biotic controls over methane flux from Arctic tundra". Chemosphere. 26 (1–4): 357–368. Bibcode:1993Chmsp..26..357T. doi:10.1016/0045-6535(93)90431-4. ISSN   0045-6535.
  9. ↑ Wainwright, Haruko M.; Dafflon, Baptiste; Smith, Lydia J.; Hahn, Melanie S.; Curtis, John B.; Wu, Yuxin; Ulrich, Craig; Peterson, John E.; Torn, Margaret S.; Hubbard, Susan S. (2015). "Identifying multiscale zonation and assessing the relative importance of polygon geomorphology on carbon fluxes in an Arctic tundra ecosystem". Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. 120 (4): 788–808. Bibcode:2015JGRG..120..788W. doi: 10.1002/2014JG002799 . ISSN   2169-8961.
  10. ↑ Vaughn, Lydia J. S.; Conrad, Mark E.; Bill, Markus; Torn, Margaret S. (2016). "Isotopic insights into methane production, oxidation, and emissions in Arctic polygon tundra". Global Change Biology. 22 (10): 3487–3502. Bibcode:2016GCBio..22.3487V. doi:10.1111/gcb.13281. ISSN   1365-2486. PMID   26990225. S2CID   36418786.
  11. ↑ Huber, Jennifer (September 12, 2013). "The Great Escape: How Soil Protects Us from Carbon Emissions". KQED. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
  12. ↑ Fried, Jeremy S.; Torn, Margaret S.; Mills, Evan (2004-05-01). "The Impact of Climate Change on Wildfire Severity: A Regional Forecast for Northern California". Climatic Change. 64 (1): 169–191. Bibcode:2004ClCh...64..169F. doi:10.1023/B:CLIM.0000024667.89579.ed. ISSN   1573-1480. S2CID   154385611.
  13. ↑ Rillig, Matthias C.; Wright, Sara F.; Nichols, Kristine A.; Schmidt, Walter F.; Torn, Margaret S. (2001-06-01). "Large contribution of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to soil carbon pools in tropical forest soils". Plant and Soil. 233 (2): 167–177. Bibcode:2001PlSoi.233..167R. doi:10.1023/A:1010364221169. ISSN   1573-5036. S2CID   2403693.
  14. ↑ "Berkeley Lab: Did You Ever Wonder?". www2.lbl.gov. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
  15. ↑ Torn, Margaret S.; Lapenis, Andrei G.; Timofeev, Anatoly; Fischer, Marc L.; Babikov, Boris V.; Harden, Jennifer W. (2002). "Organic carbon and carbon isotopes in modern and 100-year-old-soil archives of the Russian steppe". Global Change Biology. 8 (10): 941–953. Bibcode:2002GCBio...8..941T. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2486.2002.00477.x . ISSN   1365-2486. S2CID   86254812.
  16. ↑ Schmidt, Michael W. I.; Torn, Margaret S.; Abiven, Samuel; Dittmar, Thorsten; Guggenberger, Georg; Janssens, Ivan A.; Kleber, Markus; Kögel-Knabner, Ingrid; Lehmann, Johannes; Manning, David A. C.; Nannipieri, Paolo (2011). "Persistence of soil organic matter as an ecosystem property". Nature. 478 (7367): 49–56. Bibcode:2011Natur.478...49S. doi:10.1038/nature10386. ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   21979045. S2CID   3461265.
  17. ↑ Mikutta, Robert; Kleber, Markus; Torn, Margaret S.; Jahn, Reinhold (2006-01-01). "Stabilization of Soil Organic Matter: Association with Minerals or Chemical Recalcitrance?". Biogeochemistry. 77 (1): 25–56. Bibcode:2006Biogc..77...25M. doi:10.1007/s10533-005-0712-6. ISSN   1573-515X. S2CID   96127027.
  18. ↑ Torn, Margaret S.; Trumbore, Susan E.; Chadwick, Oliver A.; Vitousek, Peter M.; Hendricks, David M. (1997). "Mineral control of soil organic carbon storage and turnover". Nature. 389 (6647): 170–173. Bibcode:1997Natur.389..170T. doi:10.1038/38260. ISSN   1476-4687. S2CID   4408395.
  19. ↑ "Berkeley Lab View -- September 17, 2004". www2.lbl.gov. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
  20. ↑ "Berkeley Lab soil scientist Margaret Torn receives Presidential Early Career Award". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
  21. ↑ "White House Announces 2003 Awards for Early Career Scientists and Engineers". georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
  22. ↑ "Laureates". recognition.lbl.gov. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
  23. ↑ "National Academy of Engineering Elects 128 Members and 22 International Members". NAE Website. Retrieved 2025-02-15.
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