Whendee Silver

Last updated
Whendee Silver
Alma materPh.D. Yale University

M.F. Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

B.I.S. Environmental Studies School for International Training

Contents

AwardsFellow, Ecological Society of America

Innovation Award, American Carbon Registry

Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow
Scientific career
Fieldsecosystem ecology, biogeochemistry
Website https://nature.berkeley.edu/silverlab/

Whendee Silver is an American ecosystem ecologist and biogeochemist. [1] [2]

Early life and education

Silver grew up in Southern California. [3] She earned her MS in Forest Science from Yale School of Forestry in 1987 [4] and in 1992, received her PhD from Yale University. [4] [2]

Career and research

Silver is a professor of ecosystem ecology at University of California, Berkeley. [5] [2] With a focus on ecosystem ecology and biogeochemistry, her research is often aimed at better understanding the soil system to mitigate the effects of climate change. [2] A significant portion of her work has focused on tropical ecosystems, their soils, plants, [6] and how nutrients and carbon cycle through them.

Silver is the lead scientist at the Marin Carbon Project, which she helped found in 2008. The Marin Carbon Project uses science to improve land management, to think about the whole system and thus consider and value ecosystem services such as soil's C sequestration ability, and make farm and ranch management more centered around carbon sequestration. Through this project she is working with ranchers, using compost for carbon sequestration on ranch land in California, greatly improving the soil's ability to sequester carbon. [7] [8] [5] [9]

Awards and honors

Publications

Silver's research on the biogeochemistry of tropical plants has been published in multiple academic journals. [16] [17] [18] [19] Silver's research was featured in the book Physiological Ecology of Tropical Plants by Ulrich Lüttge. [20] Silver has over 145 publications as of 2018.

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

Carbon sink Reservoir absorbing more carbon from than emitting to the air, storing carbon over the long term

A carbon sink is any reservoir, natural or otherwise, that accumulates and stores some carbon-containing chemical compound for an indefinite period and thereby lowers the concentration of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Grassland Area with vegetation dominated by grasses

Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica and are found in most ecoregions of the Earth. Furthermore, grasslands are one of the largest biomes on earth and dominate the landscape worldwide. There are different types of grasslands: natural grasslands, semi-natural grasslands, and agricultural grasslands. They cover 31–43% of the Earth's land area.

Human impact on the nitrogen cycle

Human impact on the nitrogen cycle is diverse. Agricultural and industrial nitrogen (N) inputs to the environment currently exceed inputs from natural N fixation. As a consequence of anthropogenic inputs, the global nitrogen cycle (Fig. 1) has been significantly altered over the past century. Global atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O) mole fractions have increased from a pre-industrial value of ~270 nmol/mol to ~319 nmol/mol in 2005. Human activities account for over one-third of N2O emissions, most of which are due to the agricultural sector. This article is intended to give a brief review of the history of anthropogenic N inputs, and reported impacts of nitrogen inputs on selected terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Soil carbon Solid carbon stored in global soils

Soil carbon is the solid carbon stored in global soils. This includes both soil organic matter and inorganic carbon as carbonate minerals. Soil carbon is a carbon sink in regard to the global carbon cycle, playing a role in biogeochemistry, climate change mitigation, and constructing global climate models.

William H. Schlesinger is a biogeochemist and the retired president of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, an independent not-for-profit environmental research organization in Millbrook, New York. He assumed that position after 27 years on the faculty of Duke University, where he served as the Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences and James B. Duke Professor of Biogeochemistry.

Assisted natural regeneration

Assisted natural regeneration (ANR) is the human protection and preservation of natural tree seedlings in forested areas. Seedlings are, in particular, protected from undergrowth and extremely flammable plants such as Imperata grass. Though there is no formal definition or methodology, the overall goal of ANR is to create and improve forest productivity. It typically involves the reduction or removal of barriers to natural regeneration such as soil degradation, competition with weeds, grasses or other vegetation, and protection against disturbances, which can all interfere with growth. In addition to protection efforts, new trees are planted when needed or wanted. With ANR, forests grow faster than they would naturally, resulting in a significant contribution to carbon sequestration efforts. It also serves as a cheaper alternative to reforestation due to decreased nursery needs.

Plant litter Dead plant material that has fallen to the ground

Litterfall, plant litter, leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, or duff, is dead plant material that have fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituent nutrients are added to the top layer of soil, commonly known as the litter layer or O horizon. Litter is an important factor in ecosystem dynamics, as it is indicative of ecological productivity and may be useful in predicting regional nutrient cycling and soil fertility.

Soil management is the application of operations, practices, and treatments to protect soil and enhance its performance. It includes soil conservation, soil amendment, and optimal soil health. In agriculture, some amount of soil management is needed both in nonorganic and organic types to prevent agricultural land from becoming poorly productive over decades. Organic farming in particular emphasizes optimal soil management, because it uses soil health as the exclusive or nearly exclusive source of its fertilization and pest control.

Montane ecosystems Ecosystems found in mountains

Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial factor in shaping plant community, biodiversity, metabolic processes and ecosystem dynamics for montane ecosystems. Dense montane forests are common at moderate elevations, due to moderate temperatures and high rainfall. At higher elevations, the climate is harsher, with lower temperatures and higher winds, preventing the growth of trees and causing the plant community to transition to montane grasslands, shrublands or alpine tundra. Due to the unique climate conditions of montane ecosystems, they contain increased numbers of endemic species. Montane ecosystems also exhibit variation in ecosystem services, which include carbon storage and water supply.

Blue carbon Carbon captured by the worlds marine ecosystems

Blue carbon is carbon sequestration by the world's oceanic and coastal ecosystems, mostly by algae, seagrasses, macroalgae, mangroves, salt marshes and other plants in coastal wetlands. This occurs through plant growth and the accumulation and burial of organic matter in the soil. Because oceans cover 70% of the planet, ocean ecosystem restoration has the greatest blue carbon development potential. Research is ongoing, but in some cases it has been found that these types of ecosystems remove far more carbon than terrestrial forests, and store it for millennia.

Mire Wetland terrain without forest cover, dominated by living, peat-forming plants

A mire, peatland, or quagmire is a wetland area dominated by living peat-forming plants. Mires arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, due to water-logging and subsequent anoxia. All types of mires share the common characteristic of being saturated with water, at least seasonally with actively forming peat, while having their own ecosystem. Like coral reefs, mires are unusual landforms that derive mostly from biological rather than physical processes, and can take on characteristic shapes and surface patterning.

Woody plant encroachment Vegetation cover change

Woody plant encroachment is a natural phenomenon characterised by the increase in density of woody plants, bushes and shrubs, at the expense of the herbaceous layer, grasses and forbs. It predominantly occurs in grasslands, savannas and woodlands and can cause biome shifts from open grasslands and savannas to closed woodlands. The term bush encroachment refers to the expansion of native plants and not the spread of alien invasive species. It is thus defined by plant density, not species. Bush encroachment is often considered an ecological regime shift and can be a symptom of land degradation. The phenomenon is observed across different ecosystems and with different characteristics and intensities globally.

Carbon farming

Carbon farming is a name for a variety of agricultural methods aimed at sequestering atmospheric carbon into the soil and in crop roots, wood and leaves. The aim of carbon farming is to increase the rate at which carbon is sequestered into soil and plant material with the goal of creating a net loss of carbon from the atmosphere. Increasing a soil's organic matter content can aid plant growth, increase total carbon content, improve soil water retention capacity and reduce fertilizer use. As of 2016, variants of carbon farming reached hundreds of millions of hectares globally, of the nearly 5 billion hectares (1.2×1010 acres) of world farmland. In addition to agricultural activities, forests management is also a tool that is used in carbon farming. The practice of carbon farming is often done by individual land owners who are given incentive to use and to integrate methods that will sequester carbon through policies created by governments. Carbon farming methods will typically have a cost, meaning farmers and land-owners typically need a way in which they can profit from the use of carbon farming and different governments will have different programs.

Asmeret Asefaw Berhe Soil biogeochemist

Asmeret Asefaw Berhe is a soil biogeochemist and political ecologist who is the current nominee to serve as the Director of the Office of Science at the US Department of Energy. She is currently Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry and the Ted and Jan Falasco Chair in Earth Sciences and Geology in the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences; University of California, Merced. Her research group works to understand how soil helps regulate the earth's climate.

Wendy Yang is an associate professor of Plant Biology and Geology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she works on soil biogeochemistry and ecosystem ecology.

Pamela H. Templer is an ecosystem ecologist and professor at Boston University who focuses on plant-microbial interaction and their effect on carbon exchange and nutrient cycling. She is also interested in examining how urban ecosystems function, how human actions influence nutrient cycling, atmosphere-biosphere interactions, and other ecosystem processes.

Erika Marín-Spiotta Biogeochemist and ecosystem ecologist.

Erika Marín-Spiotta is a biogeochemist and ecosystem ecologist. She is currently Professor of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is best-known for her research of the terrestrial carbon cycle and is an advocate for underrepresented groups in the sciences, specifically women.

Tana Wood US biogeochemist and ecosystem scientist

Tana Elaine Wood is a biogeochemist and ecosystem scientist with a focus in land-use and climate change. Her research is focused on looking into how these issues affect tropical forested ecosystems and particularly focuses on soil science and below ground research efforts.

Ingrid C. "Indy" Burke is the Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Dean at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. She is the first female dean in the school's 116 year history. Her area of research is ecosystem ecology with a primary focus on carbon cycling and nitrogen cycling in semi-arid rangeland ecosystems. She teaches on subjects relating to ecosystem ecology, and biogeochemistry.

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.

References

  1. ↑ Pilot, Otto (2015-02-13). "Down and Dirty". Climate One. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Grasslands, Compost and Climate Change Mitigation: a Conversation with Whendee Silver , retrieved 2018-11-13
  3. ↑ Pilot, Otto (2015-02-13). "Down and Dirty". Climate One. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
  4. 1 2 "Managing Soil for Resilient Farmland". Lexicon of Food. 2015-06-04. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
  5. 1 2 Velasquez-Manoff, Moises. "Can Dirt Save the Earth?" . Retrieved 2018-11-08.
  6. ↑ Lüttge, Ulrich (2007-12-14). Physiological Ecology of Tropical Plants. Biogeochemistry. Vol. 44. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 301–328. doi:10.1007/bf00996995. ISBN   9783540717935. S2CID   94545902.
  7. ↑ "To the rescue: Berkeley names Faculty Climate Action Champion". Berkeley News. 2015-09-29. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
  8. ↑ Velasquez-Manoff, Moises. "Can Dirt Save the Earth?" . Retrieved 2018-11-08.
  9. ↑ "Just add compost: How to turn your grassland ranch into a carbon sink". Grist. 2014-01-16. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
  10. ↑ "Bohannan selected as Leopold Leadership Fellow | Environmental Studies Program". envs.uoregon.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
  11. ↑ "Google Announces 21 Ph.D. Scientists As 'Science Communication Fellows' » Yale Climate Connections". Yale Climate Connections. 2011-02-16. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
  12. ↑ "From Garbage to Gold: Managing California's Grasslands for Climate Change Mitigation — UC Center Sacramento". uccs.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
  13. ↑ "To the rescue: Berkeley names Faculty Climate Action Champion". Berkeley News. 2015-09-29. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
  14. ↑ "From Garbage to Gold: Managing California's Grasslands for Climate Change Mitigation — UC Center Sacramento". uccs.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
  15. ↑ "2021 Class of AGU Fellows Announced". Eos. 28 September 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
  16. ↑ Silver, Whendee L.; Lugo, A. E.; Keller, M. (March 1999). "Soil oxygen availability and biogeochemistry along rainfall and topographic gradients in upland wet tropical forest soils". Biogeochemistry. 44 (3): 301–328. doi:10.1007/bf00996995. ISSN   0168-2563. S2CID   94545902.
  17. ↑ Cleveland, Cory C.; Townsend, Alan R.; Taylor, Philip; Alvarez-Clare, Silvia; Bustamante, Mercedes M. C.; Chuyong, George; Dobrowski, Solomon Z.; Grierson, Pauline; Harms, Kyle E. (2011-07-12). "Relationships among net primary productivity, nutrients and climate in tropical rain forest: a pan-tropical analysis". Ecology Letters. 14 (9): 939–947. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01658.x . ISSN   1461-023X. PMID   21749602.
  18. ↑ Silver, Whendee L.; Thompson, Andrew W.; McGroddy, Megan E.; Varner, Ruth K.; Dias, Jadson D.; Silva, Hudson; Crill, Patrick M.; Keller, Michael (February 2005). "Fine root dynamics and trace gas fluxes in two lowland tropical forest soils". Global Change Biology. 11 (2): 290–306. Bibcode:2005GCBio..11..290S. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2005.00903.x. ISSN   1354-1013.
  19. ↑ CUSACK, DANIELA F.; CHOU, WENDY W.; YANG, WENDY H.; HARMON, MARK E.; SILVER, WHENDEE L. (May 2009). "Controls on long-term root and leaf litter decomposition in neotropical forests". Global Change Biology. 15 (5): 1339–1355. Bibcode:2009GCBio..15.1339C. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01781.x. ISSN   1354-1013. S2CID   39890498.
  20. ↑ Lüttge, Ulrich (2007-12-14). Physiological Ecology of Tropical Plants. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN   9783540717935.
  21. ↑ Mayer, Allegra; Hausfather, Zeke; Jones, Andrew D.; Silver, Whendee L. (2018-08-01). "The potential of agricultural land management to contribute to lower global surface temperatures". Science Advances. 4 (8): eaaq0932. Bibcode:2018SciA....4..932M. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaq0932. ISSN   2375-2548. PMC   6114992 . PMID   30167456.
  22. ↑ O’Connell, Christine S.; Ruan, Leilei; Silver, Whendee L. (2018-04-09). "Drought drives rapid shifts in tropical rainforest soil biogeochemistry and greenhouse gas emissions". Nature Communications. 9 (1): 1348. Bibcode:2018NatCo...9.1348O. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03352-3. ISSN   2041-1723. PMC   5890268 . PMID   29632326.
  23. ↑ Yang, Wendy; Ryals, Rebecca A.; Cusack, Daniela F.; Silver, Whendee L. (2017-04-01). "Cross-biome assessment of gross soil nitrogen cycling in California ecosystems". Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 107: 144–155. doi: 10.1016/j.soilbio.2017.01.004 . ISSN   0038-0717.
  24. ↑ "2016. Effects of seasonality, transport-pathway, and spatial structure on greenhouse gas fluxes in a restored wetland. - AmeriFlux". AmeriFlux. Retrieved 2018-11-10.
  25. ↑ Ryals, Rebecca; Eviner, Valerie T.; Stein, Claudia; Suding, Katharine N.; Silver, Whendee L. (March 2016). "Grassland compost amendments increase plant production without changing plant communities". Ecosphere. 7 (3): e01270. doi: 10.1002/ecs2.1270 . ISSN   2150-8925.
  26. ↑ Hall, Steven J.; Treffkorn, Jonathan; Silver, Whendee L. (2014). "Breaking the enzymatic latch: impacts of reducing conditions on hydrolytic enzyme activity in tropical forest soils". Ecology. 95 (10): 2964–2973. doi:10.1890/13-2151.1. JSTOR   43493922.
  27. ↑ Liptzin, Daniel; Silver, Whendee L. (November 2015). "Spatial patterns in oxygen and redox sensitive biogeochemistry in tropical forest soils". Ecosphere. 6 (11): art211. doi: 10.1890/es14-00309.1 . ISSN   2150-8925.
  28. ↑ Silver, Whendee L.; Hall, Steven J.; González, Grizelle (November 2014). "Differential effects of canopy trimming and litter deposition on litterfall and nutrient dynamics in a wet subtropical forest". Forest Ecology and Management. 332: 47–55. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2014.05.018. ISSN   0378-1127.
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