| CV | Research | Teaching | Grad students | Favorite places |
Overview
The underlying questions of
my research are: How do plants physiologically adjust to changes
in limiting resources? What are the physiological and phenological
constraints on plant responses to changing resources? What are
the ecosystem consequences of these plant responses to changing
resources?
The underlying basis for my interest in these systems is the importance
of their responses to expected climate change resulting from human-induced
increases in the atmospheric greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide
and methane. In the Arctic, a large fraction of the earth's terrestrial
carbon is stored in cold soils as peat. With climate warming,
that carbon could be released to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide
or methane, creating a positive feedback for further warming.
Tropical forests are the ecosystems with the greatest potential
for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis,
although tropical deforestation has been a major cause of the
increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide. A studies have suggested
that a slight increase in temperature in the tropics could trigger
release of enormous amounts of carbon from tropical forest soils.
To address these issues, a mechanistic understanding of the plant
and soil responses to limiting resources affected by climate change
is needed. In both systems, my research focus has been leading
toward understanding how these plant responses scale-up to affect
ecosystem response and ecosystem carbon balance.
Disturbance and climate
change in arctic ecosystems.
With funding from NSF
and the FIU Foundation, I initiated a global change project at
Toolik Lake, Alaska on the effects of increased season length
on ecosystem response of tundra. The project which began in 1994
is a long-term endeavor associated with the International Tundra
Experiment (ITEX), a consortium of 30+ sites world wide in arctic,
antarctic, and alpine systems carrying out a suite of comparable
measurements. The project was refunded by NSF for an additional
three years in 1996 and again in 1999. This work has supported
two students through their Master's Theses, one Ph.D. dissertation,
4 additional Masters Theses are nearing completion on the project,
and numerous undergraduates have received field experience through
supplemental awards from the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates
Program. In 1999, I initiated a collaboration with members of
the Arctic Ecology Laboratory at Michigan State University under
the Direction of Pat Webber to examine the effect of experimental
warming on carbon fluxes in wet and dry sites at Barrow and Atqasuk,
Alaska.
Ecophysiology of tropical
trees and forests.
My interest in the
ecophysiology of tropical trees has led to a long term collaboration
with two forest ecologists, Drs. Deborah and David Clark in Costa
Rica. This collaboration recently has focussed on efforts to examine
the basis for large annual variation in the diameter growth of
tropical rainforest trees discovered by the Clarks. Such large
variation in rainforest tree growth was unexpected and indicates
a high sensitivity of tropical tree physiology to climatic changes.
Awards from NSF (4 yr) to examine "Climatic controls of tropical
rainforest productivity" and Department of Energy (3 yr)
"Current and future carbon budgets of tropical rainforests:
a cross scale analysis" have helped us make major progress
in understanding rainforest productivity and its controls. The
NSF study focused on tree level responses to climate variation.
The DOE study used eddy covariance micrometeorological measurements
to determine the carbon balance of intact rainforest. These projects
have supported two full time graduate students through their Ph.D.s,
four Costa Rican technicians, and two undergraduates in Costa
Rica through supplemental awards from the Research Experiences
for Undergraduates Program. We recently obtained funding from
NSF to evaluate spatial variation in forest structure and physiology
using a roving tower.
Everglades Research and
Collaborations with FIU colleagues
The arrival of Hurricane
Andrew in 1992 provided the opportunity to initiate long term
studies of the forest response and changes in resource availability
in everglade forest communities. With support from the NSF and
the Department of Interior in collaboration with Suzanne Koptur,
I completed four years of study of nutrient availability and light
availability in four forest communities. I have collaborated
with Southeast Environmental Research Center (SERC) personnel,
Mike Ross and Jack Meeder, examining effects of water management
on mangrove physiology. With Mike Ross and Krish Jayachandran,
I have been working on the physiological responses of everglade
tree species to flooding. Finally, a shared interest in
tropical understory plants has also led to a long-term collaboration
with David Lee to examine shade adaptations in tropical plants.
Address:
Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Fl, 33199, ph. (305) 348-2580
Education:
B.S. Biology San Diego State University, 1976
M.S. Biology San Diego State University, 1978
Ph.D. Botany Duke University, 1983 - minor Zoology
Experience:
5/00 - date Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University
9/97 - 5/02 Director, Tropical Biology Program, Florida International University
5/93 - date Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University.
8/88 - 5/93 Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University.
7/85 - 8/88 Research Associate, Systems Ecology Research Group, San Diego State University.
9/84 - 5/85 Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Science, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
10/83 - 9/84 Jesse Smith Noyes competitive postdoctoral award, "Drought adaptations of trees at La Selva, Costa Rica".
Professional Organizations:
American Institute of Biological Sciences
American Society of Plant Biologists
Association for Tropical Biology
Botanical Society of America
California Native Plant Society
Ecological Society of America
Publications: Last 5 years
- Cavaleri, M.A., S.F. Oberbauer, and M.G. Ryan. in press. Foliar and ecosystem respiration in an old-growth tropical rain forest. Plant Cell and Environment.
- Gomez-Peralta, D., S.F. Oberbauer, M.E. McClain, and T.E. Philippi. in press. Rainfall and Cloud-Water Interception in Tropical Montane Cloud Forests in the Eastern Andes of Central Peru. Forest ecology and Management.
- Starr, G., S.F. Oberbauer, and L.E. Ahlquist. In press. The photosynthetic response of Alaskan tundra plants to increased season length and soil warming. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research.
- O'Brien, J.J., S.F. Oberbauer, D.B. Clark, and D.A. Clark. In press. Phenology and stem growth seasonality in a Costa Rican wet tropical forest. Biotropica
- Clark, D.B., P. Olivas, S. F. Oberbauer, D.A. Clark, M.G. Ryan. 2008. First direct landscape-scale measurement of tropical rain forest leaf area index, a key driver of global primary productivity. Ecology Letters. 11-163-172.
- La Puma, I. P., T.R. Philippi, and S.F. Oberbauer. 2007. Relating NDVI to ecosystem CO2 exchange patterns in response to season length and soil warming manipulations in arctic Alaska. Remote Sensing of Environment. 109:225-236.
- Oberbauer, S.F., C.E. Tweedie, J. M. Welker, J. T. Fahnestock, G.H.R. Henry, P.J. Webber, R.D. Hollister, M.D. Walker, A. Kuchy, E. Elmore, and G. Starr. 2007. Carbon dioxide exchange responses of arctic tundra ecosystems to experimental warming along latitudinal and moisture gradients. Ecological Monographs 77:221-238.
- Jones, D.T., J.P. Sah, M.S. Ross, S.F. Oberbauer, B. Hwang and K. Jayachandran. 2006. Growth and physiological responses of twelve tree species common to Everglades tree islands to simulated hydrologic regimes. Wetlands 26:830-844.
Cavaleri, M.A., M.G. Ryan, and S.F. Oberbauer. 2006. Wood CO2 efflux in a primary tropical rain forest. Global Change Biology 2006 12:2442-2458.
- Walker, M.D., C. Henrik Wahren, R.D. Hollister, G.H.R. Henry, L.E. Ahlquist, J.M. Alatalo, M. S. Bret-Harte, M.P. Calef, T.V. Callaghan, A.B. Carroll, H.E. Epstein, I.S. Jónsdóttir, J.A. Klein, B. Magnússon, U. Molau, S.F. Oberbauer, S.P. Rewa, C.H. Robinson, G.R. Shaver, K.N. Suding, C.C. Thompson, A. Tolvanen, Ø. Totland, P. Lee Turner, C.E. Tweedie, P.J. Webber, and P. A. Wookey 2006. Plant community responses to experimental warming across the tundra biome. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 103:342-346.
- Loescher, H.W., H.L. Gholz, J.M. Jacobs, and S.F. Oberbauer 2005. Energy balance and modeled evapotranspiration for a wet tropical forest in Costa Rica. Journal of Hydrology 315:274-294.
- Sturm, M., J. Schimel, G. Michelson, J. Welker, S.F. Oberbauer, G. Liston, J. Fahnestock, and V.E. Romanovsky. 2005. The role of winter biological processes in converting arctic tundra to shrubland. BioScience 55:17-26.
- O'Brien, J.J., S.F. Oberbauer, and D.B. Clark. 2004. Tropical tree water use responds to climatic variation similarly among morphologically diverse rainforest tree species. Plant Cell and Environment. 27:551-567.
- Loescher, H.W., J.A. Bentz, S.F. Oberbauer, T.K. Gosh, R.V. Thompson, and S.K. Loyalka. 2004. Characterization and dry deposition of carbonaceous aerosols in a wet tropical forest canopy. Journal of Geophysical Research. 109:D02309
- Starr, G., D.S. Neuman, and S. F. Oberbauer. 2004. Ecophysiological analysis of two arctic sedges under reduced root temperatures. Physiologia Plantarum. 120:458-464.
- Starr, G. and S.F. Oberbauer. 2003. Photosynthesis of arctic evergreens under snow: implications for tundra ecosystem carbon balance. Ecology 84:1415-1420.
- Loescher, H.W., S.F. Oberbauer, H.L. Gholz, and D.B. Clark. 2003. Environmental controls on net ecosystem-level carbon exchange and productivity in a Central American tropical wet forest. Global Change Biology 9:396-412
- Oberbauer, S.F. and Starr, G. 2002. The role of anthocyanins for photosynthesis of Alaskan arctic evergreens during snow melt. Advances in Botanical Research 37: 129-145.
- Koptur S., M.C. Rodriguez, S.F. Oberbauer, C. Weekley, and A. Herndon. 2002 Herbivore-Free Time: Damage to new leaves of woody plants after Hurricane Andrew. Biotropica. 34:547-554.
- Gorsuch, D.M. and S.F. Oberbauer. 2002 Effects of mid-season frost and elevated growing season temperature on stomatal and specific xylem conductance of the arctic shrub, Salix pulchra. Tree Physiology22:1027-1034.
- Clark, D.B., S. Brown, D.A. Clark, S.F. Oberbauer and E. Veldkamp. 2002. Stocks and flows of coarse woody debris across a tropical rain forest nutrient and topography gradient. Forest Ecology and Management. 164:237-248
- Loescher, H.W., J.S. Powers, and S.F. Oberbauer. 2002. Spatial variation of throughfall volume in an old-growth tropical wet forest, Costa Rica. Journal of Tropical Ecology. 18:397-407
National Institute for Climate Change Research- Department of Energy. Response of carbon dioxide, water, and energy exchange of peat and marl wetlands in the Florida Everglades to changes in hydroperiod.
IPY Arctic Observing Networks. Collaborative Research: Study of Arctic ecosystem changes in the IPY using the International Tundra Experiment (IPY-ITEX)
Biocomplexity Associated with the Response of Tundra Carbon Balance to Warming and Drying Across Multiple Scales. Barrowbiocomplexity.
Effects of increased season length on plant phenology, community composition, productivity, and ecosystem carbon fluxes in Alaskan tundra Season project (this project has sunsetted)
Carbon stockes and fluxes in a tropical rain forest in Costa Rica Carbono project
NSF- Integrated carbon program. Understanding interannual NEE variability in a tropical rain forest using constrained estimates of carbon exchange. S.F. Oberbauer, D.A. Clark, M. Ryan, D.B. Clark. Carbono-Towers
National Science Foundation - Biocomplexity of the Environment Coupled Biogeochemical Cycles. Complex interactions among water, nutrients and carbon stocks and fluxes across a natural fertility gradient in tropical rain forest. $1,630,000. 04/1/05 - 3/31/09 (Ciclos project).
Olivas, P. 2007. M.S. The interactive roles of microtopography and moss cover for whole-ecosystem carbon flux in coastal wet tundra of Alaska.
Colby, S. J. 2007. M.S. Effect
of a sudden freeze-thaw event on Sphagnum girgensohnii
grown under different light and temperature regimes.
Current Students:
Daniel Gomez Ph.D. tree island structure and function
Chad Husby Ph.D. - ecophysiology of Equisetum- Paulo Olivas. M.S. -tundra warming, hydrology and carbon fluxes,