ptempler@bu.edu

Ecology and Conservation Biology Tropical Ecology

Pamela Templer

Assistant Professor of Biology
Ph.D., Cornell University, 2001

Plant and microbial ecosystem ecology; Biogeochemistry
(Lab Homepage)

I am broadly interested in ecosystem ecology and the influence that plant-microbial interactions have on nutrient cycling, retention and loss. I am particularly interested in the impact that human activity, such as fossil fuel combustion, the introduction of non-native plant species and land use change, has on global elemental cycles. Research in my lab aims to improve our understanding of the interaction between plants, microbes and changes in the carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous nutrient cycles. We currently collaborate with colleagues to examine a variety of nitrogen (N) sources including rain, fog and anthropogenic N deposition. We explore how plant-microbial interactions influence N retention and loss within natural and managed ecosystems. We currently work in temperate forests of the northeastern United States, redwood forests of California and tropical rainforests in Puerto Rico. Our efforts include using natural abundance and enriched stable isotopes in our laboratory and field techniques. We use many such techniques to examine plants at the organismal scale and to relate those measurements to ecosystem scale processes. We focus on three major themes within plant and ecosystem ecology: (1) the interaction between plant species composition and ecosystem N retention in temperate forests; (2) the controls on N retention and loss in tropical forest ecosystems; and (3) the effects of land-use change and forest regeneration on nutrient cycling.

Templer, PH , MA Arthur, GM Lovett and K Weathers. 2007. Plant and soil natural abundance δ¹⁵N: Indicators of relative rates of nitrogen cycling in temperate forest ecosystems. Oecologia 153: 399-406.

Pardo L, P Templer, C Goodale, S Duke, P Groffman, MB Adams, P Boeckx, J Boogs, J Campbell, B Colman, J Compton, B Emmett, P Gundersen, J Kjonaas, G Lovett, M Mack, A Magill, M Mbila, M Mitchell, G McGee, S McNulty, K Nadelhoffer, S Ollinger, D Ross, H Rueth, L Rustad, P Shaberg, S Schiff, P Schleppi, J Spoelstra and W Wessel. 2006. Regional Assessment of N saturation using foliar d¹⁵N. Biogeochemistry 80:143-171.

Templer PH, G Lovett, K Weathers, S Findlay, and T Dawson. 2005. Influence of tree species on forest nitrogen retention in the Catskill Mountains, New York, USA. Ecosystems : 8:1-16 .

Templer PH. 2005. Tree Species Effects on Nitrogen Cycling and Retention: a Synthesis of Studies Using 15 N Tracers. In Tree Species Effects on Soils:  Implications for Global Change. D. Binkley, O. Menyailo, eds.  NATO Science Series, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.

Templer PH, P Groffman, A Flecker, and A Power. 2005. Land use change and soil nutrient transformations in the Los Haitises region of the Dominican Republic . Soil Biology and Biochemistry 37:215-225.

Templer PH and TE Dawson. 2004. Nitrogen uptake by seedlings of four tree species of the Catskill Mountains, NY: implications for forest N dynamics. Plant and Soil 262:251-261 .

Templer PH, S Findlay, and G Lovett. 2003. Soil microbial biomass and nitrogen transformations among five tree species of the Catskill Mountains, NY. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 35:607-613.

Harris GP, SW Bigelow, JJ Cole, H Cyr, LL Janus, AP Kinzig, JF Kitchell, GE Likens, K.H. Reckhow, D Scavia, D Soto, L.M. Talbot, and PH Templer. 2003. The Role of Models in Ecosystem Management. In C.D. Canham, J.J. Cole, W.K. Lauenroth (eds.), Role of Models in Ecosystem Science. Princeton University Press.

Dawson TE, S Mambelli, AH Plamboeck, PH Templer, and KP Tu. 2002. Stable isotopes in plant ecology. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 33:507-559.

Silver WL and PH Templer. 2002. A walk through the Amazon from a biogeochemical perspective. Book review of: Biogeochemistry of the Amazon Basin. Eds. McClain, M., R.L. Victoria and J.E. Richey. Oxford University Press, New York, 365 pages. Ecology 83:3237-3238.

Templer PH, S Findlay and C Wigand. 1998. Sediment chemistry associated with native and non-native emergent macrophytes of a Hudson River marsh ecosystem. Wetlands 18:70-78.

Templer PH, W Silver and MK Firestone. Plant and microbial controls on nitrogen retention and loss in Puerto Rican forest soils. In preparation.

Questions and comments are always welcome.
Copyright © 1996, The Trustees of Boston University
This document was last modified on August 17, 2007.