Boston University Department of Biology

Faculty Profiles

Current Research

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 impacts that human activities, such as fossil fuel combustion, human-induced climate change, and land use change have on forest ecosystems. My lab currently examines a variety of nitrogen sources including rain, snow, fog water, and anthropogenic nitrogen deposition. We explore how plant-microbial interactions influence nitrogen retention and loss within natural and managed ecosystems. Our research is currently in temperate forests of the northeastern United States, redwood forests of California, and tropical rainforests in Puerto Rico.

We focus on three major themes within ecosystem ecology: (1) the effects of climate change, particularly in the winter months, on forest productivity and health; (2) the interaction between plant species composition and ecosystem nitrogen retention in temperate and tropical forests; and (3) the effects of land-use change and forest regeneration on nutrient cycling.

Courses Taught

• BI 303 Ecology
• BI 306 Biology of Global Change
• BI 530 Forest Ecology

Selected Publications

• Templer PH, Silver WL, Pett-Ridge J, DeAngelis K, Firestone MK. (2008). Plant and Microbial Controls on Nitrogen Retention and Loss in a Humid Tropical Forest. Ecology 89: 3030-3040.
• Huygens D, Boeckx P, Templer P, Paulino L, Van Cleemput O, Oyarzun C, Godoy R. (2008). Mechanisms for the retention of bioavailable nitrogen in volcanic rainforest soils. Nature Geoscience 1: 543-548.
• Templer PH, Arthur MA, Lovett GM, Weathers K. (2007). Plant and soil natural abundance δ15N: Indicators of relative rates of nitrogen cycling in temperate forest ecosystems. Oecologia 153, 399-406.
• Pardo L, Templer P, Goodale C, Duke S, Groffman P, Adams MB, Boeckx P, Boogs J, Campbell J, Colman B, Compton J, Emmett B, Gundersen P, Kjonaas J, Lovett G, Mack M, Magill A, Mbila M, Mitchell M, McGee G, McNulty S, Nadelhoffer K, Ollinger S, Ross D, Rueth H, Rustad L, Shaberg P, Schiff S, Schleppi P, Spoelstra J, Wessel W. (2006). Regional Assessment of N saturation using foliar d15N. Biogeochemistry 80, 143-171.
• Templer PH, Lovett G, Weathers K, Findlay S, Dawson T. (2005). Influence of tree species on forest nitrogen retention in the Catskill Mountains, New York, USA. Ecosystems : 8, 1-16.
• Templer PH, Groffman P, Flecker A, Power A. (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, Dawson TE. 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.
• Dawson TE, Mambelli S, Plamboeck AH, Templer PH, Tu KP. (2002). Stable isotopes in plant ecology. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 33, 507-559.