Eric A. Davidson

Eric A. Davidson
Senior Scientist
Woods Hole Research Center
149 Woods Hole Road
Falmouth, MA 02540-1644
Phone: 508-540-9900 x132
Fax: 508-540-9700

Education

Ph.D. - North Carolina State University
1986, Department of Forestry
Dissertation: Gaseous Nitrogen Losses from Two Forested Watersheds via
Nitrification and Denitrification.

NSF Graduate Fellow

B.A. - Oberlin College
1978, Highest Honors in Biology; Phi Beta Kappa

Professional Experience

  • 1999 - present: Senior Scientist, Woods Hole Research Center
    1994 - 1998: Associate Scientist, Woods Hole Research Center
    1991 - 1993: Assistant Scientist, Woods Hole Research Center
  • 1989 - 1991: National Research Council Associate, NASA Ames Research Center
  • 1986 - 1989: Post Doctorate Research Associate in Soil Microbiology. Dept. of Plant and Soil Biology, University of California, Berkeley
  • 1979 - 1981: Peace Corps Volunteer. Public health project in Zaire.

Research Interests

Biogeochemistry and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems, including the effects of management, land use change, and climatic change on soil C and N stocks, trace gas emissions from soils, and leaching of plant nutrients to streams and groundwater. Study areas include the Brazilian Amazon Basin and Cerrado region, the forests of New England, and a coastal pond watershed of Cape Cod.

Recent publications

Book:

Davidson, E.A. 2000. You Can't Eat GNP. Perseus Publishing, Cambridge, MA, 247pp.

Policy Booklet:

WHRC and UNEP. 2007. Reactive Nitrogen in the Environment: Too Much or Too Little of a Good Thing. Eric A. Davidson, Charles Arden-Clarke, and Elizabeth Braun (eds.). The United Nations Environment Programme. Paris, France.

Selected recent journal articles and book chapters:

Davidson EA, Dail BD, Chorover J. 2008. Iron interference in the quantification of nitrate in soil extracts and its effect on hypothesized abiotic immobilization of nitrate. Biogeochemistry, 90:65–73.

Davidson, E.A., Nepstad, D.C., Ishida, F.Y., and Bando. P.M. 2008. Effects of an experimental drought and recovery on soil emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and nitric oxide in a moist tropical forest. Global Change Biology, 14, 2582–2590.

Davidson, E. A., G. P. Asner, T. A. Stone, C. Neill, and R. O. Figueiredo. 2008. Objective indicators of pasture degradation from spectral mixture analysis of Landsat imagery, J. Geophys. Res., 113, G00B03, doi:10.1029/2007JG000622.

Davidson, E.A., T.D. de A. Sá, C. J.R. Carvalho, R.O. Figueiredo, M.S.A. Kato, O.R. Kato, F.Y. Ishida. 2008. An integrated greenhouse gas assessment of an alternative to slash-and-burn agriculture in eastern Amazonia. Global Change Biology 14:998–1007.

Davidson, E.A. and R.W. Howarth. 2007. Nutrients in synergy. Nature 449:1000-1001.

Davidson, E.A., C.J.R. de Carvalho, A.M. Figueira, F.Y. Ishida, J.P.B. Ometto, G.B. Nardoto, R.T. Sabá, S.N. Hayashi, E.C. Leal, I.C.G. Vieira, and L.A. Martinelli. 2007. Recuperation of nitrogen cycling in Amazonian forests following agricultural abandonment. Nature 447:995-998.

Davidson, E.A. 2007. Dirt cheap soil. Nature 447:777-778.

Davidson, E.A. and I. Janssens. 2006. Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition and feedbacks to climate change. Nature 440:165-173.

Davidson, E.A. and S. Seitzinger. 2006. The enigma of progress in denitrification research. Ecol. Appl. 16:2057-2063.

Davidson, E.A., K. Savage, S.E. Trumbore, and W. Borken. 2006. Vertical partitioning of CO2 production within a temperate forest soil. Global Change Biology, 12:944-956.

Davidson, E.A., I. Janssens, and Y. Luo. 2006. On the variability of respiration in terrestrial ecosystems: moving beyond Q10. Global Change Biology 12:154-164.

Davidson E. A., A. D. Richardson, K. E. Savage, and D. Y. Hollinger. 2006. A distinct seasonal pattern of the ratio of soil respiration to total ecosystem respiration in a spruce-dominated forest. Global Change Biology 12: 230-239.

Davidson, E.A. 2006. The ground we walk on: It's part of global warming. The Christian Science Monitor 21 April. Borken, W., K. Savage, E.A. Davidson, and S.E. Trumbore. 2006. Effects of experimental drought on soil respiration and radiocarbon efflux from a temperate forest soil. Global Change Biology 12: 177-193.

Davidson, E.A. and P. Artaxo. 2004. Globally significant changes in biological processes of the Amazon Basin: Results of the Large-scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment. Global Change Biology 10:519-529.

Davidson, E.A., Neill, C. Krusch, A.V., Ballester, V.V.R., Markewitz, D. and Figueiredo, R.de O. 2004. Loss of nutrients from terrestrial ecosystems to streams and the atmosphere following land use change in Amazonia. pp. 147- 158 In: DeFries, R., Asner, G., and Houghton R. (eds.), Ecosystems and Land Use Change. Geophysical Monograph Series 153, American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C.

Davidson, E.A., C.J.R. de Carvalho, I.C.G. Vieira, R.O. Figueiredo, P. Moutinho, F.Y. Ishida, M.T.P. dos Santos, J.B. Guerrero, K. Kalif, and R.T. Sabá. 2004. Nutrient limitation of biomass growth in a tropical secondary forest: early results of a nitrogen and phosphorus amendment experiment. Ecological Applications 14:S150-S163.

Markewitz, D. E.A. Davidson, P. Moutinho, and D.C. Nepstad. 2004. Nutrient loss and redistribution after forest clearing on a highly weathered soil in Amazonia. Ecological Applications 14:S177-S199.

Hollinger DY, Aber J, Dail B, Davidson EA, Goltz SM, Hughes H, Leclerc M, Lee JT, Richardson AD, Rodrigues C, Scott NA, Varier D, Walsh J. 2004. Spatial and temporal variability in forest-atmosphere CO2 exchange. Global Change Biology 10:1689-1706. Davidson, E.A., J. Chorover, and D.B. Dail. 2003. A mechanism of abiotic immobilization of nitrate in forest ecosystems: The ferrous wheel hypothesis. Global Change Biology 9:228-236.

Savage, K.E., and E.A. Davidson. 2003. A comparison of manual and automated systems for soil CO2 flux measurements: tradeoffs between spatial and temporal resolution. J. Exp. Botany 54:891-899.

Current projects

Biogeochemistry of Tropical Forests, Savannas, and Agriculture:

  • LBA Project Scientist, NASA
  • Synthesis of Nutrient Interactions in Secondary Vegetation in Amazonia, NASA-LBA
  • Interactions of Edaphic and Land-Use Factors on Water Resources of the Cerrado Region of Brazil, NASA-LCLUC
  • Fires, Land Use, and the Savannization of Seasonally-dry Amazon Forests, NSF and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
  • Collaborative Research: Influence of Land Use on Watershed Hydrology and Biogeochemistry at the Amazon Agricultural Frontier, NSF

Carbon Cycling in Temperate Forests:

  • Decadal-Scale Measurements of Decadal-Cycling Forest Soil Carbon, NICCR
  • Reducing Uncertainty about the Effects of Climatic Variation on Forest Ecosystems by Measuring, Modeling, and Analyzing Intermediate-Turnover Carbon Pools, NICCR
  • Economically Viable Forest Harvesting Practices that Increase Carbon Sequestration, DOE
  • Using Model Analyses and Surface-Atmosphere Exchange Measurements from the Howland AmeriFlux Supersite in Maine, USA, to Improve Understanding of Forest Ecosystem C cycling, DOE

Nitrogen Studies:

  • Research Coordination Network: Denitrification - Integration Across Landscapes and Waterscapes, NSF

Synergistic activities

  • Science Steering Committee Member, Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA), 1996 - present.
  • Chief Project Scientist for NASA-LBA-ECO, 2008 to present.
  • Co-organizer and consultant, International Nitrogen Initiative, 2002 to present.
  • Subject Editor, Global Change Biology, 2001 to present.