keywords
- Ecosystems, ecology, carbon cycling, climate change, permafrost, wildfire, disturbances
- Contact Info
Turetsky, Merritt Professor
Positions
- Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
- Institute Director, Institute of Arctic & Alpine Research (INSTAAR)
Research Areas
Research
Publications
selected publications
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chapter
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Permafrost Thaw in Northern Peatlands: Rapid Changes in Ecosystem and Landscape Functions.
Ecological Studies.
27-67.
2021
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Permafrost Thaw in Northern Peatlands: Rapid Changes in Ecosystem and Landscape Functions.
Ecological Studies.
27-67.
2021
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conference proceeding
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journal article
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Material Legacies and Environmental Constraints Underlie Fire Resilience of a Dominant Boreal Forest Type.
Ecosystems.
2022
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Permafrost carbon emissions in a changing Arctic.
55-67.
2022
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Increasing fire and the decline of fire adapted black spruce in the boreal forest.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA.
2021
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BAWLD-CH4: a comprehensive dataset of methane fluxes from boreal and arctic ecosystems.
Earth System Science Data.
5151-5189.
2021
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Natural selection on a carbon cycling trait drives ecosystem engineering by Sphagnum (peat moss).
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
2021
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Identifying Functional Impacts of Heat-Resistant Fungi on Boreal Forest Recovery After Wildfire (vol 3, 68, 2020).
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change.
2021
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Reflections and projections on a decade of climate science (vol 11, pg 279, 2021).
Nature Climate Change.
716-716.
2021
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Identifying increasing risks of hazards for northern land-users caused by permafrost thaw: integrating scientific and community-based research approaches.
Environmental Research Letters.
2021
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The Rhizosphere Responds: Rich Fen Peat and Root Microbial Ecology after Long-Term Water Table Manipulation.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
2021
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Deep roots of Carex aquatilis have greater ammonium uptake capacity than shallow roots in peatlands following permafrost thaw.
Plant and Soil: international journal on plant-soil relationships.
261-272.
2021
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Mapping and understanding the vulnerability of northern peatlands to permafrost thaw at scales relevant to community adaptation planning.
Environmental Research Letters.
2021
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Summary and synthesis of Changing Cold Regions Network (CCRN) research in the interior of western Canada - Part 2: Future change in cryosphere, vegetation, and hydrology.
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences.
1849-1882.
2021
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Predicting patterns of terrestrial lichen biomass recovery following boreal wildfires.
Ecosphere.
2021
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Carbon Fluxes and Microbial Activities From Boreal Peatlands Experiencing Permafrost Thaw.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences.
2021
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Trophic interactions regulate peatland carbon cycling.
Ecology Letters.
781-790.
2021
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Consequences of Increased Variation in Peatland Hydrology for Carbon Storage: Legacy Effects of Drought and Flood in a Boreal Fen Ecosystem.
Frontiers in Earth Science.
2021
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Spatial pattern of intraspecific trait variability in Sphagnum fuscum.
Botany.
717-723.
2020
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Getting to the Root of Plant-Mediated Methane Emissions and Oxidation in a Thermokarst Bog.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences.
2020
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Wildfire combustion and carbon stocks in the southern Canadian boreal forest: Implications for a warming world.
Global Change Biology.
6062-6079.
2020
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Fuel availability not fire weather controls boreal wildfire severity and carbon emissions.
Nature Climate Change.
1130-U100.
2020
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Arctic fires re-emerging.
Nature Geoscience.
658-660.
2020
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Assessing the Potential for Mobilization of Old Soil Carbon After Permafrost Thaw: A Synthesis of C-14 Measurements From the Northern Permafrost Region.
Global Biogeochemical Cycles: an international journal of global change.
2020
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When the Source of Flooding Matters: Divergent Responses in Carbon Fluxes in an Alaskan Rich Fen to Two Types of Inundation.
Ecosystems.
1138-1153.
2020
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Large stocks of peatland carbon and nitrogen are vulnerable to permafrost thaw.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA.
20438-20446.
2020
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Tradeoffs between phenotypic plasticity and local adaptation influence the ecophysiology of the moss,Sphagnum magellanicum.
Oecologia.
867-877.
2020
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Patterns of Ecosystem Structure and Wildfire Carbon Combustion Across Six Ecoregions of the North American Boreal Forest.
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change.
2020
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Fire characteristics and environmental conditions shape plant communities via regeneration strategy.
Ecography: pattern and diversity in ecology.
1464-1474.
2020
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Increased rainfall stimulates permafrost thaw across a variety of Interior Alaskan boreal ecosystems.
npj Climate and Atmospheric Science.
2020
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Impact of wildfire on permafrost landscapes: A review of recent advances and future prospects.
Permafrost and Periglacial Processes.
371-382.
2020
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Identifying Functional Impacts of Heat-Resistant Fungi on Boreal Forest Recovery After Wildfire.
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change.
2020
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Permafrost Mapping with Electrical Resistivity Tomography: A Case Study in Two Wetland Systems in Interior Alaska.
Journal of Environmental and Engineering Geophysics.
199-209.
2020
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Evaluating Sphagnum traits in the context of resource economics and optimal partitioning theories.
OIKOS.
1204-1215.
2020
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Diverse perspectives on interdisciplinarity from Members of the College of the Royal Society of Canada.
138-165.
2020
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Climate change, ecosystems and abrupt change: science priorities.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
20190105-20190105.
2020
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Focus on changing fire regimes: interactions with climate, ecosystems, and society.
Environmental Research Letters.
2020
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Assessing Boreal Peat Fire Severity and Vulnerability of Peatlands to Early Season Wildland Fire.
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change.
2020
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Carbon release through abrupt permafrost thaw.
Nature Geoscience.
138-+.
2020
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Climate change decreases the cooling effect from postfire albedo in boreal North America.
Global Change Biology.
1592-1607.
2019
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Increasing wildfires threaten historic carbon sink of boreal forest soils.
Nature.
520-+.
2019
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Wildfire severity reduces richness and alters composition of soil fungal communities in boreal forests of western Canada.
Global Change Biology.
2310-2324.
2019
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Biological and geophysical feedbacks with fire in the Earth system.
Environmental Research Letters.
2018
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Controls on boreal peat combustion and resulting emissions of carbon and mercury.
Environmental Research Letters.
2018
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Influence of Holocene permafrost aggradation and thaw on the paleoecology and carbon storage of a peatland complex in northwestern Canada.
The Holocene: a major interdisciplinary journal focusing on recent environmental change.
1391-1405.
2017
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A decade of boreal rich fen greenhouse gas fluxes in response to natural and experimental water table variability.
Global Change Biology.
2428-2440.
2017
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Circumpolar distribution and carbon storage of thermokarst landscapes.
Nature Communications.
2016
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Potential carbon emissions dominated by carbon dioxide from thawed permafrost soils.
Nature Climate Change.
950-+.
2016
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Biomass offsets little or none of permafrost carbon release from soils, streams, and wildfire: an expert assessment.
Environmental Research Letters.
2016
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A simplified, data-constrained approach to estimate the permafrost carbon-climate feedback.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.
2015
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Climate change and the permafrost carbon feedback.
Nature.
171-179.
2015
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Response of plant community structure and primary productivity to experimental drought and flooding in an Alaskan fen.
Canadian Journal of Forest Research.
185-193.
2015
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Moderate drop in water table increases peatland vulnerability to post-fire regime shift.
Scientific Reports.
2015
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Transport of oxygen in soil pore-water systems: implications for modeling emissions of carbon dioxide and methane from peatlands.
Biogeochemistry: an international journal.
455-470.
2014
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A synthesis of methane emissions from 71 northern, temperate, and subtropical wetlands.
Global Change Biology.
2183-2197.
2014
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Circumpolar assessment of permafrost C quality and its vulnerability over time using long-term incubation data.
Global Change Biology.
641-652.
2014
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Expert assessment of vulnerability of permafrost carbon to climate change.
Climatic Change: an interdisciplinary, international journal devoted to the description, causes and implications of climatic change.
359-374.
2013
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Algal community response to experimental and interannual variation in hydrology in an Alaskan boreal fen.
Freshwater Science.
1-11.
2013
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Environmental and physical controls on northern terrestrial methane emissions across permafrost zones.
Global Change Biology.
589-603.
2013
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The response of soil organic carbon of a rich fen peatland in interior Alaska to projected climate change.
Global Change Biology.
604-620.
2013
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Sources and fate of terrestrial dissolved organic carbon in lakes of a Boreal Plains region recently affected by wildfire.
Biogeosciences.
6247-6265.
2013
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The resilience and functional role of moss in boreal and arctic ecosystems.
New Phytologist.
49-67.
2012
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Bacterial and enchytraeid abundance accelerate soil carbon turnover along a lowland vegetation gradient in interior Alaska.
Soil Biology and Biochemistry.
188-198.
2012
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Contributions of algae to GPP and DOC production in an Alaskan fen: effects of historical water table manipulations on ecosystem responses to a natural flood.
Oecologia.
821-832.
2012
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Abundance of microbial genes associated with nitrogen cycling as indices of biogeochemical process rates across a vegetation gradient in Alaska.
Environmental Microbiology.
993-1008.
2012
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Effects of trees on the burning of organic layers on permafrost terrain.
Forest Ecology and Management.
127-133.
2012
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Effects of soil rewetting and thawing on soil gas fluxes: a review of current literature and suggestions for future research.
Biogeosciences.
2459-2483.
2012
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Examining the utility of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System in boreal peatlands.
Canadian Journal of Forest Research.
47-58.
2012
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Experimental drying intensifies burning and carbon losses in a northern peatland.
Nature Communications.
2011
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Soil carbon distribution in Alaska in relation to soil-forming factors.
Geoderma.
71-84.
2011
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Vulnerability of high-latitude soil organic carbon in North America to disturbance.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences.
2011
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Model comparisons for estimating carbon emissions from North American wildland fire.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences.
2011
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Conceptual frameworks in peatland ecohydrology: looking beyond the two-layered (acrotelm-catotelm) model.
Ecohydrology.
1-11.
2011
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Interactive effects of vegetation, soil moisture and bulk density on depth of burning of thick organic soils.
International Journal of Wildland Fire.
418-429.
2011
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Recent acceleration of biomass burning and carbon losses in Alaskan forests and peatlands.
Nature Geoscience.
27-31.
2011
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Land Use Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Conventional Oil Production and Oil Sands.
Environmental Science and Technology (Washington).
8766-8772.
2010
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A dynamic organic soil biogeochemical model for simulating the effects of wildfire on soil environmental conditions and carbon dynamics of black spruce forests.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences.
2010
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Seasonal ice and hydrologic controls on dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen concentrations in a boreal-rich fen.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences.
2010
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The importance of nutrient co-limitation in regulating algal community composition, productivity and algal-derived DOC in an oligotrophic marsh in interior Alaska.
Freshwater Biology.
1845-1860.
2010
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Topographic controls on black carbon accumulation in Alaskan black spruce forest soils: implications for organic matter dynamics.
Biogeochemistry: an international journal.
39-56.
2010
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Modeling fire severity in black spruce stands in the Alaskan boreal forest using spectral and non-spectral geospatial data.
Remote Sensing of Environment: an interdisciplinary journal.
1494-1503.
2010
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Alaska's changing fire regime - implications for the vulnerability of its boreal forests.
Canadian Journal of Forest Research.
1313-1324.
2010
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Fire, climate change, and forest resilience in interior Alaska.
Canadian Journal of Forest Research.
1302-1312.
2010
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Resilience of Alaska's boreal forest to climatic change.
Canadian Journal of Forest Research.
1360-1370.
2010
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The role of mosses in ecosystem succession and function in Alaska's boreal forest.
Canadian Journal of Forest Research.
1237-1264.
2010
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Effects of Experimental Water Table and Temperature Manipulations on Ecosystem CO2 Fluxes in an Alaskan Rich Fen.
Ecosystems.
1329-1342.
2009
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Effects of soil moisture and water depth on ERS SAR backscatter measurements from an Alaskan wetland complex.
Remote Sensing of Environment: an interdisciplinary journal.
1868-1873.
2009
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Impacts of climate change on fire activity and fire management in the circumboreal forest.
Global Change Biology.
549-560.
2009
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Interactive Effects of Fire, Soil Climate, and Moss on CO2 Fluxes in Black Spruce Ecosystems of Interior Alaska.
Ecosystems.
57-72.
2009
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Trade-offs in resource allocation among moss species control decomposition in boreal peatlands.
Journal of Ecology.
1297-1305.
2008
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Special Issue BIOGEOCHEMISTRY OF FORESTED ECOSYSTEMS Selected papers from BIOGEOMON, the 5th International Symposium on Ecosystem Behaviour, held at the University of California, Santa Cruz, on June 25-30, 2006 Preface.
Science of the Total Environment.
221-221.
2008
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Short-term response of methane fluxes and methanogen activity to water table and soil warming manipulations in an Alaskan peatland.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences.
2008
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Sphagnum mosses limit total carbon consumption during fire in Alaskan black spruce forests.
Canadian Journal of Forest Research.
2328-2336.
2008
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Evaluating the potential of Landsat TM/ETM+ imagery for assessing fire severity in Alaskan black spruce forests.
International Journal of Wildland Fire.
500-514.
2008
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Evaluation of the composite burn index for assessing fire severity in Alaskan black spruce forests.
International Journal of Wildland Fire.
515-526.
2008
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Topographic influences on wildfire consumption of soil organic carbon in interior Alaska: Implications for black carbon accumulation.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences.
2007
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The disappearance of relict permafrost in boreal north America: Effects on peatland carbon storage and fluxes.
Global Change Biology.
1922-1934.
2007
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Effects of wildfire and permafrost on soil organic matter and soil climate in interior Alaska.
Global Change Biology.
2391-2403.
2006
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Methanogenesis and methanogen diversity in three peatland types of the discontinuous permafrost zone, boreal western continental Canada.
Geomicrobiology Journal: an international journal of geomicrobiology and microbial biogeochemistry.
641-651.
2006
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Wildfires threaten mercury stocks in northern soils.
Geophysical Research Letters.
2006
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Decomposition in extreme-rich fens of boreal Alberta, Canada.
Soil Science Society of America Journal.
1856-1860.
2005
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Historical burn area in western Canadian peatlands and its relationship to fire weather indices.
Global Biogeochemical Cycles: an international journal of global change.
2004
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Decomposition and organic matter quality in continental peatlands: The ghost of permafrost past.
Ecosystems.
740-750.
2004
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Chemistry of burning the forest floor during the FROSTFIRE experimental burn, interior Alaska, 1999.
Global Biogeochemical Cycles: an international journal of global change.
2004
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Dating recent peat deposits.
Wetlands: the journal of the Society of Wetland Scientists.
324-356.
2004
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The role of bryophytes in carbon and nitrogen cycling.
Bryologist.
395-409.
2003
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Response of Sphagnum fuscum to nitrogen deposition: A case study of ombrogenous peatlands in Alberta, Canada.
Bryologist.
235-245.
2003
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Boreal peatland C fluxes under varying permafrost regimes.
Soil Biology and Biochemistry.
907-912.
2002
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Current disturbance and the diminishing peatland carbon sink.
Geophysical Research Letters.
2002
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Modelling long-term peatland dynamics. II. Processes and rates as inferred from litter and peat-core data.
Ecological Modelling.
159-173.
2001
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A direct approach to quantifying organic matter lost as a result of peatland wildfire.
Canadian Journal of Forest Research.
363-366.
2001
- Organic matter accumulation, peat chemistry, and permafrost melting in peatlands of boreal Alberta. Ecoscience. 379-392. 2000
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Boreal bog Sphagnum refixes soil-produced and respired (CO2)-C-14.
Ecoscience.
587-591.
1999
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Material Legacies and Environmental Constraints Underlie Fire Resilience of a Dominant Boreal Forest Type.
Ecosystems.
2022
Background
education and training
- Ph.D., University of Alberta (Canada) 2002
- B.Sc., Villanova University 1997
awards and honors
International Activities
global connections related to teaching and scholarly work (in recent years)
- Canada Country