I am no longer accepting new graduate students
Research Summary
For almost four decades, I have studied the effects of air pollution on the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and lead in high-elevation forests of New England and the Northeast. Colleagues and I have documented the accumulation of lead from gasoline in the organic horizons of soils and—following the introduction of unleaded gasoline—the redistribution of lead to underlying mineral soil horizons. During the last decade, I have examined the impact of increased demand for wood as a fuel, and the subsequent effect on carbon stored in the mineral horizons of forest soils. The work from my lab and other labs has identified that clear-cutting temperate forests mobilizes carbon that would have otherwise remained sequestered in mineral soil, roughly 20–40 cm below the organic horizon. Our work has revealed that the use of biomass as a substitute for fossil fuels is certainly not carbon neutral and results in carbon emissions not previously accounted for in standard carbon calculations.
Graduate Students 1991 through 2020
Andrew Friedland, Chair of Thesis Committee
Bradley Craig, MS 1991, Department of Earth Sciences. Thesis: “Temporal and Spatial Changes of Trace Metals in the Forest Floor from the Northeastern USA.” Current Position: Principal, ACZ Laboratories, Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Eric Miller, PhD 1993, Department of Earth Sciences. Thesis: “Atmospheric Influences on the Biogeochemistry of High-Elevation Forests.” Current Position: President, Ecosystem Research Group, Norwich, Vermont.
Brian Bargmann, MS 1994, Thayer School of Engineering. Thesis: “Design and Implementation of a Laboratory Soil Column Study: Lead Transport in a Synthetic Soil.” Current Position: Senior Manager, Tele Atlas, Hartford, Connecticut.
Celia Evans, PhD 1999, Department of Biological Sciences. “Interactions Between Tree Species, Soil And Nitrogen Availability In Fir-Birch-Spruce Forests.” Current Position: Associate Professor, Paul Smiths College, Paul Smiths, New York.
Jim Kaste, PhD 2003, Department of Earth Sciences. “Tracing The Retention And Redistribution Of Lead And Other Atmospheric Fallout In Soils.” Current Position: Associate Professor, William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia.
Andrew Schroth, PhD 2007, Department of Earth Sciences. “Overstory Effects on Chemical Weathering Rates and Anthropogenic Lead Dynamics in Forest Soils.” Current Position: Faculty, University of Vermont.
Lynne Zummo, MS 2010. Department of Earth Sciences. “Soil Carbon Release Along a Gradient of Physical Disturbance in a Harvested Northern Hardwood Forest. Current position: graduate student at Stanford University.
Rachel Neurath, MS 2011. Department of Earth Sciences. Carbon Loss in Mineral Soil Horizons: The Effects of 120 Years of Forest Harvesting in New England. Current position: graduate student at UC-Berkeley.
Justin Richardson, PhD 2015, Department of Earth Sciences. “Anthropogenic Changes to Mercury and Lead Biogeochemistry in Forest Soils Across the Northeastern United States.” Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Geosciences, U-Mass, Amherst.
Chelsea Vario, PhD 2015, Department of Biological Sciences. “Soil Biogeochemistry in Temperate and Arctic Ecosystems: Human Disturbance to a Critical Carbon Pool.” Current position: Private consultant.
Morgan Peach, PhD 2020, Ecology, Evolution, Environment, and Society Graduate Program. "Legacies of Residential Development in Temperate Forest Soils."