Shersingh Joseph Tumber-Dávila
Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies; E.E. Just Faculty Fellow
Joseph (he/él) is a terrestrial ecosystems ecologist studying the response of ecosystems to global environmental change. Joseph joined the faculty at Dartmouth College in Fall 2024. He is affiliated with the Graduate Program in Ecology, Evolution, Ecosystems and Society (EEES). Prior to joining Dartmouth, Joseph was the LTER Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Forest, Harvard University, and he received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Environmental Earth System Science at Stanford University as well as his B.S. in Environmental Conservation and Sustainability from the University of New Hampshire.
Joseph’s research program as an ecologist investigates global environmental change effects on terrestrial ecosystems, plant functional traits, and subsequent consequences for global carbon cycling and policy. As a terrestrial ecosystem ecologist, Joseph’s unique, interdisciplinary, approach spans regional and global scale experiments, syntheses, and modeling. His ecological research program addresses the following pressing knowledge gaps in our understanding of how plants influence the global carbon cycle: 1) the above- to belowground allometry of plants, their carbon cycle implications, and their interactions with the environment, and 2) the impact of climate change on regional disturbance regimes and the downstream consequences for forest carbon sequestration, and 3) the use of forest carbon as a nature-based climate solution to meet policy and climate mitigation goals. Climate change policy has many important societal and environmental justice implications, which are at the forefront of Joseph’s ecological framework and scientific philosophy. Additionally, rooted in his philosophy and experiences as a Puerto Rican scientist, he collaboratively fosters diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging in the academy through his scholarship. Beyond his research, Joseph is passionate about teaching, mentoring, science communication, and outreach, driven by his desire to build community and support the next generation of ecologists. Joseph is actively collaborating to make the field of ecology inclusive through revisiting our use of language and through introspective investigations into what it means to be an ecologist and a scientist.
Education
Ph.D. Environmental Earth System Science, Stanford University, 2021
M.S. Earth System Science, Stanford University, 2019
B.S. Environmental Conservation and Sustainability, Minor in Forestry, University of New Hampshire, 2015
Selected Publications
Bachofen, C., Tumber-Dávila, S. J., Mackay, D. S., McDowell, N. G., Carminati, A., Klein, T., Stocker, B. D., Mencuccini, M., & Grossiord, C. (2024). Tree water uptake patterns across the globe. New Phytologist, 242(5), 1891–1910. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.19762
Chari, N. R., Tumber-Dávila, S. J., Phillips, R. P., Bauerle, T. L., Brunn, M., Hafner, B. D., Klein, T., Obersteiner, S., Reay, M. K., Ullah, S., & Taylor, B. N. (2024). Estimating the global root exudate carbon flux. Biogeochemistry, 167(7), 895–908. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-024-01161-z
Cheng, S. J., Gaynor, K. M., Moore, A. C., Darragh, K., Estien, C. O., Hammond, J. W., Lawrence, C., Mills, K. L., Baiz, M. D., Ignace, D., Khadempour, L., McCary, M. A., Rice, M. M., Tumber-Dávila, S. J., & Smith, J. A. (2023). Championing inclusive terminology in ecology and evolution. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 38(5), 381–384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2022.12.011
Laughlin, D. C., Siefert, A., Fleri, J. R., Tumber-Dávila, S. J., Hammond, W. M., Sabatini, F. M., Damasceno, G., Aubin, I., Field, R., Hatim, M. Z., Jansen, S., Lenoir, J., Lens, F., McCarthy, J. K., Niinemets, Ü., Phillips, O. L., Attorre, F., Bergeron, Y., Bruun, H. H., … Bruelheide, H. (2023). Rooting depth and xylem vulnerability are independent woody plant traits jointly selected by aridity, seasonality, and water table depth. New Phytologist, 240(5), 1774–1787. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.19276
Lu, M., Wang, S., Malhotra, A., Tumber-Dávila, S. J., Weintraub-Leff, S., McCormack, L., Wang, X. T., & Jackson, R. B. (2022). A continental scale analysis reveals widespread root bimodality (p. 2022.09.14.507823). bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.09.14.507823
Ouimette, A. P., Ollinger, S. V., Lepine, L. C., Stephens, R. B., Rowe, R. J., Vadeboncoeur, M. A., Tumber-Davila, S. J., & Hobbie, E. A. (2020). Accounting for Carbon Flux to Mycorrhizal Fungi May Resolve Discrepancies in Forest Carbon Budgets. Ecosystems, 23(4), 715–729. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-019-00440-3
Provete, D. B., Moreno, S., D’Bastiani, E., Santiago-Rosario, L. Y., & Tumber-Dávila, S. J. (2024). We Are Stronger Together: Building Community to Face Barriers for Latin American and Underrepresented Ecologists. The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, 105(4), e02180. https://doi.org/10.1002/bes2.2180
Sriskandarajah, N., Wüst-Galley, C., Heller, S., Leifeld, J., Määttä, T., Ouyang, Z., Runkle, B. R. K., Schiedung, M., Schmidt, M. W. I., Tumber-Dávila, S. J., & Malhotra, A. (2024). Belowground plant allocation regulates rice methane emissions from degraded peat soils. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 14593. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-64616-1
Stocker, B. D., Tumber-Dávila, S. J., Konings, A. G., Anderson, M. C., Hain, C., & Jackson, R. B. (2023). Global patterns of water storage in the rooting zones of vegetation. Nature Geoscience, 16(3), 250–256. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01125-2
Tumber-Dávila, S. J., Lucey, T., Boose, E. R., Laflower, D., León-Sáenz, A., Wilson, B. T., MacLean, M. G., & Thompson, J. R. (2024). Hurricanes pose a substantial risk to New England forest carbon stocks. Global Change Biology, 30(4), e17259. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17259
Tumber-Dávila, S. J., & Malhotra, A. (2020). Fast plants in deep water: Introducing the whole-soil column perspective. The New Phytologist, 225(1), 7–9.
Tumber-Dávila, S. J., Schenk, H. J., Du, E., & Jackson, R. B. (2022). Plant sizes and shapes above and belowground and their interactions with climate. New Phytologist, 235(3), 1032–1056. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18031
Connect with Joseph
Steele Hall, Room 103