Marguerite MauritzPostdoctoral Scientist

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Portrait of Marguerite Mauritz, post-doctoral scientist.
Permafrost soils in tundra ecosystems, Carbon balance responses to warming arctic ecosystems Marguerite.Mauritz@nau.edu

    As arctic temperatures rise, we expect to see dramatic changes due to thawing permafrost soils. Permafrost stores half the total amount of carbon (C) found in soils globally, and twice as much C as is found in the atmosphere. As permafrost thaws, the stored C becomes vulnerable to loss because low temperatures no longer limit microbial activity. However, thawing soils and warmer temperatures may also allow plants to access more nutrients and grow deeper roots. In the short-term greater plant growth can therefore offset C losses from the soil. Uncertainty about how plants and microbes interact, as the ecosystem continues to change, makes it extremely difficult to predict how warming will affect permafrost C dynamics in both the short, and the long term. Using data from a multi-year field warming experiment in the Tundra, lab soil incubations and 13C&14C signatures from soil respiration, Mauritz is interested in improving our understanding of how rising arctic temperatures will affect the C balance of arctic ecosystems.

    Research Topics
    • How does warming impact C balance of arctic ecosystems?
    • How do changes in the plant community interact to determine the C balance of the ecosystem?
    • How rapidly is C lost from the soil, once temperature constraints are lifted?
    • What are the mechanisms responsible for stabilizing C in the soil?
    • Do greater plant root activity and more extensive soil thawing create a priming effect to stimulate even greater soil C loss?
    Projects
    Full Curriculum Vitae
    Selected Publications

    Celis, G., M. Mauritz, R. Bracho, V. G. Salmon, E. E. Webb, J. Hutchings, S. M. Natali, C. Schädel, K. G. Crummer, and E. A. G. Schuur. 2017. Tundra is a consistent source of CO2 at a site with progressive permafrost thaw during 6 years of chamber and eddy covariance measurements. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 122

    Mauritz, M., Bracho, R., Celis, G., Hutchings, J., Natali, S.M., Pegoraro, E., Salmon, V., Schädel, C., Webb, E., Schuur, E.A.G. 2017. Non-linear CO2 flux response to seven years of experimentally induced permafrost thaw. Global Change Biology. 23:3646–3666 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13661.

    Prevéy, J., Vellend, M., Rüger, N., Hollister, R.D., Bjorkman, A.D., Myers-Smith, I.H, Elmendorf, S.C., Clark, K., Cooper, E.J., Elberling, B., Fosaa, A.M., Henry, G.H., Høye, T.T., Jónsdóttir, I.S., Klanderud, K., Lévesque, E., Mauritz, M., Molau, U., Natali, S.M., Oberbauer, S.F., Panchen, Z.A., Post, E., Rumpf, S.B., Schmidy, N.M., Schuur, T., Semenchuk, P.R., Troxler, T., Welker, J.M., Rixen, C. 2017. Greater temperature sensitivity of plant phenology at colder sites: implications for convergence across northern latitudes. Global Change Biology 23 (7)

    Salmon, V., Soucy, P., Mauritz, M., Celis, G., Natali, S., Mack, M., Schuur, E.A.G.. Nitrogen availability increases in a tundra ecosystem during five years of experimental permafrost thaw. 2016. Global Change Biology 22 (5)

    Natali, S., Crummer, G., Schuur, T., Johnston, C., Mauritz, M., Webb, E., Salmon, V., Shade, J., Krapek, J., Pegoraro, E. 2015. Permafrost thaw and soil moisture drive CO2 and CH4 release from upland tundra. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 120 (3), 525-537

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