MERRITT TURETSKY
Director, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), University of Colorado Boulder
CO LEAD, LANDSCAPE 4 · COLLABORATOR, THEME 2 · COLLABORATOR, SYNTHESIS TEAM · SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE
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Director, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), University of Colorado Boulder, I am an ecosystem ecologist with broad interests in plant ecology, biogeochemistry, and global change. We use a variety of approaches, from large-scale manipulations to laboratory experiments and paleoecological reconstructions, to understand the resilience of communities and ecosystems to environmental change. I am excited by integrative research questions that span levels of biological organization, particularly questions that explore the evolutionary, physiological, and ecological mechanisms underpinning ecosystem services. We work on a variety of research issues including permafrost degradation and changing wildfire regimes that are important to global change and environmental policy arenas. In both northern Canada and Alaska, my research is moving towards fundamental research questions that also are of interest to stakeholders in the north. Northerners are experiencing the most rapid climate change on the planet, and our research is helping them to address what these rapid changes mean for their land, traditional foods and the quality of their water. Landscape changes associated with climate warming also will influence the resilience of power and energy systems in northern regions. For example, we are studying how permafrost thaw is leading to land subsidence (thermokarst) and how this is affecting the ability of subsidence harvesters to travel across their land and access traditional foods. By conducting user-driven research that also addresses fundamental questions in ecology and global change biology, we aim to build knowledge and capacity for northern communities and governments
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EXPERTISE
The biology of biogeochemical cycling, Climate change and disturbance in boreal and taiga regions, Carbon cycle research to address northern food and water security
The biology of biogeochemical cycling, Climate change and disturbance in boreal and taiga regions, Carbon cycle research to address northern food and water security