Asbjornsen, Heidi

My research interests fall broadly within the disciplines of ecosystem ecology, applied forest ecology, and sustainable agriculture, while encompassing aspects of plant ecophysiology, restoration ecology, ecohydrology, and sustainability science.The overarching question that I seek to address through my research is: What are the key ecological processes that determine an ecosystem's capacity to sustainably provide diverse benefits to society while maintaining resilience to change, and how can these processes be actively reinforced and strengthened through management?   

I am particularly interested in the effects of climate change and land use change on the water cycle, and the linkages between plant-water interactions and nutrient and carbon cycles, in both forest and agricultural systems.  An important component of my research program involves transferring information about ecological processes across scales -- from the individual leaf or whole tree to the ecosystem, watershed, and landscape.  I utilize a variety of approaches and tools to address this question, including stable isotopes of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, plant ecophysiological measurements, long-term monitoring of ecosystem processes, micrometeorology, and modeling.