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Margaret
Torn Phone: 510-495-2223 |
Ph.D. Energy and Resources, University of California at Berkeley, 1994
M.S. Energy and Resources, University of California at Berkeley, 1990
B.S. Conservation and Resource Studies, Highest Honors,University of California at Berkeley, 1984
The focus of my work is carbon and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems and trace-gas flux between soil and atmosphere. I conduct research on soil carbon, global change, and the impacts of human activities on ecosystem processes. The primary approaches I use are field experiments, elemental and isotopic measurements, and analytical modeling.
At this time, most of our projects are centered on four controls of soil carbon cycling and storage: soil minerals, nutrient status, climate, and land use.
ARM/LBNL Carbon Project web Site
Background on interests
Soil organic carbon is the largest C reservoir interacting with the atmosphere on time scales of human concern. Soils contain twice as much C as do all living organisms or the atmosphere, and the annual flux of soil respiration is 10x the CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. Even a small change in soil carbon cycling worldwide could form a major feedback to climatic change. Moreover, fertilization of the terrestrial biosphere will only translate into long-term C sequestration if fixed C ends up in soil in slowly cycling forms of organic matter. Thus, soils are prime candidates for forming feedback to climate change or helping to prevent it. Yet, soils remain one of the most poorly understood aspects of the terrestrial carbon cycle. Specifically, we need to understand much more about what controls the long-term stabilization or loss of C in soil.
Adding isotopic measurements to the suite of more commonly measured ecological variables can give us much more leverage in detecting changes in carbon cycling caused by experimental treatments or natural gradients. Quantitatively important rates of C sequestration in soils have proven hard to detect with conventional methods due to the large stock and high variability. However, the combination of isotopic techniques and soil fractionation can greatly increase our ability to detect early changes in carbon cycling, by magnifying the signal for changes in carbon stocks and sources. The signature of C fluxes can be used to investigate root vs. microbial respiration, treatment effects on productivity and decomposition rates, and how these effect soil carbon storage.
Program Head, Climate Change and Carbon Management, Lawrence Berkeley Nat’l Lab, 2001-present
Associate Adjunct Professor, Energy and Resources, U.C. Berkeley, 2005-present
Staff Scientist, Earth Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 2005-present
Scientist, Earth Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1998-2005
Post-Doctoral Fellow, U.C. Irvine and Stanford University 1994-1998
Graduate Research Assistant, Energy and Resources Group, U.C. Berkeley 1986-1994
Research Principal Investigator, Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Colorado 1991-93
Science Intern, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 1985-1986
Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, 2003
DOE Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, 2003
Earth System Science Post-Doctoral Fellowship, 1994-1997
NASA Global Change Doctoral Fellowship, 1991-94
Switzer Environmental Fellowship, 1990-92
Graduate Opportunity Fellowship, U.C. Berkeley, 1986-87
Current Grants, Principal Investigator:
DOE BER Carbon Cycle Measurements and Analysis for the DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program. Co-PI Joe Berry, Carnegie Institution.
DOE BER Quantifying the importance of belowground plant allocation for sequestration of carbon in soils. Co-PI Todd Dawson, UCB.
DOE BER Enriched Background Isotope Study (EBIS)
DOE BER Climate-Ecosystem Feedbacks: Observational Needs and Opportunities
University of Martin Luther, Germany. Flouride Reactivity test for soil organic matter stabilization.
Current Grants, Co-Investigator or Collaborator
DOE BER Carbon Cycle Measurements and Analysis for the DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program. FY 2003-2007. Co-PI is Joe Berry, Carnegie Institution.
DOE BER Quantifying the importance of belowground plant allocation for sequestration of carbon in soils. FY 2000-2005 Co-PI is Todd Dawson, UCB.
DOE BER Enriched Background Isotope Study (EBIS), FY 2001-2005
DOE BER Climate-Ecosystem Feedbacks: Observational Needs and Opportunities, FY 2004-2006
DOE, An Annual Grassland Mesocosm Exploration Of Scaling From Genomes To Ecosystem Function, FY2005-2008. PI is Mary Firestone, LBL/UCB; I was acting PI through August 2005.
Current Grants, Co-Investigator or Collaborator
USDA. Dynamics of buried soil organic carbon along a depositional Toposequence, FY 2003-2006. PI is John Harte, UCB.
Past Grants
NSF Ecosystems, FY 2001-2005 (co-PI)
California Energy Commission, non-CO2 greenhouse gases. FY2003-2004
University of Martin Luther, Germany, fluoride reactivity of minerals, FY 2003-2005
Laboratory Director Long-Term Development, LBNL 2001-2003
Laboratory Director Long-Term Development, LBNL 1999-2001
DOE Water Cycle Pilot
DOE Terrestrial Carbon Program, 1999-2000, PI
National Science Foundation, 1996-1998
University-wide Energy Research Group Grant, 1990
California Policy Seminar Grant, 1987-1989
California Sea Grant Trainee (Scripps Oceanographic Institute), 1989
Climatic Change Effects Research Program Grant, US EPA, 1988
Council on Educational Development, Course Improvement Grant, 1987
Publications (*student or post doc)
Torn, M.S. and J. Harte. Missing feedbacks, asymmetric uncertainties, and the underestimation of future warming. In press, GRL
*Bird, J.A. and M.S. Torn. Fine Roots versus Needles:
A Comparison of 13C and 15N Dynamics in a Ponderosa Pine Forest Soil.
In Press Biogeochemistry
Treseder, K.K. , M.S. Torn, C.A. Masiello. An ecosystem-scale radiocarbon tracer
to test use of litter carbon by ectomycorrhizal fungi. In Press, Soil Biology
and Biochemistry.
Lapenis, A.G., G.B. Lawrence, A.A. Andreev, A.A. Bobrov M.S. Torn, J.W. Harden. 2004. Acidification of Forest Soil in Russia: 1893-Present. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 18 (1): GB1037.
Torn, M.S. and J. Southon. 2001. A New 13C Correction for Radiocarbon Samples from Elevated-CO2 Experiments. Radiocarbon, 43: 691-694.
Chapin III, F.S., M.S. Torn and M. Tateno. 1996. Principles of ecosystem sustainability. American Naturalist 148(6): 1016-1037.
Torn, M.S. and J. Harte. 1996. Methane consumption by montane soils: implications for positive and negative feedback with climatic change. Biogeochemistry 32: 53-67.
Harte, J., M.S. Torn, F. Chang, B. Feifarek, A. Kinzig, M.R. Shaw, and K. Shen. 1995. Results from a global warming experiment: Soil temperature and moisture responses in a subalpine meadow ecosystem. Ecological Applications 5(1): 132-150.
Torn, M.S. and F.S. Chapin III. 1993. Environmental and biotic controls over methane flux from arctic tundra. Chemosphere 26 (1-4): 357-368.
Torn, M.S. and J.S. Fried. 1992. Predicting the impact of global warming on wildfire. Climatic Change 21: 257-274.
Fried, J.S. and M.S. Torn. 1990. Analyzing localized climate impacts with the Changed Climate Fire Modeling System. Natural Resource Modeling 4(2): 229-253.
Books and Book Chapters
Trumbore, S.E. and M.S. Torn. Soils and the global carbon cycle. In: Soils and Global Change, E.A. Holland, ed. NATO Advanced Study Institute, In Press.
Jensen, D.B., M.S. Torn, and J. Harte. 1993. In Our Own Hands: A Strategy for Conserving California's Biological Diversity, University of California Press, Los Angeles. 290 pp.
Harte, J., M.S. Torn, and D.B. Jensen. 1992. The nature and consequences of indirect linkages between climate change and biological diversity. In: Global Warming and Biological Diversity, R.L. Peters and T.E. Lovejoy, eds. Yale University Press, New Haven. pp. 325-343.
Manuscripts in Review and Submitted
Swanston C.W., M.S. Torn, P.J. Hanson, J.R. Southon, C.T. Garten, E.M. Hanlon, L. Ganio. Characterizing processes of soil carbon stabilization using forest stand-level radiocarbon enrichment. In Review, Geoderma.
Kleber, M.A., R. Mikutta, M.S. Torn, R. Jahn. Poorly crystalline mineral phases protect organic matter in acid subsoil horizons. In Review, Soil Science Society of America Journal
Cooley, H.S., W.J. Riley, M.S. Torn, and Y. He. Impact of Agricultural Practice on Regional Climate in a Coupled Land Surface Mesoscale Model. Submitted, JGR, Atmospheres
Invited Presentations, 1999-2006 (more than 60 presentations given or co-authored during period):
Next Generation Soil Carbon Models: Lessons from Isotopic Studies. Keynote address for the German Soil Priority Program 1090, Mechanisms of Soil Organic Matter Stabilization. Thurnau, Germany, March 21, 2006.
Women in Science. Panel discussion for Girls, Inc Alameda, Women of the 21st Century Club. Alameda, CA, July 19, 2005.
An Annual Grassland Exploration of Scaling from Genomes to Ecosystem Function.Program for Ecosystem Research Workshop, Flagstaff, AZ, April 12, 2005
Climate-Ecosystem Feedbacks: Observational Needs and Opportunities: A scoping project for the US Climate Change Science Program. Program for Ecosystem Research Workshop, Flagstaff, AZ, April 12, 2005
EBIS Microbial Carbon Cycling rates and substrates. Enriched Background Isotope Study Workshop, Livermore, CA, January 20, 2005.
Modeling wildfire and changing climates. Fire Ecology Seminar. University of California, Berkeley. September 2004.
Soil Carbon Dynamics in Two Novel Cases: The Historic Russian Archives and the Tennessee Burp. Informal Seminar. University of Zurich, Switzerland. May 2004.
Climate Change: Bringing it Back Home. Berkeley Lab Friends of Science Lecture Series. Berkeley City Main Library, April 26, 2004.
Biotic and biogeochemical feedbacks to climate change. AGU fall meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 2002. Presented by John Harte.
Mineral control of carbon storage in Andisols: Case studies and applications to other soils. European Union workshop. COST Action 622: "Soil Resources of European Volcanic Systems" Manderscheid, Germany, April 24-28, 2002. *Keynote address.
Applications of Radiocarbon to Terrestrial Carbon Research. Martin Luther University, April 30, 2002, Halle, Germany.
Quantifying the Importance of Belowground Plant Allocation for Sequestration of Carbon in Soil. DOE Science Team Meeting, Argonne National Laboratory, IL. October 29-31, 2001
Historic Russian Soil Collection Soil Carbon in the Russian Steppe. Workshop on Mechanisms of Soil Carbon Storage, UC Santa Barbara, December 3-4, 2001.
Using 13C and 14C in Elevated CO2 Experiments to Understand Soil Carbon Cycling in Grasslands. Workshop on Mechanisms of Soil Carbon Storage, UC Santa Barbara, December 3-4, 2001.
Using 13C and 14C in Elevated CO2 Experiments to Understand Soil Carbon Cycling and Microbial Activity in Grassland. Isotopes in Ecology and the Earth Sciences at UC Berkeley; Berkeley Center for Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry, Berkeley, CA, August 2000.
Ecological Complexity and Climate Change; California Energy Commission Workshop on Climate Change Science, Sacramento, CA, June 1999.
Mineral Control of Soil Organic Matter Storage and Turnover. Center For Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Seminar Series, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1999.
Selected Synergistic and Professional Activities, 1999-2006
Science Steering Group, North American Carbon Program, 2005-present
Contributing writer and reviewer, California Climate Change: Science Report to Governor on Impacts and Adaptation Options. Convened by California Energy Commission, EPA, and ARB.
Peer Reviewer, Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC), 2005
Co-convener and Co-chair, AGU sessions (oral and poster), Carbon, Water, and Energy Exchange in Grassland and Cropland Ecosystems, Fall Meeting 2004
National Technical Advisory Committee, DOE National Institute for Global Environmental Change, 2003-Present
Science advisor, Union of Concerned Scientists assessment of climate change and wildfire impacts in California, 2005
Invited participant and rapporteur, NSF NEON Biogeochemistry Workshop, Boulder, July 2004
Invited participant, Interagency workshop on Ecosystem Chapter of the US Climate Change Science Plan, Spring, 2004.
Session leader, NSF-sponsored workshop on soil respiration: Carbon Respiration from Terrestrial Ecosystems (CaRTE). 2004
Writing Team, Rapporteur, North American Carbon Program workshop & implementation plan, 2003
Co-Author, Review Chapter of California Energy Commission Climate Change Assessment, 2003
Lead Author, Road map for non-CO2 greenhouse gas inventories in California, California Energy Commission. 2003-2004
Co-chair and author, DOE Water Cycle Dynamics and Prediction Program plan, 2001
Co-organizer NSF workshop for research in joint geosciences and biosciences. Madison, WI, 2001.
Co-author, white paper on Biogeosciences in NSF. White Paper title “Linking Ecological Biology and Geoscience. Report to the National Science Foundation, April 4, 2002.”
Co-author NSF workshop on the Terrestrial Carbon Cycle, June 2000. White Paper title: “The changing carbon cycle: A terrestrial focus,”
Co-author DOE Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Facilities white paper, 2000.
Invited Panelist California Energy Commission Workshop on Climate Change Science, June 1999.
Co-author Agricultural and grassland ecosystems, appendix to “Working paper on carbon sequestration science and technology,” Office of Science and Office of Fossil Energy, DOE 1999
Instructor of graduate class The Root-Ecosystem Interface. Co-taught with Todd Dawson. Department of Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley. Spring 2002. Course number: IB 250.
Guest Instructor workshop on “Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting, Verification and Certification of CO2 Emissions,” LBNL Energy and Environmental Technologies Division, 2000.
Reviewer Atmospheric Environment, Biogeochemistry, Chemosphere, Climatic Change, Ecological Applications, Geoderma, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Global Change Biology, Journal of Geophysical Research, Limnology and Oceanography, Oecologia, Soil Science Society of America Journal
Proposal Reviewer DOE, NSF, WESTGEC, EPA
Proposal Panel Member DOE-TCP, DOE-NICCR
Mentor, ERULF, SULI, GREF, Pre-teacher training, and Mickey Leland programs.
Courses Taught
Quantitative Aspects of Global Environmental Problems (Energy and Resources 102) University of California, Berkeley, Spring 2006.
The Root-Ecosystem Interface. Co-taught with Todd Dawson. Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley. Spring 2002. Course number: IB 250.
Biogeochemistry: Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles (Environmental Science 320), Colorado College, Spring 1996. (Visiting Professor)
Other Teaching Experience
Lecturer Environmental and Cultural Aspects of Energy, Workshop for Native American College Instructor, Native American Renewable Energy Education Project, Summer 1996.
Teaching Assistant Quantitative Aspects of Global Environmental Problems (Energy and Resources 102) University of California, Berkeley, Spring 1987.
Guest Lecturer UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, LBNL, 1991-1994, 1995, 1999-2000
Guest Lecturer Stanford University, 1999
Guest Instructor, workshop on “Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting, Verification and Certification of CO2 Emissions” organized by Ed Vine, LBNL Energy and Environmental Technologies Division, 2000.
Postdoctoral Research Advisors:
Susan Trumbore, Peter Vitousek, Chris Field
Thesis Advisors:
John Harte, F. Stuart Chapin, III, Pamela Matson, John Holdren
Postdoctoral Research Associates:
Jeff Bird, Julia Gaudinski, Simon Davis, Caroline Massiello, Chris Swanston
Thesis Research Advisees, University of California, Berkeley unless noted:
Asmeret Behre, Laurie Koteen, Lara Kueppers, Erika Marin-Spiotta (DOE GREF Mentor),
Rebecca Sutton, Craig Rasmussen (UC Davis), Erika Zavaleta (Stanford), John Zobitz (DOE GREF Mentor)
Undergraduate and High School Interns as part of Mentorship Programs:
Diane Kenski (ERULF), Pallavi Shukla (Mickey Leland), Erin Hanlon (SULI), Braulia Sapien (Pre-Service Teacher Training), Laura Wells (Pre-Service Teacher Training), Francesca Mia Hopkins (Environmental Science Senior Thesis, UCB; now post baccalaureate fellow), Laura Huppert (Piedmont High School—and Regional Science Fair in March 2005 winner with our project).
American Geophysical Union
Ecological Society of America