Professional Title:
Professor, Life and Environmental Sciences
Email:
Phone:
(209) 228-4656
Office:
Science and Engineering 1 204
Education:
B.S., 1982 - University of California, Berkeley
M.S., 1984 - Duke University
Ph.D., 1990 - University of California, Berkeley
Research Interests:
Professor Hart's research explores the controls of biogeochemical processes and productivity in managed and wildland terrestrial ecosystems using methods such as:
- Ecological genetics to isotopic analyses
- Computer simulation modeling
- Elucidate the biotic and abiotic factors that regulate terrestrial ecosystem structure and function
His research group is currently investigating:
- Biological and geochemical controls on ecosystem development along a three million year, semi-arid soil chronosequence
- Influence of the genetics of dominant plants on ecosystem processes
- Effects of forest restoration treatments (e.g., thinning with or without prescribed fire) and wildfire on ecosystem carbon and water balance, soil microbial communities, and belowground processes
- Efficacy of insect communities as indicators of forest ecosystem health
- Utility of the 15N natural abundance signature of soil microbes as an integrator of nitrogen cycling processes
- Impact of climatic change on soil-plant-atmosphere interactions; and the effects of water diversion on riparian forest
Interdisciplinary/Multidisciplinary Group:
Environmental Sciences
