Mark P Waldrop, Ph.D.
Mark's research expertise is in soil microbial ecology and biogeochemistry in response to global change phenomenon. He leads a team focused on studies of microbial, chemical, and biophysical controls on carbon cycling in permafrost, boreal, and wetland ecosystems of Alaska as well as forest and grassland ecosystems of the Western U.S.
Synergistic Activities
USGS Menlo Park Science Advisory Council Member
US Permafrost Association President
Affiliate/Graduate Faculty, University of Alaska Fairbanks & University of Guelph
Bonanza Creek LTER and Alaska Peatland Experiment (APEX), Principal Investigator
International Soil Carbon Network (NSCN) member
Integrated Ecosystem Model data contributor, AK Climate Science Center
Permafrost Research Coordination Network contributor
Environmental Microbiome Project (EMP) member
North American Carbon Program (NACP), affiliated project lead
Professional Experience
2013- current Project Chief, Mechanisms of Soil Carbon Sequestration
2007- current Research Soil Scientist, USGS, Menlo Park, CA.
2005-2007 Mendenhall Research Fellow, USGS, Menlo Park, CA.
2002-2004 Postdoctoral Fellow, The University of Michigan
Education and Certifications
2002-University of California at Berkeley, Ph.D., Soil Science
1997-University of California at Berkeley, M.S., Soil Science
1995-New Mexico State Univ, B.S. Biology/Ecology, and B.S. Soil Science
Science and Products
Below are Mark's related science projects
Filter Total Items: 13
Dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen release from boreal Holocene permafrost and seasonally frozen soils of Alaska
Permafrost (perennially frozen) and active-layer (seasonally thawed) soils varying in soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content and radiocarbon age were collected from three sites in interior Alaska to determine potential release of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total dissolved N (TDN), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), and dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) upon thaw. Soil cores were...
Below are Mark's related publication
Filter Total Items: 62
Active virus-host interactions at sub-freezing temperatures in Arctic peat soil
BackgroundWinter carbon loss in northern ecosystems is estimated to be greater than the average growing season carbon uptake and is primarily driven by microbial decomposers. Viruses modulate microbial carbon cycling via induced mortality and metabolic controls, but it is unknown whether viruses are active under winter conditions (anoxic and sub-freezing temperatures).ResultsWe used...
Authors
Gareth Trubl, Jeffrey A Kimbrel, Jose Liquet-Gonzalez, Erin E. Nuccio, Peter K. Weber, Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Janet K. Jansson, Mark P. Waldrop, Steve Blazewicz
Influence of permafrost type and site history on losses of permafrost carbon after thaw
We quantified permafrost peat plateau and post-thaw carbon (C) stocks across a chronosequence in Interior Alaska to evaluate the amount of C lost with thaw. Macrofossil reconstructions revealed three stratigraphic layers of peat: (1) a base layer of fen/marsh peat, (2) peat from a forested peat plateau (with permafrost) and, (3) collapse-scar bog peat (at sites where permafrost thaw has...
Authors
Kristen L. Manies, Miriam C. Jones, Mark P. Waldrop, Mary-Cathrine Leewis, Christopher C. Fuller, Robert S. Cornman, Kristen Hoefke
Emergent biogeochemical risks from Arctic permafrost degradation
The Arctic cryosphere is collapsing, posing overlapping environmental risks. In particular, thawing permafrost threatens to release biological, chemical and radioactive materials that have been sequestered for tens to hundreds of thousands of years. As these constituents re-enter the environment, they have the potential to disrupt ecosystem function, reduce the populations of unique...
Authors
Kimberly Miner, Rachel Mackelprang, Juliana D’Andrilli, Arwyn Edwards, Michael J. Malaska, Mark P. Waldrop, Charles E. Miller
The biophysical role of water and ice within permafrost nearing collapse: Insights from novel geophysical observations
The impact of permafrost thaw on hydrologic, thermal, and biotic processes remains uncertain, in part due to limitations in subsurface measurement capabilities. To better understand subsurface processes in thermokarst environments, we collocated geophysical and biogeochemical instruments along a thaw gradient between forested permafrost and collapse-scar bogs at the Alaska Peatland...
Authors
Stephanie R. James, Burke J. Minsley, Jack W. McFarland, Eugenie S. Euskirchen, Colin W. Edgar, Mark P. Waldrop
Carbon fluxes and microbial activities from boreal peatlands experiencing permafrost thaw
Permafrost thaw in northern ecosystems may cause large quantities of carbon (C) to move from soil to atmospheric pools. Because soil microbial communities play a critical role in regulating C fluxes from soils, we examined microbial activity and greenhouse gas production soon after permafrost thaw and ground collapse (into collapse-scar bogs), relative to the permafrost plateau or older...
Authors
Mark P. Waldrop, Jack W. McFarland, Kristen L. Manies, Mary-Cathrine Leewis, Steve Blazewicz, Miriam C. Jones, Rebecca B. Neumann, Jason Keller, Rachel Cohen, Eugenie S. Euskirchen, Colin W. Edgar, Merritt R. Turetsky, William Cable
USGS permafrost research determines the risks of permafrost thaw to biologic and hydrologic resources
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in collaboration with university, Federal, Tribal, and independent partners, conducts fundamental research on the distribution, vulnerability, and importance of permafrost in arctic and boreal ecosystems. Scientists, land managers, and policy makers use USGS data to help make decisions for development, wildlife habitat, and other needs. Native villages...
Authors
Mark P. Waldrop, Lesleigh Anderson, Mark M. Dornblaser, Li Erikson, Ann Gibbs, Nicole M. Herman-Mercer, Stephanie R. James, Miriam C. Jones, Joshua C. Koch, Mary-Cathrine Leewis, Kristen L. Manies, Burke J. Minsley, Neal J. Pastick, Vijay P. Patil, Frank Urban, Michelle Ann Walvoord, Kimberly Wickland, Christian E. Zimmerman
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Ecosystems Land Change Science Program, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Land Change Science Program, Volcano Hazards Program, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Volcano Science Center
Permafrost mapping with electrical resistivity tomography in two wetland systems north of the Tanana River, Interior Alaska
Surface-based 2D electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) surveys were used to characterize permafrost distribution at wetland sites on the alluvial plain north of the Tanana River, 20 km southwest of Fairbanks, Alaska, in June and September 2014. The sites were part of an ecologically-sensitive research area characterizing biogeochemical response of this region to warming and permafrost...
Authors
Christopher Conaway, Cordell Johnson, Thomas Lorenson, Merritt R. Turetsky, Eugenie S. Euskirchen, Mark P. Waldrop, Peter W. Swarzenski
Getting to the root of plant‐mediated methane emissions and oxidation in a thermokarst bog
Vascular plants are important in the wetland methane cycle, but their effect on production, oxidation, and transport has high uncertainty, limiting our ability to predict emissions. In a permafrost‐thaw bog in Interior Alaska, we used plant manipulation treatments, field‐deployed planar optical oxygen sensors, direct measurements of methane oxidation, and microbial DNA analyses to...
Authors
Jesse C Turner, Colby J Moorberg, Andrea Wong, Kathleen Shea, Mark P. Waldrop, Merritt R. Turetsky, Rebecca B. Neumann
Generalized models to estimate carbon and nitrogen stocks of organic soil horizons in Interior Alaska
Boreal ecosystems comprise one tenth of the world’s land surface and contain over 20 % of the global soil carbon (C) stocks. Boreal soils are unique in that its mineral soil is covered by what can be quite thick layers of organic soil. These organic soil layers, or horizons, can differ in their state of decomposition, source vegetation, and disturbance history. These differences result...
Authors
Kristen L. Manies, Mark P. Waldrop, Jennifer W. Harden
Life at the frozen limit: Microbial carbon metabolism across a Late Pleistocene permafrost chronosequence
Permafrost is an extreme habitat yet it hosts microbial populations that remain active over millennia. Using permafrost collected from a Pleistocene chronosequence (19 to 33 ka), we hypothesized that the functional genetic potential of microbial communities in permafrost would reflect microbial strategies to metabolize permafrost soluble organic matter (OM) in situ over geologic time. We...
Authors
Mary-Cathrine Leewis, Renaud Berlemont, David C. Podgorski, Archana Srinivas, Phoebe Zito, Robert G. M. Spencer, Jack W. McFarland, Thomas A. Douglas, Christopher Conaway, Mark P. Waldrop, Rachel Mackelprang
Soil microbial communities and global change
Soils and soil microbial communities mediate the biogeochemical processes that underly ecosystem-level changes. This chapter examines why soils and soil microbial communities are important for understanding impacts and feedbacks to global change. It discusses the technological approaches and challenges that are at the frontiers of this research area. Global change impacts on microbial...
Authors
Mark P. Waldrop, Courtney Creamer
Large loss of CO2 in winter observed across pan-arctic permafrost region
Recent warming in the Arctic, which has been amplified during the winter1,2,3, greatly enhances microbial decomposition of soil organic matter and subsequent release of carbon dioxide (CO2)4. However, the amount of CO2 released in winter is not known and has not been well represented by ecosystem models or empirically based estimates5,6. Here we synthesize regional in situ observations...
Authors
Susan M. Natali, Jennifer D. Watts, Stefano Potter, Brendan M. Rogers, Sarah M. Ludwig, Anne-Katrin Selbmann, Patrick J. Sullivan, Benjamin Abbott, Kyle A. Arndt, Leah Birch, Mats P. Björkman, Anthony Bloom, Gerardo Celis, Torben R. Christiensen, Casper T. Christiansen, Roisin Commane, Elisabeth J. Cooper, Patrick M. Crill, Claudia Czimczik, Sergey Davydov, Jinyang Du, Jocelyn E. Egan, Bo Elberling, Eugenie S. Euskirchen, Thomas Friborg, Helene Genet, Mathias Gockede, Jordan P. Goodrich, Paul Grogan, Manuel Helbig, Elchin E. Jafarov, Julie D. Jastrow, Aram A.M. Kalhori, Yongwon Kim, John S. Kimball, Lars Kutzbach, Mark J. Lara, Klaus Steenberg Larsen, Michael M. Loranty, Magnus Lund, Massimo Lupascu, Nima Madani, Avni Malhorta, Jack W. McFarland, David A. McGuire, Anders Michelson, Christina Minions, Walter C. Oechel, David Olefeldt, Frans-Jan W. Parmentier, Norbert Pirk, Benjamin Poulter, William L. Quinton, Fereidoun Rezanezhad, David Risk, Torsten Sachs, Kevin Schaefer, Neils M. Schmidt, Edward A.G. Schuur, Philipp R. Semenchuk, Gaius R. Shaver, Oliver Sonnentag, Gregory Starr, Claire C. Treat, Mark P. Waldrop, Yihui Wang, Jeffery M. Welker, Christian Wille, Xiaofeng Xu, Zhen Zhang, Qianlai Zhuang, Donatella Zona
Science and Products
Below are Mark's related science projects
Filter Total Items: 13
Dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen release from boreal Holocene permafrost and seasonally frozen soils of Alaska
Permafrost (perennially frozen) and active-layer (seasonally thawed) soils varying in soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content and radiocarbon age were collected from three sites in interior Alaska to determine potential release of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total dissolved N (TDN), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), and dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) upon thaw. Soil cores were...
Below are Mark's related publication
Filter Total Items: 62
Active virus-host interactions at sub-freezing temperatures in Arctic peat soil
BackgroundWinter carbon loss in northern ecosystems is estimated to be greater than the average growing season carbon uptake and is primarily driven by microbial decomposers. Viruses modulate microbial carbon cycling via induced mortality and metabolic controls, but it is unknown whether viruses are active under winter conditions (anoxic and sub-freezing temperatures).ResultsWe used...
Authors
Gareth Trubl, Jeffrey A Kimbrel, Jose Liquet-Gonzalez, Erin E. Nuccio, Peter K. Weber, Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Janet K. Jansson, Mark P. Waldrop, Steve Blazewicz
Influence of permafrost type and site history on losses of permafrost carbon after thaw
We quantified permafrost peat plateau and post-thaw carbon (C) stocks across a chronosequence in Interior Alaska to evaluate the amount of C lost with thaw. Macrofossil reconstructions revealed three stratigraphic layers of peat: (1) a base layer of fen/marsh peat, (2) peat from a forested peat plateau (with permafrost) and, (3) collapse-scar bog peat (at sites where permafrost thaw has...
Authors
Kristen L. Manies, Miriam C. Jones, Mark P. Waldrop, Mary-Cathrine Leewis, Christopher C. Fuller, Robert S. Cornman, Kristen Hoefke
Emergent biogeochemical risks from Arctic permafrost degradation
The Arctic cryosphere is collapsing, posing overlapping environmental risks. In particular, thawing permafrost threatens to release biological, chemical and radioactive materials that have been sequestered for tens to hundreds of thousands of years. As these constituents re-enter the environment, they have the potential to disrupt ecosystem function, reduce the populations of unique...
Authors
Kimberly Miner, Rachel Mackelprang, Juliana D’Andrilli, Arwyn Edwards, Michael J. Malaska, Mark P. Waldrop, Charles E. Miller
The biophysical role of water and ice within permafrost nearing collapse: Insights from novel geophysical observations
The impact of permafrost thaw on hydrologic, thermal, and biotic processes remains uncertain, in part due to limitations in subsurface measurement capabilities. To better understand subsurface processes in thermokarst environments, we collocated geophysical and biogeochemical instruments along a thaw gradient between forested permafrost and collapse-scar bogs at the Alaska Peatland...
Authors
Stephanie R. James, Burke J. Minsley, Jack W. McFarland, Eugenie S. Euskirchen, Colin W. Edgar, Mark P. Waldrop
Carbon fluxes and microbial activities from boreal peatlands experiencing permafrost thaw
Permafrost thaw in northern ecosystems may cause large quantities of carbon (C) to move from soil to atmospheric pools. Because soil microbial communities play a critical role in regulating C fluxes from soils, we examined microbial activity and greenhouse gas production soon after permafrost thaw and ground collapse (into collapse-scar bogs), relative to the permafrost plateau or older...
Authors
Mark P. Waldrop, Jack W. McFarland, Kristen L. Manies, Mary-Cathrine Leewis, Steve Blazewicz, Miriam C. Jones, Rebecca B. Neumann, Jason Keller, Rachel Cohen, Eugenie S. Euskirchen, Colin W. Edgar, Merritt R. Turetsky, William Cable
USGS permafrost research determines the risks of permafrost thaw to biologic and hydrologic resources
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in collaboration with university, Federal, Tribal, and independent partners, conducts fundamental research on the distribution, vulnerability, and importance of permafrost in arctic and boreal ecosystems. Scientists, land managers, and policy makers use USGS data to help make decisions for development, wildlife habitat, and other needs. Native villages...
Authors
Mark P. Waldrop, Lesleigh Anderson, Mark M. Dornblaser, Li Erikson, Ann Gibbs, Nicole M. Herman-Mercer, Stephanie R. James, Miriam C. Jones, Joshua C. Koch, Mary-Cathrine Leewis, Kristen L. Manies, Burke J. Minsley, Neal J. Pastick, Vijay P. Patil, Frank Urban, Michelle Ann Walvoord, Kimberly Wickland, Christian E. Zimmerman
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Ecosystems Land Change Science Program, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Land Change Science Program, Volcano Hazards Program, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Volcano Science Center
Permafrost mapping with electrical resistivity tomography in two wetland systems north of the Tanana River, Interior Alaska
Surface-based 2D electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) surveys were used to characterize permafrost distribution at wetland sites on the alluvial plain north of the Tanana River, 20 km southwest of Fairbanks, Alaska, in June and September 2014. The sites were part of an ecologically-sensitive research area characterizing biogeochemical response of this region to warming and permafrost...
Authors
Christopher Conaway, Cordell Johnson, Thomas Lorenson, Merritt R. Turetsky, Eugenie S. Euskirchen, Mark P. Waldrop, Peter W. Swarzenski
Getting to the root of plant‐mediated methane emissions and oxidation in a thermokarst bog
Vascular plants are important in the wetland methane cycle, but their effect on production, oxidation, and transport has high uncertainty, limiting our ability to predict emissions. In a permafrost‐thaw bog in Interior Alaska, we used plant manipulation treatments, field‐deployed planar optical oxygen sensors, direct measurements of methane oxidation, and microbial DNA analyses to...
Authors
Jesse C Turner, Colby J Moorberg, Andrea Wong, Kathleen Shea, Mark P. Waldrop, Merritt R. Turetsky, Rebecca B. Neumann
Generalized models to estimate carbon and nitrogen stocks of organic soil horizons in Interior Alaska
Boreal ecosystems comprise one tenth of the world’s land surface and contain over 20 % of the global soil carbon (C) stocks. Boreal soils are unique in that its mineral soil is covered by what can be quite thick layers of organic soil. These organic soil layers, or horizons, can differ in their state of decomposition, source vegetation, and disturbance history. These differences result...
Authors
Kristen L. Manies, Mark P. Waldrop, Jennifer W. Harden
Life at the frozen limit: Microbial carbon metabolism across a Late Pleistocene permafrost chronosequence
Permafrost is an extreme habitat yet it hosts microbial populations that remain active over millennia. Using permafrost collected from a Pleistocene chronosequence (19 to 33 ka), we hypothesized that the functional genetic potential of microbial communities in permafrost would reflect microbial strategies to metabolize permafrost soluble organic matter (OM) in situ over geologic time. We...
Authors
Mary-Cathrine Leewis, Renaud Berlemont, David C. Podgorski, Archana Srinivas, Phoebe Zito, Robert G. M. Spencer, Jack W. McFarland, Thomas A. Douglas, Christopher Conaway, Mark P. Waldrop, Rachel Mackelprang
Soil microbial communities and global change
Soils and soil microbial communities mediate the biogeochemical processes that underly ecosystem-level changes. This chapter examines why soils and soil microbial communities are important for understanding impacts and feedbacks to global change. It discusses the technological approaches and challenges that are at the frontiers of this research area. Global change impacts on microbial...
Authors
Mark P. Waldrop, Courtney Creamer
Large loss of CO2 in winter observed across pan-arctic permafrost region
Recent warming in the Arctic, which has been amplified during the winter1,2,3, greatly enhances microbial decomposition of soil organic matter and subsequent release of carbon dioxide (CO2)4. However, the amount of CO2 released in winter is not known and has not been well represented by ecosystem models or empirically based estimates5,6. Here we synthesize regional in situ observations...
Authors
Susan M. Natali, Jennifer D. Watts, Stefano Potter, Brendan M. Rogers, Sarah M. Ludwig, Anne-Katrin Selbmann, Patrick J. Sullivan, Benjamin Abbott, Kyle A. Arndt, Leah Birch, Mats P. Björkman, Anthony Bloom, Gerardo Celis, Torben R. Christiensen, Casper T. Christiansen, Roisin Commane, Elisabeth J. Cooper, Patrick M. Crill, Claudia Czimczik, Sergey Davydov, Jinyang Du, Jocelyn E. Egan, Bo Elberling, Eugenie S. Euskirchen, Thomas Friborg, Helene Genet, Mathias Gockede, Jordan P. Goodrich, Paul Grogan, Manuel Helbig, Elchin E. Jafarov, Julie D. Jastrow, Aram A.M. Kalhori, Yongwon Kim, John S. Kimball, Lars Kutzbach, Mark J. Lara, Klaus Steenberg Larsen, Michael M. Loranty, Magnus Lund, Massimo Lupascu, Nima Madani, Avni Malhorta, Jack W. McFarland, David A. McGuire, Anders Michelson, Christina Minions, Walter C. Oechel, David Olefeldt, Frans-Jan W. Parmentier, Norbert Pirk, Benjamin Poulter, William L. Quinton, Fereidoun Rezanezhad, David Risk, Torsten Sachs, Kevin Schaefer, Neils M. Schmidt, Edward A.G. Schuur, Philipp R. Semenchuk, Gaius R. Shaver, Oliver Sonnentag, Gregory Starr, Claire C. Treat, Mark P. Waldrop, Yihui Wang, Jeffery M. Welker, Christian Wille, Xiaofeng Xu, Zhen Zhang, Qianlai Zhuang, Donatella Zona