Sharon Billings
Associate Professor
Global Change Biology and Biogeochemistry
Ph.D., Duke University
Kansas Biological Survey
Higuchi Hall
Phone: (785) 864-1560 (office)
Fax: (785) 864-1534
Links
Research Interests
Billings explores how the biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and water is influenced by climate, rising levels of atmospheric CO2, and nutrient availability. Work in her lab ranges from the scale of microorganisms to the whole ecosystem, permitting us to explore a wide range of disciplines, including microbial ecology, ecophysiology, and soil science. We examine biosphere-atmosphere fluxes of CO2, N2O, and water, the stable isotopes within these compounds, and the mechanisms in soils and vegetation that govern these fluxes.
Representative Publications
Billings, S.A., Phillips, N. 2011. Forest biogeochemistry and drought. In: Levia, D.F., Carlyle-Moses, D.E. and Tanaka, T. (Eds.), Forest Hydrology and Biogeochemistry: Synthesis of Past Research and Future Directions. Ecological Studies Series, No. 216, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany: In press.
Tiemann, L.K., Billings, S.A. In press. Changes in variability of soil moisture alter microbial community C and N resource use. Soil Biology and Biochemistry.
Drake, J., Gallet-Budynek, A. Hofmockel, K. Bernhardt, E. Billings, S.A., Jackson, R. Johnsen, K., Lichter, J., Phillips, R., McCarthy, H., Moore, D., McCormack, M.L. Palmroth, S. Oren, R., Pippen, J., Pritchard, S., Treseder, K., Schlesinger, W., DeLucia, E., Finzi, A. 2011. Increases in the flux of carbon belowground stimulate nitrogen uptake and sustain the long-term enhancement of forest productivity under elevated CO2. Ecology Letters 14:349-357, doi: 10.111/j.1461-0248.2011.01593.x.
Tiemann, L.K., Billings, S.A. 2011. Indirect effects of nitrogen amendments on organic substrate quality increase enzymatic activity driving decomposition in a mesic grassland. Ecosystems 14:234-247, doi:1-.1007/s10021-010-9406-6.
Ziegler, S.E., Billings, S.A. 2011. Soil nitrogen status as a regulator of carbon substrate flows through microbial communities with elevated CO2. Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences 116, G01011, doi:10.1029/2010JG001434.
Billings, S.A., Buddemeier, R.W., Richter, de B.D., van Oost, K., Bohling, G. 2010. A simple method for estimating the influence of eroding soil profiles on atmospheric CO2. Global Biogeochemical Cycles Vol. 24, GB2001, doi:10.1029/2009GB003560.
Billings, S.A., Lichter, J., Ziegler, S.E., Hungate, B.A., Richter, de B.D. 2010. A call to investigate drivers of soil organic matter retention vs. mineralization in a high CO2 world. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 42:665-668.
Smith, V., Sturm, B.S.M., deNoyelles, F. J., Billings, S.A. 2010. The ecology of algal biodiesel production. Trends in Ecology and Evolution in press.
Goedhart, C.M., Pataki, D.E., Billings, S.A. 2010. Seasonal variations in plant nitrogen relations and photosynthesis along a grassland to shrubland gradient in Owens Valley, California. Plant and Soil 327:213-223.
York, H.A., Billings, S.A. 2009. Stable-isotope analysis of diet in the short-tailed fruit bats (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae: Carollia). Journal of Mammalogy 90:1469-1477.
Billings, S.A. 2008. Biogeochemistry: Nitrous oxide in flux. Nature 456:888.
Billings, S.A., Richter, D. 2008. The science of global soil change: Networking for our future. Eos: Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 89:151.
Richter, D., Billings, S.A. 2008. Strengthening the world’s long-term soil research base. International Union of Soil Scientists Bulletin 112:10-12.
Lichter, J., Billings, S.A., Ziegler, S.E., Gaindh, D., Ryals, R., Finzi, A.C., Jackson, R.B., Stemmler, E.A., Schlesinger, W.H. 2008. Soil carbon sequestration in a pine forest after nine years of atmospheric CO2 enrichment. Global Change Biology 14:2910-2922. [This paper was selected as a research highlight by Nature Reports Climate Change 3:2.]
Pataki, D.E., Billings, S.A., Naumburg, E., Goedhart, C.M. 2008. Water sources and nitrogen relations of grasses and shrubs in phreatophytic communities of the Great Basin Desert. Journal of Arid Environments 72:1581–1593.
Tiemann, L., Billings, S.A. 2008. Carbon controls on nitrous oxide production with changes in substrate availability in a North American grassland. Soil Science 173:332–341.
Bijoor, N.S., Czimczik, C., Pataki, D., Billings, S.A. 2008. The effects of temperature and fertilization on nitrogen cycling and community composition of an urban lawn. Global Change Biology 14:2119–2131. [This paper was selected as a research highlight by Nature 454:670.]
Billings, S.A., Ziegler, S.E. 2008. Altered patterns of soil carbon substrate usage and heterotrophic respiration in a pine forest with elevated CO2 and N fertilization. Global Change Biology 14:1–12.
Haavik, L., Stephen, F., Fierke, M., Salisbury, V., Leavitt, S., Billings, S.A. 2008. Dendrochronological parameters of northern red oak (Quercus rubra Fagaceae) infested with red oak borer (Enapholodes rufulus (Haldeman) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)). Forest Ecology and Management 255:1501–1509.
Billings, S.A., Gaydess, E. 2008. Soil nitrogen and carbon dynamics in a fragmented landscape experiencing forest succession. Landscape Ecology 23:581–593.
Billings, S.A., Richter, D. 2008. The science of global soil change: Networking for our future. Eos: Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 89:151.
Richter, D., Billings, S.A. 2008. Strengthening the world’s long-term soil research base. International Union of Soil Scientists Bulletin 112:10-12.
Schaeffer, S.M., Billings, S.A., Evans, R.D. 2007. Laboratory incubations reveal potential responses of soil nitrogen cycling to changes in soil C and N availability in Mojave Desert soils exposed to elevated atmospheric CO2. Global Change Biology 13:854–865. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01324.x]
(italics indicate students working under my supervision)