Responsibilities and Interests:

Research in my lab focuses on feedbacks between terrestrial ecosystems and environmental change. Many of these feedbacks are driven by changes in biogeochemical cycles, i.e. changes in the storage and movement of energy and nutrients in the Earth system. We are particularly interested in the nitrogen cycle, which is greatly influenced locally and globally by land use and land management practices. We use principles of ecology and biogeochemistry to understand the flow and fate of nitrogen at scales ranging from individual microbial processes, to whole ecosystems and landscapes, to regions. Ultimately this knowledge should 1) increase our basic understanding of ecosystem element cycles, 2) help minimize nitrogen losses from managed ecosystems, 3) help us understand how nitrogen losses from managed ecosystems affect and are attenuated by unmanaged ecosystems. The research often measures interactions between nitrogen cycling and ecosystem carbon balance to understand how global changes in carbon and nitrogen cycling are linked. Some current projects include:

• Stable nitrogen retention in soils: Over the last several decades, research on nitrogen cycling in soils has been hampered by at least two factors: 1) almost all research has focuses on the relatively small pool of “plant-available” nitrogen that is cycled rapidly among plants and soil microorganisms, and 2) research on nitrogen cycling has been discipline specific, with agronomists working on agricultural fields where N is lost, and ecologists working in forests where (formerly) agricultural N is redeposited from the atmosphere. I am currently seeking a students and a postdoc to conduct research measuring the capacity of stable soil N pools to retain N across several landuse types in the northeast, including row-crop agriculture, pastures, harvested forests, and unmanaged forest ecosystems. The overall hypothesis being tested is that variability in N loss and retention among these ecosystems is determined by the capacity of soil to rapidly stabilize N. This research is funded by Penn State and by a grant from the Andrew Mellon Foundation.
• Effects of N and C deposition from urban atmospheres on desert ecosystems: This NSF funded research is based in Phoenix, AZ. We are measuring the impact of urban N and organic C emissions on the functioning of near-urban desert ecosystems using a series of manipulative and observational field and laboratory experiments. Research in the Kaye lab focuses on determining the mechanisms of N and organic C incorporation into soil organic matter.
• Carbon cycling in ponderosa pine forests: This USDA funded research is based in northern Arizona, near Flagstaff. The goal is to quantify the impact of wildfire and forest restoration practices (thinning and prescribed burning) on the forest carbon cycle. Part of this research uses measurements of CO₂ within and above the forest canopy to infer net ecosystem C exchange with the atmosphere (eddy covariance towers), and our role is to provide land-based measurements of tree growth and soil CO₂ flux to compare with eddy covariance measurements.

Education:

• Ph.D., Ecology, Colorado State University, 2000
• M.S., Forestry, Northern Arizona University, 1997
• B.A., Chemistry, University of Virginia, 1993

Professional Background:

• 2005 to present. Assistant Professor, The Pennsylvania State University.
• 2002–2004. Assistant Professor, Arizona State University.
• 2000–2002. USDA Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Forest Sciences, Colorado State University.
• 1997–2000. Graduate Research Assistant, Graduate Degreee Program in Ecology, Colorado State University.
• 1995–1997. Graduate Research Assistant, School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University.
• 1993–1994. Research Assistant, Harvard Forest LTER, Harvard University.
• 1992. Research Assistant, Virginia Coastal Reserve LTER, University of Virginia.

Selected Publications:

Please email Jason Kaye (jpk12 at psu.edu) for reprints.

1. Castellano, M.C. and J.P. Kaye. In press. Global within-site variance in soil solution nitrogen and hydraulic conductivity are correlated with clay content. Ecosystems.
2. Dore, S., T. Kolb , M. Montes-Helu, S. Eckert , B. Sullivan, B. Hungate, J.P. Kaye, S. Hart, G. Koch, A. Finkral. In press. Carbon and water fluxes from ponderosa pine forests disturbed by wildfire and thinning. Ecological Applications.
3. Fricks, B., J.P. Kaye, and R. Seidel. 2009. Abiotic NO₃- retention in forest and agroecosystems. Soil Science Society of America Journal 73:1137–1141.
4. McCrackin, M. T.K. Harms, N.B. Grimm, S.J. Hall and J.P. Kaye. 2008. Responses of soil microorganisms to resource availability in urban, desert soils. Biogeochemistry 87: 143–155.
5. Sullivan, B.W., T.E. Kolb, S.C. Hart, J.P. Kaye, S. Dore, and M. Montes-Helu. 2008. Thinning reduces soil carbon dioxide but not methane flux from southwestern USA ponderosa pine forests. Forest Ecology and Management 255: 4047–4055.
6. Burke, I.C., P.B. Hook, D.G. Milchunas, J.E. Barrett, M.A. Vinton, R.L. McCulley, J.P. Kaye, R.A. Gill, H.E. Epstein, R.H. Kelly, W.J. Parton, A.R. Mosier, and C.M. Yonker. 2008. Biogeochemistry of soil organic matter and nutrient dynamics of shortgrass steppe ecosystems. In: W. Lauenroth and I. Burke (eds.), Ecology of the Shortgrass Steppe: Perspectives from Long-Term Research. Oxford University Press.
7. Morehouse, K.H., T. Johns, T., J.P. Kaye, and M.W. 2008. Biogeochemical consequences of bark beetle outbreaks in southwestern ponderosa pine forests. Forest Ecology and Management 255:2698–2708.
8. Dore, S., T.E. Kolb, M. Montes-Helu, B.W. Sullivan, W.D. Winslow, S.C. Hart, J.P. Kaye, G.W. Koch, B. A. Hungate. 2008. Long-term impact of a stand-replacing fire on ecosystem CO₂ exchange of a ponderosa pine forest. Global Change Biology 14: 1801–1820.
9. Majumdar, A., J.P. Kaye, C. Gries, D. Hope, R. Burdick, and N. Grimm. 2008. Hierarchical spatial modeling of multivariate soil nutrient concentrations in heterogeneous land-use patches of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Communications in Statistics—Simulation and Computation 37: 434–453.
10. Kaye, J.P., Majumdar, A., Gries, C., Hope, D., Grimm, N., Zhu, W., Baker, L. 2008. The spatial distribution of C, N, and P in a region of mixed urban, desert, and agricultural land use. Ecological Applications 18:132–145.
11. Oleson, J., Hope, D., Gries, C., and J.P. Kaye. 2006. A Baysian approach to estimating regression coefficients for soil properties in land-use patches with varying degrees of spatial variation. Environmetrics 17: 517–525.
12. Lewis, D., J.P. Kaye, C. Gries, A. Kinzig, and C. Redman. 2006. Agrarian legacy in soils of urbanizing aridlands. Global Change Biology 12: 703–709.
13. Kaye, J.P., Groffman, P., N.B. Grimm, L. Baker, and R. Pouyat. 2006. A distinct urban biogeochemistry? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 21:192–199.
14. Hope, D., W. Zhu, C. Gries, J. Oleson, J.P. Kaye, N.B. Grimm, and L. Baker. 2005. Spatial variation in inorganic soil nitrogen across an arid urban ecosystem. Urban Ecosystems 8:251–273.
15. Kaye, J.P., S.C. Hart, P.Z. Fule, W.W. Covington, M.M. Moore, and M.W. Kaye. 2005. Initial carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus fluxes following ponderosa pine restoration treatments. Ecological Applications 15: 1581–1593
16. Boyle, S., S.C. Hart, J.P. Kaye, and M. Waldrop. 2005. Ecological restoration and canopy type influence soil microflora in a Ponderosa pine forest.. Soil Sci. Society of America Journal 69:1627–1638.
17. Kaye, J.P., R. L. McCulley, and I.C. Burke. 2005. Carbon fluxes, nitrogen cycling and soil microbial communities in adjacent urban, native and agricultural ecosystems. Global Change Biology 11:575–587.
18. Binkley, D., G. G. Ice, J.P. Kaye, and C. A. Williams. 2004. Nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in forest streams of the United States. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 40:1277–1291.
19. Binkley, D., J. Kaye, M. Barry, and M. G. Ryan. 2004. First rotation changes in soil carbon and nitrogen in a Eucalyptus plantation in Hawaii. Soil Science Society of America Journal 68:1713–1719.
20. Kaye, J.P., I.C. Burke, A. R. Mosier, and J.P. Guerchman. 2004. Methane and nitrous oxide fluxes from urban soils to the atmosphere. Ecological Applications 14:975–981.
21. Nadelhoffer, K.J., R.D. Boone, R.D. Bowden, J.D. Canary, J.P. Kaye, P. Micks, A. Ricca, J.A. Aitkenhead, K. Lajtha, and W.H. McDowell. 2004. The DIRT experiment: Litter and root influences on forest soil organic matter stocks and function. In: D. Foster and J. Aber (eds.), Forests in Time. Synthesis Volume of the Harvard Forest LTER Program. Yale University Press.
22. Burke, I.C., J.P. Kaye, S.P. Bird, S.A. Hall, R.L. McCulley, and G.L. Sommerville. 2003. Evaluating and testing models of terrestrial biogeochemistry: The role of temperature in controlling decomposition. Pp. 225–253 In: Canham, C.D., J.J. Cole, and W.K. Lauenroth, editors. Models in Ecosystem Science. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press.
23. Kaye, J.P., D. Binkley, and C. Rhoades. 2003. Stable nitrogen accumulation and flexible organic matter stoichiometry during primary floodplain succession. Biogeochemistry 63:1–22.
24. Kaye, J.P., D. Binkley, X. Zou, and J. A. Parrotta. 2002. Non-labile soil 15nitrogen retention beneath three tree species in a tropical plantation. Soil Sci. Soc. America Journal 66:612–619.
25. Kaye, J., J. Barrett, and I. Burke. 2002. Stable nitrogen and carbon pools in grassland soils of variable texture and carbon content. Ecosystems 5: 461–471.
26. Kaye, J.P., S.C. Resh, M.W. Kaye, and R. A. Chimner. 2000. Nutrient and carbon dynamics in a replacement series of Eucalyptus and Albizia trees. Ecology 81:3267–3273.
27. Kaye, J.P., S.C. Hart, R.C. Cobb, and J. E. Stone. 1999. Water and nutrient outflow following ecological restoration of a ponderosa pine-bunchgrass ecosystem. Restoration Ecology 7:252–261.
28. Boone, R.D., K.J. Nadelhoffer, J.D. Canary, and J.P. Kaye. 1998. Roots exert a strong influence on the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration. Nature (London) 396:570–572.
29. Kaye, J.P. and S.C. Hart. 1998 a. Restoration and canopy type effects on soil respiration in a ponderosa pine-bunchgrass ecosystem. Soil Science Society of America Journal 62:1062–1072.
30. Kaye, J.P. and S.C. Hart. 1998 b. Ecological restoration alters nitrogen transformations in a ponderosa pine-bunchgrass ecosystem. Ecological Applications 8:1052–1060.
31. Kaye, J.P. and S.C. Hart 1997. Competition for nitrogen between plants and soil microorganisms. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 12:139–143.