Ecohydrology
Group
Department
of Geography
& Department of Environment and
Sustainability
D. Scott
Mackay is Professor of Ecohydrology.
His research examines plant responses
to environmental stress using plant
hydraulics, biophysical modeling, and
Bayesian analysis. His research group
studies how drought, heat, and biotic
disturbances combine to threaten
forests, crops, and the security of
plant-based food, fiber, and energy
production. They use a
systems approach, build biophysical
process-based
models, and synthesize data from
sensors, biometric measurements, and
genomics to reveal emergent plant
traits, water and carbon cycling,
and plant-microbe associations. Please
explore our research topics and
findings below.
Heat,
Drought, and Tree Mortality
Healthy
forests are carbon sinks, but
when trees die they become
carbon sources. Forests also
transpire a large fraction of
the global average
precipitation falling on land
areas, a so their demise
alters the land-atmosphere
energy balance. Here are our
findings so far:
Scientists
have long wanted to be able to peer
into the subsurface to see how root
processes interact with other
processes occurring below ground. We
developed a novel
modeling approach that provides a
"lens" for seeing below the
surface. We ask, how does root
growth prior to and during drought
allow trees to adjust their water
uptake depths and sustain their
access to reliable water sources? Here you can read
about our findings:
Subsurface
hydrology has received less
attention compared to above
ground processes for predicting
the physiological responses of
plants to drought. Our
work fills this gap by
considering the integrated
systems of plant hydraulics and
groundwater hydrology. Here you can
read about our findings:
Biotic
disturbances are an
integral part of ecosystem
responses to environmental
dynamics, but the full
extent of their effects on
integrated systems is only
partly known. Here you
can read about our
findings:
Plant
traits interact with
environmental conditions
to affect plant growth and
productivity. By examining
these interactions using
crop species and
biophysical process-based
models, and manipulating both plant traits and their
environment, we
are able to gain a deeper
understanding of
mechanisms. This provides
a robust hypothesis
testing framework to study
traits that are
transferable to natural
settings and novel
environmental conditions.
Here you
can read about our
findings:
We ask
how species, plant age,
disturbance, and spatial
gradients associated
with edaphic,
topographic, and
micrometeorologic
dynamics affect
evapotranspiration. Here
you can read about our
findings:
