Patrick Megonigal

Staff Profile

Patrick Megonigal

Associate Director for Research, Principal Investigator

megonigalp@si.edu

Research Labs

Biogeochemistry

Expert Areas

biogeochemistry

carbon cycling

global change

greenhouse gas emissions

sea level rise

soil

wetland ecology

Curriculum Vitae

Biography
Publications

Biography

Pat Megonigal is an ecosystem ecologist with interests in carbon and greenhouse gas cycling in wetlands and forests, particularly as they relate to global change. He is the lead investigator of the Global Change Research Wetland, a world class facility dedicated to unraveling the complex ecological processes that confer stability on coastal marshes as they respond to global environmental change.

Publications

Ding, Junyan ; McDowell, Nate ; Fang, Yilin ; Ward, Nicholas ; Kirwan, Matthew L. ; Regier, Peter ; Megonigal, J. P. ; Zhang, Peipei ; Zhang, Hongxia ; Wang, Wenzhi ; Li, Weibin ; Pennington, Stephanie C. ; Wilson, Stephanie J. ; Stearns, Alice ; Bailey, Vanessa. (2023). Modeling the mechanisms of conifer mortality under seawater exposure . New Phytologist, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nph.19076
Hopple, Anya M. ; Doro, K. O. ; Bailey, V. L. ; Bond-Lamberty, B. ; McDowell, N. ; Morris, K. A. ; Myers-Pigg, A. ; Pennington, S. C. ; Regier, P. ; Rich, Roy L. ; Sengupta, A. ; Smith, R. ; Stegen, J. ; Ward, N. D. ; Woodard, S. C. ; Megonigal, J. Patrick. (2023). Attaining freshwater and estuarine-water soil saturation in an ecosystem-scale coastal flooding experiment . Environmental monitoring and assessment, 195 (3) http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10807-0
Hopple, Anya M. ; Pennington, Stephanie C. ; Megonigal, J. Patrick ; Bailey, V. ; Bond‐Lamberty, B.. (2023). Root and Microbial Soil CO2 and CH4 Fluxes Respond Differently to Seasonal and Episodic Environmental Changes in a Temperate Forest . Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 128 (8) http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2022JG007233
Kirwan, Matthew L. ; Megonigal, J. P. ; Noyce, Genevieve L. ; Smith, Alexander J.. (2023). Geomorphic and ecological constraints on the coastal carbon sink . Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 4 (6) , . http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00429-6
Kudoh, Aoi ; Megonigal, J. Patrick ; Langley, J. Adam ; Noyce, Genevieve L. ; Sakai, Toshiyuki ; Whigham, Dennis F.. (2023). Reproductive Responses to Increased Shoot Density and Global Change Drivers in a Widespread Clonal Wetland Species, Schoenoplectus americanus . Estuaries and Coasts, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-023-01249-z
Noyce, Genevieve L. ; Smith, Alexander J. ; Kirwan, Matthew L. ; Rich, Roy L. ; Megonigal, J. P.. (2023). Oxygen priming induced by elevated CO2 reduces carbon accumulation and methane emissions in coastal wetlands . Nature Geoscience, 16 (1) , . http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-01070-6
Vahsen, M. L. ; Blum, M. J. ; Megonigal, J. P. ; Emrich, S. J. ; Holmquist, James R. ; Stiller, B. ; Todd-Brown, K. ; McLachlan, J. S.. (2023). Rapid plant trait evolution can alter coastal wetland resilience to sea level rise . Science, 379 (6630) , . http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abq0595
Vahsen, Megan L. ; Kleiner, Helena S. ; Kodak, Haley ; Summers, Jennifer L. ; Vahsen, Wendy L. ; Blum, Michael J. ; Megonigal, J. Patrick ; McLachlan, Jason S.. (2023). Complex eco-evolutionary responses of a foundational coastal marsh plant to global change . New Phytologist, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nph.19117
Dijkstra, Paul ; Martinez, Ayla ; Thomas, Scott C. ; Seymour, Cale O. ; Wu, Weichao ; Dippold, Michaela A. ; Megonigal, J. Patrick ; Schwartz, Egbert ; Hungate, Bruce A. (2022). On maintenance and metabolisms in soil microbial communities . Plant and Soil, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05382-9
Gabriel, Jared R. ; Reid, Jessica ; Wang, Le ; Mozdzer, Thomas J. ; Whigham, Dennis F. ; Megonigal, J. Patrick ; Langley, J. Adam. (2022). Interspecific Competition is Prevalent and Stabilizes Plant Production in a Brackish Marsh Facing Sea Level Rise. Estuaries and Coasts, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12237-021-01043-9
Hopple, A. M. ; Pennington, S. C. ; Megonigal, J. Patrick ; Bailey, V. ; Bond-Lamberty, B. (2022). Disturbance legacies regulate coastal forest soil stability to changing salinity and inundation: A soil transplant experiment . Soil Biology & Biochemistry, 169 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2022.108675
Lumibao, Candice Y. ; Martinez, Lorena Torres ; Megonigal, J. Patrick ; Van Bael, Sunshine A. ; Blum, Michael J. (2022). Microbial mediation of salinity stress response varies by plant genotype and provenance over time. Molecular ecology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.16603
Mander, Ülo ; Krasnova, Alisa ; Schindler, Thomas ; Megonigal, J. Patrick ; Escuer-Gatius, Jordi ; Espenberg, Mikk ; Machacova, Katerina ; Maddison, Martin ; Pärn, Jaan ; Ranniku, Reti ; Pihlatie, Mari ; Kasak, Kuno ; Niinemets, Ülo ; Soosaar, Kaido. (2022). Long-term dynamics of soil, tree stem and ecosystem methane fluxes in a riparian forest . Science of the Total Environment, 809 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151723
McDowell, Nate G. ; Ball, Marilyn ; Bond-Lamberty, Ben ; Kirwan, Matthew L. ; Krauss, Ken W. ; Megonigal, J. Patrick ; Mencuccini, Maurizio ; Ward, Nicholas D. ; Weintraub, Michael N. ; Bailey, Vanessa. (2022). Processes and mechanisms of coastal woody-plant mortality . Global Change Biology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16297
Menendez, Alana ; Tzortziou, Maria ; Neale, Patrick ; Megonigal, J. Patrick ; Powers, Leanne ; Schmitt-Kopplin, Philippe ; Gonsior, Michael. (2022). Strong Dynamics in Tidal Marsh DOC Export in Response to Natural Cycles and Episodic Events From Continuous Monitoring . Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, 127 (7) http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2022JG006863

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Understanding Ecosystems for a Sustainable Future