Patrick Megonigal

Staff Profile

Patrick Megonigal

Associate Director for Research, Principal Investigator

Specialty

Ecosystem Ecology, Biogeochemistry, Soil Science, Wetland Ecology, Forest Ecology, Climate Change Science, Blue Carbon Science

Research Labs

Biogeochemistry

Expert Areas

biogeochemistry

carbon cycling

global change

greenhouse gas emissions

sea level rise

soil

wetland ecology

J. Patrick Megonigal Full CV (Nov 2024)

Global Change Research Wetland

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

Collin, Rachel ; Drake, Bert G. ; Megonigal, J. Patrick. (2025). What’s Going on Down There? Impacts of Long-Term Elevated CO2 and Community Composition on Components of Below-Ground Biomass in a Chesapeake Bay Saltmarsh . Hydrobiology, 4 (1) http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/hydrobiology4010008
Lee, Jaehyun ; Yang, Yerang ; Kang, Hojeong ; Noyce, Genevieve L. ; Megonigal, J. P.. (2025). Climate-induced shifts in sulfate dynamics regulate anaerobic methane oxidation in a coastal wetland . Science Advances, 11 (17) http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ads6093
Myers‐Pigg, Allison N. ; Moanga, Diana ; Bond‐Lamberty, Ben ; Ward, Nicholas D. ; Megonigal, J. Patrick ; White,Elliott, Jr. ; Bailey, Vanessa L. ; Kirwan, Matthew L.. (2025). Advancing the understanding of coastal disturbances with a network‐of‐networks approach . Ecosphere, 16 (1) http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70156
Arias‐Ortiz, Ariane ; Wolfe, Jaxine ; Bridgham, Scott D. ; Knox, Sara ; McNicol, Gavin ; Needelman, Brian A. ; Shahan, Julie ; Stuart‐Haëntjens, Ellen J. ; Windham‐Myers, Lisamarie ; Oikawa, Patty Y. ; Baldocchi, Dennis D. ; Caplan, Joshua S. ; Capooci, Margaret ; Czapla, Kenneth M. ; Derby, R. K. ; Diefenderfer, Heida L. ; Forbrich, Inke ; Groseclose, Gina ; Keller, Jason K. ; Kelley, Cheryl ; Keshta, Amr E. ; Kleiner, Helena S. ; Krauss, Ken W. ; Lane, Robert R. ; Mack, Sarah ; Moseman‐Valtierra, Serena ; Mozdzer, Thomas J. ; Mueller, Peter ; Neubauer, Scott C. ; Noyce, Genevieve ; Schäfer, Karina V. R. ; Sanders‐DeMott, Rebecca ; Schutte, Charles A. ; Vargas, Rodrigo ; Weston, Nathaniel B. ; Wilson, Benjamin ; Megonigal, J. P. ; Holmquist, James R.. (2024). Methane fluxes in tidal marshes of the conterminous United States . Global Change Biology, 30 (9) http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17462
Bruns, Nicholas E. ; Noyce, Genevieve L. ; Megonigal, J. Patrick ; Kirwan, Matthew L.. (2024). A Test of Functional Balance Theory for Wetland Biomass Allocation in a Global Change Experiment . Geophysical Research Letters, 51 (22) http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2024GL110902
Carruthers, Tim J. B. ; Jones, S. Beaux ; Terrell, Megan K. ; Scheibly, Jonathan F. ; Player, Brendan J. ; Black, Valerie A. ; Ehrenwerth, Justin R. ; Biber, Patrick D. ; Connolly, Rod M. ; Crooks, Steve ; Curole, Jason P. ; Darnell, Kelly M. ; Dausman, Alyssa M. ; DeJong, Allison L. ; Doyle, Shawn M. ; Esposito, Christopher R. ; Friess, Daniel A. ; Fourqurean, James W. ; Georgiou, Ioannis Y. ; Grimsditch, Gabriel D. ; He, Songjie ; Hillmann, Eva R. ; Holm,Guerry O., Jr. ; Howard, Jennifer ; Jung, Hoonshin ; Jupiter, Stacy D. ; Kiskaddon, Erin ; Krauss, Ken W. ; Lavery, Paul S. ; Liu, Bingqing ; Lovelock, Catherine E. ; Mack, Sarah K. ; Macreadie, Peter I. ; McGlathery, Karen J. ; Megonigal, J. Patrick ; Roberts, Brian J. ; Settelmyer, Scott ; Staver, Lorie W. ; Stevens, Hilary J. ; Sutton-Grier, Ariana E. ; Villa, Jorge A. ; White, John R. ; Waycott, Michelle. (2024). Identifying and filling critical knowledge gaps can optimize financial viability of blue carbon projects in tidal wetlands . Frontiers in Environmental Science, 12 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2024.1421850
Fuchs, Andrea ; Davidson, Ian C. ; Megonigal, J. Patrick ; Devaney, John L. ; Simkanin, Christina ; Noyce, Genevieve L. ; Lu, Meng ; Cott, Grace M.. (2024). Stronger increase of methane emissions from coastal wetlands by non‐native Spartina alterniflora than non‐native Phragmites australis . Plants, People, Planet, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10578
Holmquist, James R. ; Klinges, David ; Lonneman, Michael ; Wolfe, Jaxine ; Boyd, Brandon ; Eagle, Meagan ; Sanderman, Jonathan ; Todd‐Brown, Kathe ; Belshe, E. F. ; Brown, Lauren N. ; Chapman, Samantha ; Corstanje, Ron ; Janousek, Christopher ; Morris, James T. ; Noe, Gregory ; Rovai, André ; Spivak, Amanda ; Vahsen, Megan ; Windham‐Myers, Lisamarie ; Kroeger, Kevin ; Megonigal, J. P.. (2024). The Coastal Carbon Library and Atlas: Open source soil data and tools supporting blue carbon research and policy . Global Change Biology, 30 (1) http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17098
Kauffman, J. B. ; Souza, Fernanda M. ; Costa, Rodolfo F. ; Barreto Da Silva, Antonio Elves ; Ferreira, Tiago O. ; Megonigal, J. Patrick ; Ritonga, Rasis ; Gangga, Adi ; Novita, Nisa ; Pacheco, Carla F. O. ; Bernardino, Angelo Fraga. (2024). Conversion of tropical forests to water buffalo pastures in lower Amazonia: Carbon losses and social carbon costs . Ecosphere, 15 (12) http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70055
Kirwan, Matthew L. ; Megonigal, J. Patrick ; Noyce, Genevieve L. ; Smith, Alexander J.. (2024). Author Correction: Geomorphic and ecological constraints on the coastal carbon sink . Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 5 (4) , . http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00552-y
Langley, J. A. ; Wang, L. ; Yedman, B. ; Megonigal, J. Patrick. (2024). Rising plant demand strengthens nitrogen limitation in tidal marsh . Global Change Biology, 30 (5) http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17342
Li, Bing ; Li, Zhi ; Zheng, Jianqiu ; Jiang, Peishi ; Holmquist, James ; Regier, Peter J. ; Hammond, Glenn E. ; Ward, Nicholas D. ; Myers-Pigg, Allison ; Rich, Roy ; Huang, Wei ; O'Meara, Theresa A. ; Pennington, Stephanie C. ; Megonigal, J. Patrick ; Bailey, Vanessa L. ; Chen, Xingyuan. (2024). Integrated Effects of Site Hydrology and Vegetation on Exchange Fluxes and Nutrient Cycling at a Coastal Terrestrial-Aquatic Interface . Water Resources Research, 60 (6) http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2023WR035580
Machado-Silva, Fausto ; Weintraub, Michael N. ; Ward, Nicholas D. ; Doro, Kennedy O. ; Regier, Peter J. ; Ehosioke, Solomon ; Thomas, Shan Pushpajom ; Peixoto, Roberta B. ; Sandoval, Leticia ; Forbrich, Inke ; Kemner, Kenneth M. ; O’Loughlin, Edward J. ; Stetten, Lucie ; Spanbauer, Trisha ; Bridgeman, Thomas B. ; O’Meara, Teri ; Rod, Kenton A. ; Patel, Kaizad ; McDowell, Nate G. ; Megonigal, J. Patrick ; Rich, Roy L. ; Bailey, Vanessa L.. (2024). Short-Term Groundwater Level Fluctuations Drive Subsurface Redox Variability . Environmental science & technology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c01115
Martinez, Ayla ; Dijkstra, Paul ; Megonigal, J. P. ; Hungate, Bruce A.. (2024). Microbial central carbon metabolism in a tidal freshwater marsh and an upland mixed conifer soil under oxic and anoxic conditions . Applied and Environmental Microbiology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/aem.00724-24
Morris, Kendalynn A. ; Smith, Mitchell ; Bailey, Vanessa L. ; Bittencourt-Peixoto, Roberta ; Day, Donnie J. ; Hamovit, Nora ; Hopple, Anya M. ; Lee, Jaehyun ; Patel, Kaizad F. ; Regier, Peter ; Wilson, Stephanie J. ; Yarwood, Stephanie A. ; Megonigal, J. Patrick ; Bond-Lamberty, Ben. (2024). Methane flux from transplanted soil monoliths depends on moisture, but not origin . Soil Biology & Biochemistry, 193 , . http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2023.109296

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center