Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Understanding Ecosystems for a Sustainable Future

As a public health precaution, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) is extending the cancelation or postponement of all public events, programs and gatherings until at least the end of the summer. The SERC campus remains temporarily closed to the public, including buildings, trails and other parts of the campus. Due to the rapidly changing nature of the situation, we are not announcing a reopening date at this time and will provide updates on our website.

Staff Profile

Patrick Megonigal

Associate Director for Research, Principal Investigator

Research Labs

Biogeochemistry

megonigalp@si.edu

Expert Areas

biogeochemistry

carbon cycling

global change

greenhouse gas emissions

sea level rise

soil

wetland ecology

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

Cornell, J. A., Craft, C. B. and Megonigal, J. Patrick. (2007). Ecosystem gas exchange across a created salt marsh chronosequence . Wetlands, 27 (2) , 240-250. https://doi.org/10.1672/0277-5212(2007)27[240:EGEAAC]2.0.CO;2
Erickson, John E., Megonigal, J. Patrick, Peresta, Gary and Drake, Bert G. (2007). Salinity and sea level mediate elevated CO2 effects on C3–C4 plant interactions and tissue nitrogen in a Chesapeake Bay tidal wetland . Global Change Biology, 13 (1) , 202-215. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2006.01285.x
Neubauer, S. C., Toledo-Durán, G. E., Emerson, D. and Megonigal, J. Patrick. (2007). Returning to their roots: iron-oxidizing bacteria enhance short-term plaque formation in the wetland-plant rhizosphere . Geomicrobiology Journal, 24 (1) , 65-73. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490450601134309
Weiss, Johanna V., Rentz, J. A., Plaia, T., Neubauer, S. C., Merrill-Floyd, M., Lilburn, T., Bradburne, C., Megonigal, J. Patrick and Emerson, D. (2007). Characterization of neutrophilic Fe(II)-oxidizing bacteria isolated from the rhizosphere of wetland plants and description of Ferritrophicum radicicola gen. nov sp nov., and Sideroxydans palludicola sp nov . Geomicrobiology Journal, 24 , 559-570.
Wolf, Amelia A., Drake, Bert G., Erickson, John E. and Megonigal, J. Patrick. (2007). An Oxygen-Mediated Positive Feedback Between Elevated Carbon Dioxide and Soil Organic Matter Decomposition in a Simulated Anaerobic Wetland . Global Change Biology, 13 (9) , 2036-2044. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01407.x
Bridgham, S. D., Megonigal, J. Patrick, Keller, J. K., Bliss, N. B. and Trettin, C. (2006). The carbon balance of North American wetlands . Wetlands, 26 (4) , 889-916. https://doi.org/10.1672/0277-5212(2006)26[889:TCBONA]2.0.CO;2
Burdt, A. C., Galbraith, J. M. and Megonigal, J. Patrick. (2006). Using CO 2 Efflux Rates to Indicate Below-Ground Growing Seasons by Land-use Treatment . Wetlands Ecology and Management, 14 (2) , 133-145. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-005-5461-8
Hines, J. E., Megonigal, J. Patrick and Denno, R. F. (2006). Nutrient subsidies to belowgrround microbes impact aboveground food web interactions . Ecology, 87 , 1542-1555.
Hungate, Bruce A., Johnson, D. W., Dijkstra, P., Hymus, G., Stiling, P., Megonigal, J. Patrick, Pagel, A. L., Moan, J. L., Day, F., Li, Jinhong, Hinkle, C. Ross and Drake, Bert G. (2006). Nitrogen cycling during seven years of atmospheric CO2 enrichment in a scrub oak woodland . Ecology, 87 , 26-40.
Saunders, C. J., Megonigal, J. Patrick and Reynolds, J. F. (2006). Comparison of belowground biomass in C-3 and C-4-dominated mixed communities in a Chesapeake Bay brackish marsh . Plant and Soil, 280 , 305-322.
Garnet, Kristy N., Megonigal, J. Patrick, Litchfield, Carol and Taylor, Jr. (2005). Physiological control of leaf methane emission from wetland plants . Aquatic Botany, 81 , 141-155.
Marsh, A. S., Rasse, D. P., Drake, Bert G. and Megonigal, J. Patrick. (2005). Effect of elevated CO 2 on carbon pools and fluxes in a brackish marsh . Estuaries, 28 (5) , 694-704.
Marsh, A. S., Rasse, Daniel P., Drake, Bert G. and Megonigal, J. Patrick. (2005). Carbon export from a brackish marsh exposed to elevated CO2. Estuaries, 28 , 694-704.
Megonigal, J. Patrick, Vann, C. D. and Wolf, A. A. (2005). FLooding constraints on tree (Taxodium Distichum) and herb growth responses to elevated CO2 . Wetlands, 25 , 430-438.
Neubauer, S. C., Givler, K., Valentine, S. K. and Megonigal, J. Patrick. (2005). Seasonal patterns and plant-mediated controls of subsurface wetland biogeochemistry . Ecology, 86 , 3334-3344.

Patrick Megonigal

Biography

Publications

Pages