Ashley Keiser | Stockbridge School of Agriculture

Assistant Professor of Soil and Ecosystem Ecology

Education

Ph.D., Yale University, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (2014)
M.Phil., Yale University (2011)
B.S. University of New Hampshire (2004)

Research Interests

Dr. Keiser is an ecosystem ecologist working at the interface of plant and soil microbial communities across both forested and agricultural systems. Her lab’s approaches integrate local, mechanism-driven questions that help advance ecological theory regarding soil microbial community function (i.e. litter decomposition) and landscape-level biogeochemical inquiries that link ecosystem function with land management decisions. Overall, the lab works to expand our understanding of how soil microbial community function, exhibited through carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics, will change with shifting plant communities, land management regimes, and climate.

The Keiser Lab’s research fits within four main themes:
1. Plant-microbe interactions
2. Coupled carbon-nitrogen dynamics
3. Home-field advantage
4. Invasive species and ecosystem dynamics

Publications

Google Scholar listing

About

Human activities have redistributed carbon and nutrients throughout the globe, which have contributed to ecosystem shifts ranging from warming temperatures to prevalence of algal blooms. Plant and soil communities mediate the exchange of these resources. Our ability to predict how atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations and other biogeochemical cycles will change over the coming century is critically tied to our ability to mechanistically describe plant and soil community function and interactions. The goal of my research program is to identify processes that control the exchange of carbon and nutrients between plant and soil communities.