Contact:
Dr. Jason Kaye416 Agricultural Sciences & Industries Building
University Park, PA 16802
Phone: +1-814-863-1614
E-mail: jpk12@psu.edu
The Kaye Lab
Kaye Biogeochemical Research Laboratory
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
College of Agricultural Sciences
The Pennsylvania State University
Research in my lab focuses on feedbacks between terrestrial ecosystems and environmental change. Many of these feedbacks are driven by changes in biogeochemical cycles, i.e. changes in the storage and movement of energy and nutrients in the Earth system. We are particularly interested in the nitrogen cycle, which is greatly influenced locally and globally by land use and land management practices. We use principles of ecology and biogeochemistry to understand the flow and fate of nitrogen at scales ranging from individual microbial processes, to whole ecosystems and landscapes, to regions. Ultimately this knowledge should 1) increase our basic understanding of ecosystem element cycles, 2) help minimize nitrogen losses from managed ecosystems, 3) help us understand how nitrogen losses from managed ecosystems affect and are attenuated by unmanaged ecosystems. The research often measures interactions between nitrogen cycling and ecosystem carbon balance to understand how global changes in carbon and nitrogen cycling are linked.