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Kate LajthaProfessor,
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Nutrient cycling in natural and human-disturbed ecosystems, soil organic matter dynamics, forest biogeochemistry.
Human activity has caused extensive changes in the rates of inputs of various nutrient and toxic elements to many natural ecosystems, often with dramatic effects on the functioning of those ecosystems. My lab studies the changes in biogeochemical cycling, and the effects on the vegetative community, that has arisen from human activities. Most of my current research is focused in the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, which is OSU’s LTER site. We have established DIRT (Detrital Input and Removal Treatment) plots to examine the effects of changing detrital quality and quantity on soil organic matter stabilization, C balance, and nutrient cycling and availability, and we are working with other emerging DIRT sites in the U.S. and in Europe on cross-site comparisons.
Kim Townsend (MS Expected 2007)
Jay Frentress ( MS expected 2008)
Janet Rasmussen (Ph.D. expected 2009)
BI 306H, Environmental Ecology.
BI 370H, Honors Ecology
BOT/FS 547, Forest Nutrient Cycling.
BOT 505/605, Ecosystem Biogeochemistry
ENSC 101, Introduction to Environmental Sciences
Michener, R.M. and K. Lajtha, eds. 2007. Stable Isotopes in Ecology and Environmental Science 2nd Edition. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford . in press.
Horváth, L., E. Führer and K. Lajtha. 2007. Nitric oxide and nitrous oxide emission from Hungarian forests: link with atmospheric N deposition. Atmospheric Environment, in press.
Crow, S. E., C. Swanston, K. Lajtha, J. R. Brooks, and H. Kierstead. 2007. Interpreting density fractions: searching for meaningful soil organic matter pools. Biogeochemistry, in press.
Marshall, J.D., J.R. Brooks , and K. Lajtha. 2007. Sources of variation in the stable isotopic composition of plants. In Stable Isotopes in Ecology and Environmental Science 2nd Edition Eds. R. Michener and K. Lajtha. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford . In press.
Beldin, S. I., E. W. Sulzman, B. A. Caldwell, P. Sollins, K. Lajtha, and S. E. Crow. 2007. Cation exchange capacity of density fractions from paired conifer/grassland soils. Biology and Fertility of Soils, in press.
Crow, S. E., E. W. Sulzman, W.D. Rugh, R.D. Bowden, and K. Lajtha. 2006. Isotopic analysis of respired CO2 during decomposition of separated soil organic matter pools. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, in press.
Sollins, P., C. Swanston, M. Kleber, T. Filley, M. Kramer, S. Crow, B. Caldwell, K. Lajtha, and R. Bowden. 2006. Organic C and N stabilization in a forest soil: evidence from sequential density fractionation Soil Biology and Biochemistry, in press.
Brenner, R. E., R. D. Boone, J. B. Jones, K. Lajtha, and R. W. Ruess. 2006. Successional and physical controls on the retention of nitrogen in an undisturbed boreal forest ecosystem. Oecologia 148:602-611.
Carreira, J.A., B. Viñegla, and K. Lajtha. 2006. Secondary CaCO3 and precipitation of P-Ca compounds control the retention of soil P in arid ecosystems. Journal of Arid Environments 64:460-473.
Horváth, L., E. Führer and K. Lajtha. 2005. Nitric oxide and nitrous oxide emission from Hungarian forests: link with atmospheric N deposition. Biogeosciences Discussions, 2, 703–723, 2005
Holub, S.M., K. Lajtha, J.D.H. Spears, J.A. Tóth, S.E. Crow, B.A.Caldwell, M. Papp, and P.T. Nagy. 2005. Organic matter manipulations have little effect on gross and net nitrogen transformations in two temperate forest mineral soils in the U.S.A and central Europe . Forest Ecology and Management 214:320-330.
Sulzman, E.W., J.B. Brant, R.D. Bowden, and K. Lajtha. 2005. Contribution of aboveground litter, belowground litter, and rhizosphere respiration to total soil CO2 efflux in an old growth coniferous forest. Biogeochemistry 73:231 - 256
Lajtha, K., S. Crow, Y. Yano, S.S. Kaushal, E.W. Sulzman, P. Sollins, and J.D.H. Spears. 2005. Detrital controls on soil solution N and dissolved organic matter in soils: a field experiment. Biogeochemistry, 76:261-281.
Cairns , M. A., and K. Lajtha. 2005. Effects of succession on nitrogen export in the west-central Cascades, Oregon . Ecosystems 8:583-601.
Yano, Y., K. Lajtha, P. Sollins, and B.A. Caldwell. 2005. Chemistry and dynamics of dissolved organic matter in a temperate coniferous forest on Andic soils: Effects of litter quality. Ecosystems 8: 286 - 300
Yano, Y., K. Lajtha, P. Sollins, and B.A. Caldwell. 2004. Chemical and seasonal controls on the dynamics of dissolved organic matter in a coniferous old-growth stand in the Pacific Northwest, USA . Biogeochemistry 71:197-223.
Spears, J.D.H. and K. Lajtha. 2004. The imprint of coarse woody debris on soil chemistry in the western Oregon Cascades, Biogeochemistry 71:163-175.
Johnston, C.A., P. Groffman, D.D. Breshears, Z.G. Cardon, W. Currie, W. Emanuel, J. Gaudinski, R.B. Jackson, K. Lajtha, K. Nadelhoffer, D. Nelson Jr., W. Mac Post, G. Retallack, R. Stallard, L. Wielopolski. 2004. The frontier below: Carbon cycling in soil. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2: 522-528.
Holub, S.M. and K. Lajtha. 2004. The fate and retention of organic and inorganic 15N-nitrogen in an old-growth forest soil in Western Oregon . Ecosystems 7:368-380.
K. Nadelhoffer, J. Aitkenhead, R. Boone, R. Bowden, J. Canary, J. Kaye, K. Lajtha, W. McDowell, P. Micks, and A. Ricca. 2004. The DIRT experiment: litter and root influences on forest soil organic matter stocks and function. Chapter 15 in: D. Foster and J. Aber (eds.), Forests in Time: The Environmental Consequences of 1000 Years of Change in New England . Yale University Press, pp. 300-315.
