Skip to main content

Dr. Peter M. Groffman

Microbial Ecologist | PhD, University of Georgia

Expertise
soil ecology, water quality

845 677-7600 x128

Peter Groffman studies how microbial processes impact gas exchange - particularly nitrogen - between the soil and air. His work encompasses rural and urban ecosystems, and is primarily centered at two of the National Science Foundation’s Long Term Ecological Research sites located in Hubbard Brook, New Hampshire and Baltimore, Maryland.

As a result of climate change, forests in the northeastern US are experiencing reduced winter snow cover. This change leaves the forest soil exposed to subfreezing temperatures for extended periods. Without a layer of insulating snow, important biological activity that usually continues throughout the winter stops. Freezing damages tender tree roots. Increased winter rain washes nitrogen and phosphorus - nutrients critical to tree growth - out of the soil, threatening forest productivity and water quality. Bare soils produce more nitrous oxide and consume less methane - both potent greenhouse gases. Understanding these processes will inform forest management as climate warms.

Urbanization is a global trend marked by increasing homogenization of the landscape; imagine the cookie cutter properties that characterize ‘suburbia’. Understanding landscape homogenization will help predict the impacts of urban land use change and its effects on carbon storage and nitrogen pollution, on multiple spatial scales.

Groffman is also a Professor at the City University of New York Advanced Science Research Center at the Graduate Center and the Brooklyn College Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Campbell, John L, Charles T Driscoll, Julia A Jones, Emery R Boose, Hilary A Dugan, Peter M. Groffman, Rhett Jackson, et al. 2022. “Forest and Freshwater Ecosystem Responses to Climate Change and Variability at US LTER Sites”. BioScience 72 (9). Oxford University Press (OUP): 851-70. doi:10.1093/biosci/biab124.
Mason, Rachel E., Joseph M. Craine, Nina K. Lany, Mathieu Jonard, Scott V. Ollinger, Peter M. Groffman, Robinson W. Fulweiler, et al. 2022. “Explanations for Nitrogen decline—Response”. Science 376 (6598). American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS): 1170-70. doi:10.1126/science.abq8690.
Larson, Kelli L., Susannah B. Lerman, Kristen C. Nelson, Desiree L. Narango, Megan M. Wheeler, Peter M. Groffman, Sharon J. Hall, and Morgan Grove. 2022. “Examining the Potential to Expand Wildlife-Supporting Residential Yards and Gardens”. Landscape and Urban Planning 222. Elsevier BV: 104396. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104396.
McPhearson, Timon, Elizabeth M. Cook, Marta Berbés-Blázquez, Chingwen Cheng, Nancy B. Grimm, Erik Andersson, Olga Barbosa, et al. 2022. “A Social-Ecological-Technological Systems Framework for Urban Ecosystem Services”. One Earth 5 (5). Elsevier BV: 505-18. doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2022.04.007.
Zhang, Ruoyu, David Newburn, Andrew Rosenberg, Laurence Lin, Peter M. Groffman, Jonathan Duncan, and Lawrence Band. 2022. “Spatial Asynchrony in Environmental and Economic Benefits of Stream Restoration”. Environmental Research Letters 17 (5). IOP Publishing: 054004. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac61c6.
Grabowski, Zbigniew J., Timon McPhearson, Marissa Matsler, Peter M. Groffman, and Steward T. A. Pickett. 2022. “What Is Green Infrastructure? A Study of Definitions in US City Planning”. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Wiley. doi:10.1002/fee.2445.
Mason, Rachel E., Joseph M. Craine, Nina K. Lany, Mathieu Jonard, Scott V. Ollinger, Peter M. Groffman, Robinson W. Fulweiler, et al. 2022. “Evidence, Causes, and Consequences of Declining Nitrogen Availability in Terrestrial Ecosystems”. Science 376 (6590). American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). doi:10.1126/science.abh3767.
Nevison, Cynthia, Christine Goodale, Peter Hess, William R. Wieder, Julius Vira, and Peter M. Groffman. 2022. “Nitrification and Denitrification in the Community Land Model Compared With Observations at Hubbard Brook Forest”. Ecological Applications 32 (4). Wiley. doi:10.1002/eap.2530.
Sonti, Nancy F., Peter M. Groffman, David J. Nowak, Jason G. Henning, Meghan L. Avolio, and Emma J. Rosi. 2022. “Urban Net Primary Production: Concepts, Field Methods, and Baltimore, Maryland, USA Case Study”. Ecological Applications 32 (4). Wiley. doi:10.1002/eap.2562.
Mejia, GA, Peter M. Groffman, AE Downey, Elizabeth M. Cook, S Sritrairat, R Karty, MI Palmer, and Timon McPhearson. 2022. “Nitrogen Cycling and Urban Afforestation Success in New York City”. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS. doi:10.1002/eap.2535.

Current Projects


Articles by Peter Groffman