Dr. Michael L. Goulden

Associate Professor, Earth System Science and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

3319 Croul Hall
University of California
Irvine, CA 92697-3100
mgoulden@uci.edu
Telephone
(949) 824-1983 (office)
(949) 824-8794 (department)
FAX
(949) 824-3256
Research focus: Ecosystem Ecology, Plant Physiological Ecology, Micrometeorology

Professor Goulden received a B.A. in Biology from Reed College and a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Stanford University.   He did postdoctoral work at Harvard University in Earth and Planetary Sciences before joining UCI in September 1997.  His research focuses on the biological and physical controls on terrestrial nutrient, carbon, and energy cycling, with an emphasis on the response of natural ecosystems to environmental change.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

None right now, check back later

THE LAB

Scott Miller, Assistant Researcher
Yufang Jin, Assistant Researcher
Greg Winston, Research Specialist
Andrew McMillan, Postgraduate Researcher
Adrian Rocha, Graduate Student
Chris Doughty, Graduate Student
Ray Anderson, Graduate Student
Aaron Fellows, Graduate Student
Anders Holmberg, Research Technician
Sami Rifai, Research Technician

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

Our research focuses on how terrestrial ecosystems work, with an emphasis on what controls the exchanges of gases and energy between land surfaces and the atmosphere. This research is relevant to several environmental problems, including understanding changes in climate and global biogeochemistry.  Our approach is interdisciplinary, borrowing techniques and ideas from a range of academic disciplines including plant physiology, community and ecosystem ecology, hydrology, micrometeorology, environmental physics, and biogeochemistry. We are currently focusing on five projects.

 What controls Tropical Forest CO2 exchange? What controls wetland productivity?
 How do Boreal Forests recover from fire?
How will climate change affect Southern Californian's ecosystems?

 What is California's Carbon budget?



FACILITIES, TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT

Our research makes use of a range of techniques, including eddy correlation, a micrometeorological technique that provides direct, long-term measurements of ecosystem-atmosphere energy and CO2 exchange.  Eddy flux data can be analyzed to determine the physiological responses of a site (for example, how photosynthesis increases with light), and, also, summed over a year to determine the carbon balance of a site (how much carbon it is gaining or losing). The measurements can be compared to independent techniques such as gas exchange measured with chambers and also to physiologically-based models, resulting in a better understanding of how physiology controls carbon gain, and improving predictions of how ecosystems may change in the future.

Click here for a list of lab equipment.

TEACHING

ESS 114 Field Methods in Earth System Science.  Next offered Spring 2005
ESS 116 Data analysis in Earth System Science.  Next offered Fall 2004
ESS 218 Earth System Science Graduate Core in Terrestrial Ecology.  Next offered Fall 2005

Research opportunities

Undergraduate - both summer and academic year
Graduate and postdoctoral

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Goulden, M.L., Miller, S.D., da Rocha, H.R., Menton, M.C., Freitas, H.C., Figueira, A.M.S., and de Sousa, C. A. D. (2004) Diel and seasonal patterns of tropical forest CO2 exchange. Ecological Applications, 14: S42-S54. (PDF) Copyright 2004 Ecological Society of America. Further reproduction or electronic distribution is not permitted.

Miller, S.D., Goulden, M.L., Menton, M.C., da Rocha, H.R., Freitas, H.C., Figueira, A. M. S., and de Sousa, C. A. D.  (2004) Biometric and micrometeorological measurements of tropical forest carbon balance. Ecological Applications, 14: S114-S126. (PDF) Copyright 2004 Ecological Society of America. Further reproduction or electronic distribution is not permitted.

da Rocha, H.R., Goulden, M.L., Miller, S.D., Menton, M.C., Pinto, L.D.V.O, Freitas, H.C,. Figueira, A.M.S (2004) Seasonality of water and heat fluxes over a tropical forest in eastern Amazonia. Ecological Applications, 14: S22-S32. (PDF) Copyright 2004 Ecological Society of America. Further reproduction or electronic distribution is not permitted.

Saleska, S.R., Miller, S.D., Matross, D.M., Goulden, M.L., Wofsy, S.C., da Rocha, H.R., de Camargo, P.B., Crill, P., Daube, B.C., de Freitas, H.C., Hutyra, L., Keller, M., Kirchhoff, V., Menton, M., Munger, J.W., Pyle, E.H., Rice, A.H., Silva, H. (2003) Carbon in amazon forests: Unexpected seasonal fluxes and disturbance-induced losses. Science, 302: 1554-1557. (PDF)

Litvak, M., Miller, S., Wofsy, S., and Goulden, M.L. (2003) Effect of Stand Age on Whole Ecosystem CO2 Exchange in Canadian Boreal Forest Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 108 (D3): Art. No. 8225. (PDF) Copyright 2003 American Geophysical Union. Further reproduction or electronic distribution is not permitted.

Prentice, I.C., G. Farquhar, M. Fasham, M. Goulden, M. Heimann, V. Jaramillo, H. Kheshgi, C. Le Quere, R. Scholes, D. Wallace. IPCC Working Group 1 Third Assessment Report. Chapter 3.  The Carbon Cycle and Atmospheric CO2. (PDF)

Goulden, M.L., Wofsy, S.C., Harden, J.W., Trumbore, S.E., Crill, P.M., Gower, S.T., Fries, T., Daube, B.C., Fan,  S.-M., Sutton, D.J., Bazzaz, A. Munger, J.W. Sensitivity of Boreal Forest Carbon Balance to Soil Thaw. Science, 279:214-217 (PDF).

Goulden, M.L., Daube, B.C., Fan, S.-M., Sutton, D.J., Bazzaz, A., Munger, J.W. and Wofsy, S.C. Physiological Responses of a Black Spruce Forest to Weather.  Journal of Geophysical Research, 102:28,987-28,996 (PDF). Copyright 1997 American Geophysical Union. Further reproduction or electronic distribution is not permitted.

Goulden, M.L., Munger, J.W., Fan, S.-M., Daube, B.C. and Wofsy, S.C. Measurements of carbon sequestration by long-term eddy covariance: Methods and a critical evaluation of accuracy.  Global Change Biology, 2:169-182 (PDF). Copyright 1996 Blackwell. Further reproduction or electronic distribution is not permitted.

Goulden, M.L., Munger, J.W., Fan, S.-M., Daube, B.C. and Wofsy, S.C.  CO2 exchange by a  deciduous forest: response to interannual climate variability. Science, 271:1576-1578 (PDF).

UCI Links

Earth System Science Department
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department
UCI Global Change Ecology Program