Research Interests
I am broadly interested in examining how environmental factors drive ecosystem functioning, particularly nutrient cycling, and how these processes are altered due to human environmental change. Of particular interest are the roles that soil conditions and plant species play in driving nutrient transformations. I have examined these questions mainly in restored wetlands. I have focused on wetlands because they are unique ecosystems that connect the terrestrial and aquatic portions of the landscape, providing exciting opportunities for studying nutrient transformations in heterogeneous environments. I have specifically focused on nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) dynamics and the connections between the cycling of these two elements. To address the challenges of studying the complex relationships between plants, soils, microbes, and nutrient cycling, I have combined greenhouse studies of plant physiology with field studies of soil processes to address questions that intersect biogeochemistry, ecosystem ecology, and restoration.
There are three themes central to my research: 1) Coupling of soil-microbial functioning, 2) Plant diversity and microbial links to biogeochemical cycling, and 3) Plant-soil-microbial feedbacks to the restoration of ecosystem function.
I have worked at two research sites for my dissertation research. I have examined the importance of plant functional diversity on the nitrogen cycle in the Stream and Wetland Assessment and Management Park (SWAMP) in Duke Forest, Durham, North Carolina. In a second project I have studied the role of soil organic matter amendments in the development of soil properties and microbial activity in a restored wetland in Charlotte, N.C.
Duke Forest Biodiversity Site in July 2005. My biodiversity project combined a field study with a greenhouse study and my collaborator on this project was Justin Wright in the Duke Biology department. We measured plant traits in the greenhouse and then used those traits to calculate a measure of functional diversity to assess whether this measurement of diversity was more tightly linked to ecosystem functioning than the more traditional measure of diversity, species richness.
Duke Forest Biodiversity Site in September 2005. Our main findings from this experiment are that functional diversity does not affect biomass N and potentially has a weak effect on denitrification. Average plant traits and soil conditions are better predictors of these ecosystem functions. We are currently writing a manuscript (Sutton-Grier et al. (In review-a)) with these results and I presented these results at the Biodiversity and Restoration symposium at ESA, 2007.
Charlotte site in June 2004. At this site I am examining how soil compost additions have affected soil properties and and microbial activity over three years since restoration. Based on my results from this study, compost can be used to increase soil macronutrients, specifically nitrogen and phosphorus, which can benefit plant growth. Compost amendments can also stimulate microbial activity since I found higher rates of denitrification in plots with more compost. (Sutton-Grier et al. (In review-b))
Charlotte site in September 2004. I have also found that, even though the Charlotte and Duke Forest sites differ in many respects, similar soil predictors can be used to predict denitrification at these sites. This suggests there are fundamental relationships between soil properties and microbial functioning that persist even when restored wetlands have very different histories and soil conditions. (Sutton-Grier et al. (In review-c))
References
1) Sutton-Grier, A. E., J. Wright, and C. Richardon. (In review-a). Do plant traits, plant diversity, or environmental conditions regulate riparian zone nitrogen cycles?
2) Sutton-Grier, A. E., and C. Richardson. (In review-b). Organic matter amendment additions improve soil conditions and denitrification but do not consistently affect plant growth or diversity in a restored riparian wetland in North Carolina
3) Sutton-Grier, A. E., M. A. Kenney, and C. J. Richardson. (In review-c). Does restoration of ecosystem structure restore ecosystem function?
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