Specialty Areas of Interest
- Tallgrass prairie plant eco-physiology
- Eco-hydrology
- Stable isotope ecology
- Plant responses to climate change
My research focuses on the physiological responses of plants to environmental variability and resource availability. I use experimental and observational studies to examine the shifting roles of water and temperature as drivers of water-use patterns, gas exchange, water stress, and primary productivity. Currently, most of my work focuses on scaling the fluxes of CO2 and H2O vapor spatially, temporally, and from leaf to whole plant to ecosystem. My goal is to improve our characterization of how changes in resource variability impact plant eco-physiology, to improve predictions of ecological responses to global change.
Specific examples of my current research include:
- I am working to link environmental changes (heterogeneity and resource availability) at the Konza Prairie to the physiological and whole-plant responses of the dominant C4 grasses and subdominant C3 plant community to better characterize spatial and temporal ecological patterns in this ecosystem.
- Using an experimental mesocosm facility at the Konza Prairie, we are examining the physiological and genomic responses of native Panicum virgaum (switchgrass) populations from the central Plains to simulated variability in future precipitation patterns.
- We are measuring the primary physiological and growth mechanisms that allow Tamarix (saltcedar) to be so highly invasive in semi-arid riparian ecosystems.
- With Troy Ocheltree, I coordinate activities at the KSU Stable Isotope Mass Spectrometry Laboratory (SIMSL). We promote studies that incorporate stable isotope analysis as indicators of resource-use (C, N, H2O) and ecological processes.
Fay, P.A., D.M. Kaufman, J.B. Nippert, J.D. Carlisle, C.W. Harper. 2007 Changes in ecosystem function due to extreme precipitation events in grassland. Global Change Biology 14: 1-9.
Nippert, J.B.and A.K. Knapp. 2007. Soil water partitioning as a mechanism for species coexistence in tallgrass prairie. Oikos 116: 1017-1029.
Nippert, J.B.and A.K. Knapp. 2007. Linking water uptake with rooting patterns in grassland species. Oecologia 153: 261-272.
Nippert, J.B., P.A. Fay, and A.K. Knapp. 2007. Photosynthetic traits in C3 and C4 grassland species in mesocosm and field environments. Environmental and Experimental Botany 60: 412-420.
Nippert, J.B., A.K. Knapp, and J.M. Briggs. 2006. Intra-annual rainfall variability and grassland productivity: can the past predict the future? Plant Ecology 184: 65-74.
