Benjamin Sullivan

Associate Professor

Office: (775) 784-6374
Email: benjaminsullivan@unr.edu
Building: Knudtsen Resource Center
Website: Nevada Soils Ecology Lab
Address: 1664 N. Virginia Street, Mail Stop 186, Reno, Nevada 89557
Department: Natural Resources and Environmental Science
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Summary

Please visit my lab website

Education

B.S. University of Montana, 2002
M.S. Northern Arizona University, 2007
Ph.D. Northern Arizona University, 2011

News & Journal Articles, Fact Sheets, Reports...

Journals
Does montane meadow restoration influence the mineral association and stability of soil carbon? Bagcilar, S.H., Reed, C.C., Poulson, S.R. et al. 2024, Biogeochemistry 167, 1089–1105 (2024)
Variation in diet of desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni): Tradeoffs associated with parturition Blum, M. E., Stewart, K. M., Cox, M., Shoemaker, K. T., Bennett, J. R., Sullivan, B. W., Wakeling, B. F., & Bleich, V. C. 2023, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10, 1071771
Carbon allocation in an East African ant-acacia: field testing a 13C-labeling method for evaluating biotic impacts on the carbon cycle. Mizell, G.M., Kim, T., Sullivan, B.W. et al. 2023, Plant Ecol 224, 953–963
Ecosystem carbon and nitrogen gains following 27 years of grazing management in a semiarid alluvial valley. Morra B, Brisbin H, Stringham T, Sullivan BW. 2023, J Environ Manage. 2023 Jul 1;337:117724
Vegetation productivity drives soil mineral associated organic matter formation and the relative contribution of sorption capacity across climates Morra, B., Reed, C., Poulson, S. R., & Sullivan, B. W. 2023, Rhizosphere, 27, 100737
Carbon stocks and total belowground carbon flux respond to weather and grazing in semiarid montane meadows. Morra, B., Richardson, W., Stringham, T. & Sullivan, B. W. 2023, Ecosystems 26, 1428–1440
The Contribution of Fe(III) Reduction to Soil Carbon Mineralization in Montane Meadows Depends on Soil Chemistry, Not Parent Material or Microbial Community. Reed, C. C., Dunham-Cheatham, S. M., Castle, S. C., Vuono, D. C., & Sullivan, B. W. 2023, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 128(5), e2022JG007325
Restoring function: Positive responses of carbon and nitrogen to 20 years of hydrologic restoration in montane meadows C.C. Reed, A.A. Berhe, K.C. Moreland, J. Wilcox, B.W. Sullivan 2022, Ecological Applications, Volume32, Issue7 October 2022 e2677
Variation in diet of desert bighorn sheep: tradeoffs associated with parturition M.E. Blum, K.M. Stewart, M. Cox, K.T. Shoemaker, J.R. Bennett, B.W. Sullivan, B.F. Wakeling, V.C. Bleich 2022, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 10 (2023) 14
Montane Meadows: A Soil Carbon Sink or Source? C.C. Reed, A G. Merrill, W. M. Drew, B. Christman, R. A. Hutchinson, L. Keszey, M. Odell,S. Swanson, P. S. J. Verburg, J. Wilcox, S.C. Hart, B. W. Sullivan 2021, Ecosystems, 24(5), 1125–1141
Snowmelt causes different limitations on transpiration in a Sierra Nevada conifer forest Cooper, A.E., Kirchner, J.W., Wolf, S., Lombardozzi, D.L., Sullivan, B., Tyler, S.W. and A.A. Harpold 2020, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
Persistent agricultural legacy in soil influences plant restoration success in a Great Basin salt desert ecosystem. Dunham-Cheatham, S. M., Freund, S. M., Uselman, S., Leger, E. A., Sullivan, B. W. 2020, Ecological Restoration, vol. 38 no. 1 42-53
Leaf cutter ants engineer large nitrous oxide hot spots in tropical forests. Soper, F.M., B.W. Sullivan, B.B. Osborne, A.N. Shaw, L. Phillipot, C.C. Cleveland. 2019, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 286: 20182504.
Biogeochemical recuperation of lowland tropical forest during succession Sullivan, B. W., R.L. Nifong, M.K. Nasto, S. Alvarez-Clare, C. Dencker, F.M. Soper, K.T. Shoemaker, F. Yoko Yashida, J. Zaragoza-Castells, E.A. Davidson and C.C. Cleveland. 2019, Ecology, e02641. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2641
Shrub facilitation of tree establishment varies with ontogenetic stage across environmental gradients. Urza, A. K., Weisberg, P. J., Chambers, J. C., Sullivan, B. W. 2019, New Phytologist, 223(4), 1795--1808
Resource limitation modulates the fate of dissimilated nitrogen in a dual-pathway Actinobacterium. Vuono, D.C., R.W. Read, J. Hemp, B.W. Sullivan, J.A. Arnone III, I. Neveux, B. Blank, C. Staub, E. Loney, D. Miceli, M. Winkler, R. Chakraborty, D.A. Stahl, J.J.Grzymski. 2019, Frontiers in Microbiology, 10, 3 doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.00003
Charcoal increases microbial activity in eastern Sierra Nevada forest. Carter, Z., Sullivan, B. W., Qualls, R. G., Blank, R., Schmidt, C., Verburg, P. 2018, Forests 92 (3): 93, DOI:10.3390/f9020093.
Actinorhizal species influence plant and soil nitrogen in semiarid shrub-dominated ecosystems in the western Great Basin Freund, S.M., F.M. Soper, S.R. Poulson, P.C. Selmants, B.W. Sullivan 2018, Journal of Arid Environments 157, 48-56
Legume Abundance Along Successional And Rainfall Gradients In Neotropical Forests Gei, M., D. Rozendaal, L. Poorter, F. Bongers, J. Sprent, M. Garner, T.M. Aide, J. Andrade, P. Balavanera, J. Becknell, P.H. Brancalion, G.A. Cabral, R. César, R. Chazdon, R. Cole, G. Colletta, B. de Jong, J.S. Denslow, D. Dent, S. DeWalt, J. Dupuy, S. Durán, M. do Espírito Santo, G. Fernandes, J. Ferrera Nunes, B. Finegan, V.G. Moser, J. Hall, J.L. Hernandez-Stefanoni, A. Junqueira, D. Kennard, E. Lebrija-Trejos, S. Lecher, M. Lohbeck, E. Marin-Spiotta, M. Martinez-Ramos, J. Meave, D. Menge, F. 2018, Nature Ecology and Evolution 2, 11014-1111
Deconstruction of a plant-arthropod community reveals influential plant traits with nonlinear effects on arthropod assemblages. Harrison, J., Philbin, C., Gompert, Z., Forister, G., Hernandez, L., Sullivan, B. W., Wallace, I., Beltran, L., Dodson, C., Francis, J., Schlageter, A., Shelef, O., Yoon, S., Forister, M. L. 2018, Functional Ecology DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13060.
Building flux capacity: Citizen scientists increase resolution of soil greenhouse gas fluxes Reed, C.C., J. Winters, S.C. Hart, R. Hutchinson, M. Chandler, G. Venicx, B.W. Sullivan 2018, PLoS ONE 13(7) e0198997.
Regime shift in the littoral ecosystem of volcanic lake Atitlán in Central America: combined role of stochastic event and invasive plant species Rejmankova, E., B.W. Sullivan, J. Aldad, J. Snyder, S. Castle, F. Morales. 2018, Freshwater Biology 63(9), 1088-1106
Remotely sensed canopy nitrogen correlates with nitrous oxide emissions in a lowland tropical rainforest Soper, F.M., B.W. Sullivan, M.K. Nasto, B.B. Osborne, D. Bru, C. Balzotti, P. Taylor, G. Asner, A.R. Townsend, L. Philippot, S. Porder, C.C. Cleveland 2018, Ecology 99(9), 2080-2089.
Restoring dryland old fields with native shrubs and grasses: Does facilitation and seed source matter? Uselman SM, Davison J, Baughman OW, Sullivan BW, Miller WW, Leger EA 2018, PloS One, 3 (10), e0205760
A framework for evaluating estimates of symbiotic nitrogen fixation in forests Winbourne J., M. Harrison, B.W. Sullivan, S. Alvarez-Clare, S. Rafaela Lins, L. Martinelli, M.K. Nasto, D. Piotto, S. Rolim, M. Wong, S. Porder 2018, The American Naturalist 192(5) 618-629.
Nutrient limitation of soil microbial activity during the earliest stages of ecosystem development. Castle, S. C., Sullivan, B. W., Knelman, J., Hood, E., Nemergut, D. R., Schmidt, S. K., Cleveland, C. C. 2017, Oecologia 185: 513
Climate, Topography, and Canopy Chemistry Exert Hierarchical Control Over Soil N Cycling in a Neotropical Lowland Forest Osborne, B. B., Nasto, M. K., Asner, G. P., Balzotti, C. S., Cleveland, C. C., Sullivan, B. W., Taylor, P. G., Townsend, A. R., Porder, S. 2017, Ecosystems 20 (6): 1089-1103.
Temperature and rainfall interact to control carbon cycling in tropical forests. Taylor, P.G., Cleveland, C. C., Wieder, W. R., Sullivan, B. W., Doughty, C. E., Dobrowski, S., Townsend, A.R. 2017, Ecology Letters 20 (6): 779-788.
A comparison of plot-based, satellite and Earth system model estimates of tropical NPP. Cleveland, C. C., Taylor, P., Chadwick, K. D., Doughty, C., Malhi, Y., Smith, W. K., Sullivan, B. W., Wieder, W. R., Townsend, A. R. 2015, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 29(5), 626–644.
Proximate controls on semiarid soil greenhouse gas fluxes across 3 million years of soil development. Sullivan, B. W., Nasto, M. K., Hart, S. C., Hungate, B. A. 2015, Biogeochemistry, 125(3), 375-391.
Interactions among nitrogen fixation and soil phosphorus acquisition strategies in lowland tropical rain forests Paradoxically, symbiotic dinitrogen (N₂) fixers are abundant in nitrogen (N)-rich, phosphorus (P)-poor lowland tropical rain forests. One hypothesis to explain this pattern states that N₂ fixers have an advantage in acquiring soil P by producing more N-rich enzymes (phosphatases) that mineralise organic P than non-N₂ fixers. We assessed soil and root phosphatase activity between fixers and non-fixers in two lowland tropical rain forest sites, but also addressed the hypothesis that arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) colonisation (another P acquisition strategy) is greater on fixers than non-fixers. Root phosphatase activity and AM colonisation were higher for fixers than non-fixers, and strong correlations between AM colonisation and N₂ fixation at both sites suggest that the N–P interactions mediated by fixers may generally apply across tropical forests. We suggest that phosphatase enzymes and AM fungi enhance the capacity of N₂ fixers to acquire soil P, thus contributing to their high abundance in tropical forests. Nasto, M.K., S. Alvarez-Clare, Y. Lekberg, B.W. Sullivan, A.R. Townsend, C.C. Cleveland. 2014, Ecology Letters 17(10): 1282–1289.
Assessing nutrient limitation in complex forested ecosystems: Alternatives to large-scale fertilization experiments. Sullivan, B.W., S. Alvarez-Clare, S.C. Castle, S. Porder, S. Reed, L. Schreeg, A. Townsend, C.C. Cleveland. 2014, Ecology 95 (3). 668-681
Spatially robust estimates of biological nitrogen (N) fixation imply substantial human alteration of the tropical N cycle. Sullivan, B.W., W.K. Smith, A.R. Townsend, M.K. Nasto, S.C. Reed, R. Chazdon, C.C. Cleveland 2014, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 111 (22), 8101-8106.
Does dissolved organic carbon regulate biological methane oxidation in semiarid soils? Sullivan, B.W., P.C. Selmants, S.C. Hart. 2013, Global Change Biology 19 (7), 2149-2157.
Evaluation of mechanisms controlling the priming of soil carbon along a substrate age gradient. Sullivan, B.W., S.C. Hart. 2013, Soil Biology and Biochemistry 58, 293-301.
Effects of water additions on pinyon pine (Pinus edulis) water relations, growth, and mortality across a three million year old soil age gradient in northern Arizona, USA. Looney, C.L., B.W. Sullivan, J.M. Kane, T.E. Kolb, S.C. Hart. 2012, Plant and Soil 357, 89-102.
Videos
Carbon Sequestration Monitoring Equipment Demo Sullivan, B and Drew, M 2016, Vimeo.com