Faculty Profile

Lipson lab web site: www.rohan.sdsu.edu/~dlipson/

Research Interests: Soil microbial ecology.  Major research questions: (1) What factors determine the composition of soil microbial communities?  (2) How does microbial community structure affect biogeochemical processes and the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems? (3) How do changes in atmosphere and climate impact the structure and function of soil microbial communities?  Other major themes include plant-microbe interactions, and the cycling of carbon and nitrogen, and life in cold environments.

Upper division and graduate courses: Microbial Ecology (Biology 528), Soil Biology (Biology 596), Ecology and the Environment (Biology 354)

Graduate students currently being accepted (Ecology MS , Microbiology MS, Joint Doctoral Program in Ecology with UC Davis, Joint Doctoral Program in Biology with UCSD)

Selected Publications:

(view complete list)

Lipson D.A., Monson R.K., Schmidt S.K., Weintraub M.N. (2008) The trade-off between growth rate and yield in microbial communities and the consequences for under-snow soil respiration in a high elevation coniferous forest. Biogeochemistry (in press) DOI: 10.1007/s10533-008-9252-1

Lipson D.A. (2007) Relationships between Temperature Responses and Bacterial Community Structure along Seasonal and Altitudinal Gradients. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 59:418-427.

Monson R.K., Lipson D.A., Burns S.P., Turnipseed A.A., Delany A., Williams M.W., Schmidt S.K. (2006) High sensitivity to climate in the early-spring carbon cycle of a forest ecosystem. Nature 439:711-714.

Lipson D.A., Blair M., Grieve K., Barron-Gafford G., Murthy R. (2006) Relationships between microbial community structure and soil processes under elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide. Microbial Ecology 51:302-314.

Lipson D.A., Wilson R.A., Oechel W.C. (2005) Effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 on soil microbial biomass, activity and diversity in a chaparral ecosystem. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 71:8573-8580.

Lipson, D.A., and Schmidt, S.K. (2004) Seasonal Changes in an Alpine Soil Bacterial Community. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 70: 2867-2879

Schadt, C.W., Martin, A.P., Lipson, D.A., Schmidt, S.K. (2003) Seasonal Dynamics of Previously Unknown Fungal Lineages in Tundra Soils. Science 301: 1359-1361

Lipson, D.A., Schadt, C.W., Monson, R.K. and Schmidt, S.K. (2002) Changes in microbial community structure and function following snow melt in an alpine soil. Microbial Ecology 43:307-314