THOMAS W. BOUTTON

Regents Professor

Molecular and Environmental Plant Sciences,
Ecosystem Science and Management

Department of Ecosystem Science and Management
Texas A&M University
TAMU 2138
College Station, TX 77843-2138 USA
Office: Animal Industries Bldg. (map)
Phone: 979.845.8027
Fax: 979.845.6430
E-mail: boutton@tamu.edu
Department Web page

Keywords: Biogeochemistry, carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, nutrient cycling, soil biology and biochemistry, plant-soil relationships, land cover/land use changes, global change, ecosystem science, plant ecology, vegetation dynamics, grasslands, savannas, paleoecology, stable isotope methods.

Interests:
I am interested in the ecology of grassland and savanna ecosystems. More specifically, I am interested in land cover/land use changes and their impacts on ecosystem processes (productivity, decomposition, nutrient cycling, hydrology). At present, most of my work is oriented towards understanding the biogeochemical consequences of increased woody plant abundance in the grasslands and savannas of the southwestern USA.

My program is also oriented towards increasing our ability to anticipate ecosystem responses to global atmospheric and climatic changes predicted for the future. Information regarding changes in ecosystem structure and function in response to climate, land use, and atmospheric composition is being obtained through studies involving time scales ranging from a few years (contemporary ecosystems) to ten thousand years or more (paleoecosystems), and spatial scales ranging from the soil aggregate to the landscape.

An important component of this research is the development and application of stable isotope techniques. I have utilized the natural abundances of 2H, 13C, 15N, and 18O in the plant-soil system to document vegetation changes, determine root system dynamics and distribution patterns, quantify energy flow in decomposer organisms, measure rates of soil organic matter turnover, establish the role of soil structure in organic matter storage and dynamics, and to quantify plant water use characteristics and other components of the hydrologic cycle.

Selected publications:

Boutton TW, Liao JD, Filley TR, Archer SR. 2009. Belowground carbon storage and dynamics accompanying woody plant encroachment in a subtropical savanna. IN: Soil Carbon Sequestration and the Greenhouse Effect, 2nd ed., pp. 181-205, R. Lal and R. Follett, Eds. Soil Science Society of America, Madison, WI.

Biederman L, Boutton TW. 2009. Biodiversity and trophic structure of soil nematode communities change following woody plant invasion of grassland Soil Biology and Biochemistry doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2009.06.019

Bai E, Boutton TW, Wu XB, Liu F, Archer SR. 2009. Landscape-scale vegetation dynamics inferred from spatial patterns of soil õ13C in a subtropical savanna parkland. Journal of Geophysical Research 114: G01019, doi:10.1029/2008JG000839, 2009.

Bai E, Boutton TW, Liu F, Wu XB, Archer SR, Hallmark CT. 2008. Spatial variation of õ15N of woody plants along a topoedaphic gradient in a subtropical savanna. Oecologia 159: 493-503.

Filley TR, Boutton TW, Liao JD, Jastrow JD. 2008. Chemical changes to non-aggregated particulate soil organic matter following grassland-to-woodland transition in a subtropical savanna. Journal of Geophysical Research113: G03009, doi:10.1029/2007JG000564, 2008

Millard P, Midwood AJ, Hunt JE, Whitehead D, Boutton TW. 2008. Partitioning soil surface CO₂ efflux into autotrophic and heterotrophic components using natural gradients in soil õ13C in an undisturbed savannah soil. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 40: 1575-1582.

Bai E, Boutton TW, Liu F, Wu XB, Archer SR. 2008. Variation in woody plant õ13C along a topoedaphic gradient in a subtropical savanna parkland. Oecologia 156: 479-489.

Liao JD, Boutton TW. 2008. Soil microbial biomass response to woody plant invasion of grassland. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 40: 1207-1216.