Professor Philip A. Wookey

Professor of Ecosystem Ecology

PhD - University of Lancaster, Biological Sciences (1988)
BSc Combined Hons - University of Exeter, Biology & Geography (1984)

Biological & Environmental Sciences
University of Stirling
Stirling
Scotland, FK9 4LA

tel: +44 1786 467804
fax: +44 1786 467843
email: Phil Wookey

Research Interests

Impacts of environmental change upon the structure and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems (currently with particular emphasis on arctic, alpine and montane environments);
Biodiversity and ecosystem processes;
Nutrient cycling, soil organic matter dynamics, and biogenic trace gas fluxes between ecosystems and the atmosphere.

Automatic weather station, Swedish Lapland. Climate change in the polar regions is predicted to be much greater than the global average.

Current Projects

Beinn Heasgarnich, Scotland. PhD Student Martin McGrory is comparing bioclimatic envelopes and soil processes in the Scottish Highlands with Swedish Lapland.

Research Team

Dr Iain Hartley (Postdoctoral Research Fellow: ABACUS project
Martin McGrory (PhD Student: "Landscape heterogeneity, soil ecology and environmental change: The Scottish Highlands and the Scandes Mountains as model study systems")
Jenny Owen (PhD Student: "'Determinants of field layer vegetation in plantation restocks: consequences for black grouse conservation")
Audrey Wayolle (PhD Student: "Arctic and upland soils as carbon sinks")

From left to right: Phil, Iain Hartley, Martin McGrory, Clare Robinson (University of Manchester) and Bob Baxter (Durham University) take a break from work on Nissonsnuokki, Swedish Lapland.

External Activities

UK representative on the Steering Committee of ITEX (2003 – present) and former Chair of ITEX (1996-2003)
Editorial Advisory Board of Global Change Biology
Associate Editor of Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research
Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Nordic Centre of Excellence Effect Studies and Adaptation to Climate Change (December 2010 - present)
Member of the Arctic Centre Scientific Advisory Board, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland. (2009 – present)
Member of NERC Peer Review College (2009 – present)
Member of the Trans-National Access Board, EU FP7 Trans-National Access Programme INTERACT (International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic, (February 2011 - present)
Member of the IASC (International Arctic Science Committee) Freshwater Working Group (January 2011 – present)

Research sites contributing to the second ITEX (International Tundra Experiment) synthesis (Walker et al. 2006, see Publications below).

Teaching

Phil on the summit of Ben Edra, Isle of Skye.

Undergraduate

• BIO4BD: Biodiversity
• BIO6EC: Ecology
• BIO6PP: Plant Physiology
• BIO7PR/BIO8PR: Honours Dissertations
• BIO8AS: Assignments
• ENV4T4/BIO4T4: Statistical Techniques
• ENV5T5: Field and Laboratory Techniques
• ENV6T6: Urra (Spain) Fieldcourse

Masters

• ENMP03: Information Technology
• ENMP07: Biodiversity

Recent Publications

Elmendorf SC, Henry GHR, Hollister RD, Björk RG, Bjorkman AD, Callaghan TV, Collier LS, Cooper EJ, Cornelissen JHC, Day TA, Fosaa AM, Gould WA, Grétarsdóttir J, Harte J, Hermanutz L, Hik DS, Hofgaard A, Jarrad F, Jónsdóttir IS, Keuper F, Klanderud K, Klein JA, Koh S, Kudo G, Lang SI, Loewen V, May JL, Mercado J, Michelsen A, Molau U, Myers-Smith IH, Oberbauer SF, Pieper S, Post E, Rixen C, Robinson CH, Schmidt NM, Shaver GR, Stenström A, Tolvanen A, Totland Ø, Troxler T, Wahren C-H, Webber PJ, Welker JM, Wookey PA (2011) Global assessment of experimental climate warming on tundra vegetation: heterogeneity over space and time. Ecology Letters. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01716.x

Hartley IP, Hopkins DW, Sommerkorn M, Wookey PA (2010) The response of organic matter mineralisation to nutrient and substrate additions in sub-arctic soils. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 42:92-100.

Post E, Forchhammer MC, Bret-Harte MS, Callaghan TV, Christensen TR, Elberling B, Fox AD, Gilg O, Hik DS, Høye TT, Ims RA, Jeppesen E, Klein DR, Madsen J, McGuire AD, Rysgaard S, Schindler DE, Stirling I, Tamstorf MP, Tyler NJC, van der Wal R, Welker J, Wookey PA, Schmidt NM, Aastrup P (2009) Ecological Dynamics Across the Arctic Associated with Recent Climate Change. Science 325:1355-1358.

Sjögersten S & Wookey PA (2009) The impact of climate change on ecosystem carbon dynamics at the Scandinavian mountain birch forest - tundra heath ecotone. Ambio 38:2-10.

Wookey PA, Aerts R, Bardgett RD, Baptist F, Bråthen KA, Cornelissen JHC, Gough L, Hartley IP, Hopkins DW, Lavorel S, Shaver GR (2009) Ecosystem feedbacks and cascade processes: understanding their role in the responses of arctic and alpine ecosystems to environmental change. Global Change Biology (2009) 15, 1153–1172.

Wookey PA (2008) Experimental approaches to predicting the future of tundra plant communities. Plant Ecology and Diversity 1: 299-307.

Hartley IP, Hopkins DW, Garnett MH, Sommerkorn M, Wookey PA (2008) Soil microbial respiration in arctic soil does not acclimate to temperature. Ecology Letters, 11, 1092-1100.

Sjögersten S, Melander E & Wookey PA (2007) Depth distribution of net methanotrophic activity at a mountain birch forest–tundra heath ecotone, northern Sweden. Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research 39:477-480.

Wookey PA (2007) Climate change and biodiversity in the Arctic—Nordic perspectives. Polar Research 26:96-103.

Walker MD, Wahren CH, Hollister RD, Henry GHR, Ahlquist LE, Alatalo JM, Bret-Harte MS, Calef MP, Callaghan TV, Carroll AB, Epstein HE, Jonsdottir IS, Klein JA, Magnusson B, Molau U, Oberbauer SF, Rewa SP, Robinson CH, Shaver GR, Suding KN, Thompson CC, Tolvanen A, Totland O, Turner PL, Tweedie CE, Webber PJ, Wookey PA (2006) Plant community responses to experimental warming across the tundra biome. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) 103 (5):1342-1346.

Sjogersten S & Wookey PA (2005) The role of soil organic matter quality and physical environment for nitrogen mineralization at the forest-tundra ecotone in Fennoscandia. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 37 (1):118-126.

Sjögersten S & Wookey PA (2004) Decomposition of mountain birch leaf litter at the forest-tundra ecotone in the Fennoscandian mountains in relation to climate and soil conditions. Plant and Soil 262:215-227.

Cooper EJ & Wookey PA (2003) Floral Herbivory of Dryas octopetala by Svalbard Reindeer. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 35:369-376.

Sjögersten S, Turner BL, Mahieu N, Condron LM & Wookey PA (2003) Soil organic matter biochemistry and potential susceptibility to climatic change across the forest-tundra ecotone in the Fennoscandian mountains. Global Change Biology 9:759-772.

Aanes R, Sæther B-E, Smith FM, Cooper, EJ, Wookey PA & Øritsland NA (2002) The Arctic Oscillation predicts effects of climate change in two trophic levels in a high-arctic ecosystem. Ecology Letters 5:445-453.

Gough L, Wookey PA, Shaver GR (2002) Responses of dry heath arctic tundra to long-term nutrient and light manipulation. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 34:211-218.

Sjögersten S & Wookey PA (2002a) Spatio-temporal variability and environmental controls of methane fluxes at the forest-tundra ecotone in the Fennoscandian mountains. Global Change Biology 8:885-894.

Sjögersten S & Wookey PA (2002b) Climatic and resource quality controls on soil respiration across a forest-tundra ecotone in Swedish Lapland. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 34:1633-1646.

Wookey PA (2002) Tundra. - In: Mooney HA and Canadell J (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Environmental Change, Volume 2: The Earth system - biological and ecological dimensions of global environmental change. Wiley, London. pp. 593-602. ISBN 0-471-97796-9.

Wookey PA, Bol RA, Caseldine CJ and Harkness DD (2002) Surface age, ecosystem development, and C isotope signatures of respired CO2 in an alpine environment, north Iceland. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 34:76-87.

Bradford MA, Wookey PA, Ineson P & Lappin-Scott HM (2001) Controlling factors and effects of chronic nitrogen and sulphur deposition on methane oxidation in temperate forest soil. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 33:93-102.

Bradford MA, Ineson P, Wookey PA, Lappin-Scott HM (2001a) The effects of acid nitrogen and acid sulphur deposition on CH4 oxidation in a forest soil: a laboratory study. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 33:1695-1702.

Bradford MA, Ineson P, Wookey PA and Lappin-Scott HM (2001b) The role of CH4 oxidation, production and transport in forest soil CH4 flux. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 33:1625-1631.

Cooper EJ & Wookey PA (2001) Field measurements of the growth rates of forage lichens, and the implications of grazing by Svalbard reindeer. Symbiosis 31:173-186.

Cooper EJ, Smith FM & Wookey PA (2001) Increased rainfall ameliorates the negative effect of trampling on the growth of High Arctic forage lichens. Symbiosis 31:153-171.

Baxter R (et al., incl Wookey PA) (2000) TERICA Working Group 5: European carbon budgets / Linking carbon and nitrogen cycles. In: MA Sutton, JM Moreno, WH van der Putten & S Struwe (eds) Terrestrial Ecosystem Research in Europe: successes, challenges and policy, pp. 54-64. European Commission, Brussels. ISBN 92-828-9570-X.

Ekschmitt K (et al., incl Wookey PA) (2000) TERICA Working Group 1: Ecosystem functioning and management under multiple stresses and extreme events. In: MA Sutton, JM Moreno, WH van der Putten & S Struwe (eds) Terrestrial Ecosystem Research in Europe: successes, challenges and policy, pp. 28-34. European Commission, Brussels. ISBN 92-828-9570-X.

Huntley B (et al., incl Wookey PA) (2000) DART: Dynamic response of the forest-tundra ecotone to environmental change. In: MA Sutton, JM Moreno, WH van der Putten & S Struwe (eds) Terrestrial Ecosystem Research in Europe: successes, challenges and policy, pp. 162-165. European Commission, Brussels ISBN 92-828-9570-X.

Sutton MA (et al., incl Wookey PA) (2000) TERICA Working Group 6: Trace gas fluxes and ecosystem functioning. In: MA Sutton, JM Moreno, WH van der Putten & S Struwe (eds) Terrestrial Ecosystem Research in Europe: successes, challenges and policy, pp. 65-74. European Commission, Brussels. ISBN 92-828-9570-X.

Bradford MA, Ineson P, Wookey PA & Lappin-Scott HM (2000) Soil CH4 oxidation: Response to forest clearcutting and thinning. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 32:1035-1038.