Adrien Finzi

Professor Finzi is interested in the factors regulating productivity and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Research in his lab tends to focus on biogeochemistry and global change in forest ecosystems. His research is primarily field based using observational and experimental approaches. He is particularly interested in how interspecific differences in resource uptake and loss affect the distribution of carbon and nitrogen in terrestrial ecosystems. He is also interested in the interaction between microbial activity and forest dynamics. Thus his perspective is generally integrative, focusing on how the different components of an ecosystem (soils, microbes, plant species) interact with the physical environment to affect biogeochemical cycling.

His interest in global change stems from the fact that human activity is transforming the basic function of the terrestrial biosphere at an accelerating rate. Fossil fuel combustion is increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Fixation of atmospheric N by humans now exceeds the rate of non-anthropogenic N fixation. Changes in land use and the introduction of invasive species have legacy effects on carbon storage and biogeochemical cycling that last decades.