Dr. Ed Hall
I am a microbial and ecosystem ecologist working in aquatic ecosystems and at the aquatic/terrestrial interface. I work with planktonic, biofilm, and terrestrial microbial communities. My research focuses on how constraints on microbial community dynamics affect ecosystem processes. This includes how temperature and nutrients interact to affect microbial community function in temperate lakes (Hall and Cotner 2007, Hall et al. 2009, Hall et al. 2010), applying extant ecological theory to microbial ecology (Hall et al. 2008, Franklin et al. 2011), and using novel microbial techniques in an ecosystem context (Hall et al. 2011, Hall et al. 2011). As a USGS Mendenhall Fellow I am evaluating the microbial role in nitrogen (N) cycling in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). The Colorado Front Range has experienced heightened N deposition over the past 60 years that has resulted in accumulation of NO3- in Loch Vale watershed (LVWS). How N is being transformed and its consequences for alpine ecosystem function are intimately linked with microbial activities. I am actively pursuing these questions in LVWS and at additional alpine sites. I am also interested in linking ecological concepts with water resource issues in tropical ecosystems, and how stressors on microbial community form and function are propagated through aquatic food webs. I am currently addressing some of these questions as a 2013 Fulbright Fellow working on the Lake Yojoa ecosystem in Honduras, C.A.