Research Interests
Potential productivity of plant communities (theoretical production ecology). Physiology of higher-plant respiration (heterotrophic CO2 and O2 exchanges of tissues, organs, and whole plants). Mass and energy balances of plant catabolism and anabolism, including efficiency of biosynthesis and stoichiometries of substrate-product combinations. Mathematical (computer) modeling of mass and energy exchanges of terrestrial plant communities and ecosystems, including the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. Effects of climatic changes (i.e., warming and altered amount and timing of precipitation) and changes in atmospheric composition (i.e., increasing concentrations of CO2 and O3) on higher plants and terrestrial ecosystems. History of computer modeling of plant physiology and productivity.
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Education
Yale University
Ph.D., Forestry and Environmental Studies, 1987 [with F.H. Bormann]
M.S., Forestry and Environmental Studies, 1982
Texas A&M University
M.S., Agronomy, 1980
B.S., Agronomy, 1977
Employment and Affiliations
U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Germantown MD. Office of Biological and Environmental Research: Ecologist (program manager, including Program for Ecosystem Research), 2002-present
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN. Environmental Sciences Division: R&D Staff, 1997-2001; Senior R&D Staff, 2002
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore CA. Health and Ecological Assessment Division: Environmental Scientist, 1994-1997; Global Climate Research Division: Group Leader (Biogeochemical Cycles), 1995-1996
Woods Hole Research Center, Woods Hole MA. Assistant Scientist, 1992-1994
University of California, Davis CA. Agronomy and Range Science Department: Postgraduate Researcher VII, 1991 [with R.S. Loomis]
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Phoenix AZ. U.S. Water Conservation Laboratory: Plant Physiologist, 1989-1990
Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Ithaca NY, Environmental Biology Division: Visiting Scientist (including dissertation research), 1986-1988
Yale University, New Haven CT. School of Forestry and Environmental Studies: Associate Research Scientist, Lecturer in Forest Ecophysiology, and Coordinator of Yale Research in the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study, 1987-1988; Yale Computer Center: User Consultant (the best job ever), Staff Resource Specialist, and Technical Support Specialist (part-time and full-time), 1984-1986
Publications
Tubiello FN, Amthor JS, Boote KJ, Donatelli M, Easterling W, Fischer G, Gifford RM, Howden M, Reilly J, Rosenzweig C (2007) Crop response to elevated CO2 and world food supply. A comment on "Food for Thought..." by Long et al., Science 312:1918-1921, 2006. European Journal of Agronomy 26: 215-223
Amthor JS (2007) Improving photosynthesis and yield potential. In: P. Ranalli (ed) Improvements of Crop Plants for Industrial End Uses. Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 27-58
Amthor JS (2006) Book review: Climate Change and Global Food Security, edited by R. Lal and others. Crop Science 46: 1016
Pritchard SG, Amthor JS (2005) Crops and Environmental Change: An Introduction to Effects of Global Warming, Rising CO2 and O3 Concentrations, and Soil Salinization on Crop Physiology and Yield. Haworth Press, New York, 442 p. (ISBN 1560229128)
Hanson PJ, Amthor JS, Wullschleger SD, Wilson KB, Grant RF, Hartley A, Dui D, Hunt ER Jr, Johnson DW, Kimball JS, King AW, Luo Y, McNulty SG, Sun G, Thornton PE, Wang S, Williams M, Baldocchi DD, Cushman RM (2004) Oak forest carbon and water simulations: model intercomparisons and evaluations against independent data. Ecological Monographs 74: 443-489
Amthor JS (2003) Efficiency of lignin biosynthesis: a quantitative analysis. Annals of Botany 91: 673-695
Duarte CM, Amthor JS, DeAngelis DL, Joyce LA, Maranger RJ, Pace ML, Pastor J, Running SW (2003) The limits to models in ecology. In: CD Canham, JJ Cole, WK Lauenroth (eds) Models in Ecosystem Science. Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford, 437-451
Tissue DT, Lewis JD, Wullschleger SD, Amthor JS, Griffin KL, Anderson OR (2002) Leaf respiration at different canopy positions in sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) grown in ambient and elevated concentrations of carbon dioxide in the field. Tree Physiology 22: 1157-1166
Amthor JS (2001) Effects of atmospheric CO2 concentration on wheat yield: review of results from experiments using various approaches to control CO2 concentration. Field Crops Research 73: 1-34
Amthor JS (2001) Respiration and Crop Productivity, revised edition (in Japanese; translated by Takuro Shinano). Japan Scientific Societies Press, Tokyo, 245 p. (ISBN 4762229806)
Amthor JS, Chen JM, Clein JS, Frolking SE, Goulden ML, Grant RF, Kimball JS, King AW, McGuire AD, Nikolov NT, Potter CS, Wang S, Wofsy SC (2001) Boreal forest CO2 exchange and evapotranspiration predicted by nine ecosystem process models: intermodel comparisons and relationships to field measurements. Journal of Geophysical Research 106: 33,623-33,648
Amthor JS, Baldocchi DD (2001) Terrestrial higher plant respiration and net primary production. In: J Roy, B Saugier, HA Mooney (eds) Terrestrial Global Productivity. Academic Press, San Diego, 33-59
Potter CS, Wang S, Nikolov NT, McGuire AD, Liu J, King AW, Kimball JS, Grant RF, Frolking SE, Clein JS, Chen JM, Amthor JS (2001) Comparison of boreal ecosystem model sensitivity to variability in climate and forest site parameters. Journal of Geophysical Research 106: 33,671-33,688
Amthor JS, Koch GW, Willms JR, Layzell DB (2001) Leaf O2 uptake in the dark is independent of coincident CO2 partial pressure. Journal of Experimental Botany 52: 2235-2238
Hanson PJ, Todd DE Jr, Amthor JS (2001) A six-year study of sapling and large-tree growth and mortality responses to natural and induced variability in precipitation and throughfall. Tree Physiology 21: 345-358
Metting FB, Smith JL, Amthor JS, Izaurralde RC (2001) Science needs and new technology for increasing soil carbon sequestration. Climatic Change 51: 11-34
Baldocchi DD, Amthor JS (2001) Canopy photosynthesis: history, measurements, and models. In: J Roy, B Saugier, HA Mooney (eds) Terrestrial Global Productivity. Academic Press, San Diego, 9-31
Amthor JS (2000) The McCree--de Wit--Penning de Vries--Thornley respiration paradigms: 30 years later. Annals of Botany 86: 1-20
Amthor JS (2000) Direct effect of elevated CO2 on nocturnal in situ leaf respiration in nine temperate deciduous tree species is small. Tree Physiology 20: 139-144
Loomis RS, Amthor JS (1999) Yield potential, plant assimilatory capacity, and metabolic efficiencies. Crop Science 39: 1584-1596
Amthor JS (1999) Increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration, water use, and water stress: scaling up from the plant to the landscape. In: Y Luo, HA Mooney (eds) Carbon Dioxide and Environmental Stress. Academic Press, San Diego, 33-59
Amthor JS (1998) Perspective on the relative insignificance of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration to crop yield. Field Crops Research 58: 109-127
Gill DS, Amthor JS, Bormann FH (1998) Leaf phenology, photosynthesis, and the persistence of saplings and shrubs in a mature northern hardwood forest. Tree Physiology 18: 281-289
Amthor JS (1998) A note on the report by M.B. Lavigne and M.G. Ryan relating stem maintenance respiration rate to stem growth rate. Tree Physiology 18: 69
Amthor JS (1998) Carbon cycle (atmosphere). In: Academic American Encyclopedia (volume 4, C-Cit). Grolier, Danbury, CT, 136-137
Amthor JS (1997) Calculation of daylength. Computer Applications in the Biosciences 13: 479-480
[Note: in Box 1 in this article "If hs <= -1" should be "If cos(hs) <= -1" and "else if hs < 1" should be "else if cos(hs) < 1"]
Prior SA, Runion GB, Mitchell RJ, Rogers HH, Amthor JS (1997) Effects of atmospheric CO2 on longleaf pine: productivity and allocation as influenced by nitrogen and water. Tree Physiology 17: 397-405
Amthor JS (1997) Plant respiratory responses to elevated carbon dioxide partial pressure. In: LH Allen Jr, MB Kirkham, DM Olszyk, CE Whitman (eds) Advances in Carbon Dioxide Effects Research. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI, 35-77
Amthor JS (1996) Global carbon-cycle modeling. International Journal of Environmentally Conscious Design & Manufacturing 5: 123-128
Miglietta F, Amthor JS (1996) Evapotranspiration and CO2. Weather 51: 322
Amthor JS, Koch GW (1996) Biota growth factor β: stimulation of terrestrial ecosystem net primary production by elevated atmospheric CO2. In: GW Koch, HA Mooney (eds) Carbon Dioxide and Terrestrial Ecosystems. Academic Press, San Diego, 399-414
Loomis RS, Amthor JS (1996) Limits to yield revisited. In: MP Reynolds, S Rajaram, A McNab (eds) Increasing Yield Potential in Wheat: Breaking the Barriers. International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Mexico, DF, 76-89
Amthor JS, Loomis RS (1996) Integrating knowledge of crop responses to elevated CO2 and temperature with mechanistic simulation models: model components and research needs. In: GW Koch, HA Mooney (eds) Carbon Dioxide and Terrestrial Ecosystems. Academic Press, San Diego, 317-345
Amthor JS (1995) Terrestrial higher-plant response to increasing atmospheric [CO2] in relation to the global carbon cycle. Global Change Biology 1: 243-274
Amthor JS (1995) Rampant paranoia. Nature 377: 192
Mitchell RJ, Runion GB, Prior SA, Rogers HH, Amthor JS, Henning FP (1995) Effects of nitrogen on Pinus palustris foliar respiratory responses to elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration. Journal of Experimental Botany 46: 1561-1567
Amthor JS (1995) Predicting effects of atmospheric CO2 partial pressure on forest photosynthesis. Journal of Biogeography 22: 269-280
Fan S-M, Goulden ML, Munger JW, Daube BC, Bakwin PS, Wofsy SC, Amthor JS, Fitzjarrald DR, Moore KE, Moore TR (1995) Environmental controls on the photosynthesis and respiration of a boreal lichen woodland: a growing season of whole-ecosystem exchange measurements by eddy correlation. Oecologia 102: 443-452
Allen JH Jr, Amthor JS (1995) Plant physiological responses to elevated CO2, temperature, air pollution, and UV-B radiation. In: GM Woodwell, FT Mackenzie (eds) Biotic Feedbacks in the Global Climatic System: Will the Warming Feed the Warming? Oxford University Press, New York, 51-84
Amthor JS, Mitchell RJ, Runion GB, Rogers HH, Prior SA, Wood CW (1994) Energy content, construction cost and phytomass accumulation of Glycine max (L.) Merr. and Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench grown in elevated CO2 in the field. New Phytologist 128: 443-450
Amthor JS, Goulden ML, Munger JW, Wofsy SC (1994) Testing a mechanistic model of forest-canopy mass and energy exchange using eddy correlation: carbon dioxide and ozone uptake by a mixed oak--maple stand. Australian Journal of Plant Physiology 21: 623-651
Koch GW, Amthor JS, Goulden ML (1994) Diurnal patterns of leaf photosynthesis, conductance and water potential at the top of a lowland rain forest canopy in Cameroon: measurements from the Radeau des Cimes. Tree Physiology 14: 347-360
Amthor JS (1994) Scaling CO2-photosynthesis relationships from the leaf to the canopy. Photosynthesis Research 39: 321-350
Wall GW, Amthor JS, Kimball BA (1994) COTCO2: a cotton growth simulation model for global change. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 70: 289-342
Amthor JS (1994) Higher plant respiration and its relationships to photosynthesis. In: E-D Schulze, MM Caldwell (eds) Ecophysiology of Photosynthesis. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 71-101
Amthor JS (1994) Plant respiratory responses to the environment and their effects on the carbon balance. In: RE Wilkinson (ed) Plant--Environment Interactions. Marcel Dekker, New York, 501-554
Amthor JS (1994) Respiration and carbon assimilate use. In: KJ Boote, JM Bennett, TR Sinclair, GM Paulsen (eds) Physiology and Determination of Crop Yield. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI, 221-250
Amthor JS (1993) Effects of CO2 enrichment on higher plant respiration. In: E-D Schulze, HA Mooney (eds) Design and Execution of Experiments on CO2 Enrichment. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, 29-44
Amthor JS, Koch GW, Bloom AJ (1992) CO2 inhibits respiration in leaves of Rumex crispus L. Plant Physiology 98: 757-760
Amthor JS (1991) Respiration in a future, higher-CO2 world. Plant, Cell and Environment 14: 13-20
[An essay about research related to the "direct effect" of CO2 on plant respiration -- including historical background for the paper "Amthor (1991)", and some related publications -- is on the ISI Essential Science Indicators Special Topics [Global Warming] web page.]
Amthor JS, Gill DS, Bormann FH (1990) Autumnal leaf conductance and apparent photosynthesis by saplings and sprouts in a recently disturbed northern hardwood forest. Oecologia 84: 93-98
Amthor JS, McCree KJ (1990) Carbon balance of stressed plants: a conceptual model for integrating research results. In: RG Alscher, JR Cumming (eds) Stress Responses in Plants: Adaptation and Acclimation Mechanisms. Wiley-Liss, New York, 1-15
Amthor JS (1989) Respiration and Crop Productivity. Springer-Verlag, New York, 215 p. (ISBN 0387969381)
Amthor JS (1988) Growth and maintenance respiration in leaves of bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) exposed to ozone in open-top chambers in the field. New Phytologist 110: 319-325
Amthor JS, Cumming JR (1988) Low levels of ozone increase bean leaf maintenance respiration. Canadian Journal of Botany 66: 724-726
Alscher RG, Amthor JS (1988) The physiology of free-radical scavenging: maintenance and repair processes. In: S Schulte-Hostede, NM Darrall, LW Blank, AR Wellburn (eds) Air Pollution and Plant Metabolism. Elsevier Applied Science, London, 94-115
Amthor JS (1986) Evolution and applicability of a whole plant respiration model. Journal of Theoretical Biology 122: 473-490
Amthor JS (1986) An estimate of the 'cost' of nutrient leaching from forest canopies by rain. New Phytologist 102: 359-364
Crist TO, Williams NR, Amthor JS, Siccama TG (1985) The lack of an effect of lead and acidity on leaf decomposition in laboratory microcosms. Environmental Pollution (Series A) 38: 295-303
Amthor JS (1984) The role of maintenance respiration in plant growth. Plant, Cell and Environment 7: 561-569
Amthor JS (1984) Does acid rain directly influence plant growth? Some comments and observations. Environmental Pollution (Series A) 36: 1-6
Amthor JS (1984) Book review: Plants and Microclimate, by Hamlyn G Jones. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 32: 79-80
Amthor JS (1983) Sorghum seedling growth as a function of sodium chloride salinity and seed size. Annals of Botany 52: 915-917
Amthor JS, Bormann FH (1983) Productivity of perennial ryegrass as a function of precipitation acidity. Environmental Pollution (Series A) 32: 137-145