Susan H. Barrott

Junior Scientist
Department of Forest Resources
1530 Cleveland Avenue North
St. Paul, MN 55108
Phone: (612) 624-5327
Fax: (612) 625-5212

barro023@umn.edu

Education
University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN
Environmental Horticulture, B.S. with distinction 1998

My current position at the University of Minnesota’s Department of Forest Resources supports research conducted by various scientists in collaboration with Dr. Peter B. Reich. The following projects are my main focus:

Since 2001 I have been assisting Dr. Reich and Dr. Tali Lee in investigating ways in which plant communities respond to changes in plant biodiversity, elevated nitrogen, and elevated CO2 – all three of which are occurring on a global scale. In particular I work on photosynthetic responses across treatments and plant functional groups. My newest responsibility for the lab group is managing the BioCON database.

xxx Dr’s Peter Reich, Roy Rich and Rebecca Montgomery began a study of how leaf traits on an individual and community scale change with temperature in 2005. This study involves sampling leaves along a 2,000 mile latitudinal gradient from southern Wisconsin to the Northwest Territories. The project is part of a larger effort to examine global and regional trends in leaf traits across known resource climate gradients. In particular, I have been analyzing thousands of leaf images and organizing the processing of leaf samples in the lab.

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Other fun tasks include participation in the annual controlled burns at Cedar Creek; assisting visiting Post Docs and various Reich lab members by purchasing needed supplies and maintaining our bank of equipment (significantly more involved and mired in red tape than you would expect); supporting Cindy Buschena as she guides students workers & keeps lab tasks flowing smoothly; cataloging photos of ongoing Reich lab research projects and managing stress levels among lab group members by keeping an open door and dispensing chocolate as needed.

Hometown: Seattle

Hobbies and interests: food, fiber art, travel, food