Peter Benson Woodbury
Senior Research Associate
Bradfield Hall, Room 1017
607/255-1448
Email: pbw1@cornell.edu
Concentration
Environmental modeling; agricultural sustainability analysis; soil, air and water quality
Graduate Fields
Departments
- Department of Crop and Soil Science
Education
Doctorate
Cornell University
2002
Overview
My current research activities are as follows.
Design and manage research projects: write grant proposals, create and oversee project budgets, manage sub-contracts. Work with a multi-disciplinary multi-institutional team to assess the sustainability of biofuel production in the Northeastern and North-Central US. Work with a multi-disciplinary team to assess potential mitigation options for greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture and forestry sectors. Work with a multi-disciplinary team to model effects of tillage and residue management on soil carbon in the rice-wheat cropping system of the Indo-Gangetic Plains. Work with a multi-disciplinary team to model nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment loading to surface waters in the Upper Susquehanna watershed. Evaluate probabilistic methodologies for assessing risks from fire and invasive species to wildland ecosystems throughout the Western US. Write peer-reviewed publications. Present results at international meetings.
Research Focus
(1) Understand the effects of environmental stresses such as ozone, acidic deposition, excess nitrogen, and global change on ecosystems. (2) Develop and use spatially explicit models to integrate monitoring and experimental data to understand and quantify ecosystem processes at landscape, regional, and national scales. (3) Develop and use different kinds of models (spatial, process, statistical, probabilistic) to assess risks to ecosystems and to improve agricultural and environmental management and policy.
Outreach and Extension Focus
Current outreach focuses on agricultural sustainability analysis and bioenergy systems analysis.
Additional Links
Honors, Awards and Appointments
- Affiliate Assistant Professor: Department of Natural Resources, University of New Hampshire - 2002-2004
- Certified Senior Ecologist: Ecological Society of America. (This professional certification requires demonstration of academic training at the Ph. D. or equivalent level in ecology as well as substantial professional experience as an ecologist). -
Professional Activities
- Overview of Watershed Modeling Efforts in the Upper Susquehanna Basin USA. Woodbury PB, Howarth RW, Swaney DP. Platform presentation in the symposium: Agricultural Ecosystems Program: Understanding Sources and Sinks of Nutrients and Sediment in the Upper Susquehanna River Basin, 12 March, 2008, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. - 2008
- Invited participant in workshop: Regional Biomass Energy Feedstock Partnership. Sponsored by the Sun Grant Initiative and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Biomass Programs. 27-28 February, 2008, Hall of States, Washington D.C. - 2008
- Organizer of the mini-symposium: Bioenergy and Greenhouse Gases: Research Highlights and Needs in Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences. 14 February, 2008, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY - 2008
- New York and Northeast US Land Resources for Sustainable Bioenergy Feedstock Production. Woodbury, PB. Platform presentation in the mini-symposium: Bioenergy and Greenhouse Gases: Research Highlights and Needs in Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences. 14 February, 2008, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY - 2008
- Geospatial Analysis of Opportunities and Challenges for Sustainable Biomass Feedstock Production. Woodbury, PB. Invited platform presentation in the seminar series Biofuels: The Economic and Environmental Interactions, Departments of Applied Economics and Management and Biological and Environmental Engineering. 11 February, 2008, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. - 2008
- Current and Potential Carbon Sequestration and Biomass Energy in New York State. Woodbury, PB. Invited platform presentation in the Carbon Sequestration Seminar, Department of Natural Resources. 30 January, 2008, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. - 2008
- Geospatial Modeling of Sustainable Biomass Feedstock Production. Woodbury, PB. Invited platform presentation in symposium; Biofuels and Bioenergy: Developing the Infrastructure for Global Change, December 14, 2007, Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Ithaca, NY. Video available at: - 2007
- Invited participant in workshop: Frontiers in Sustainability Science: Biofuels as a Critical Test. Rapporteur for breakout session: Defining Boundaries for Sustainability Analysis of Biofuels: Space, Time, Disciplines, and Sectors. Woodbury, PB. November 13-15, 2007, Institute for Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY. - 2007
- Geospatial Analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats for Biomass Feedstock Production in the Northeast Sun Grant region. Woodbury, PB. Invited platform presentation. Leader of breakout session: GIS as a tool for biomass feedstock industry emergence. Northeast Sun Grant Regional Feedstock Summit, November 11-13, 2007, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. - 2007
- Modeling Nitrogen in the Susquehanna Basin USA using the SCOPE-NANI Approach. Woodbury PB, Howarth RW, Swaney DP. Platform presentation, biennial meeting of the Estuarine Research Federation, Providence, RI, November 4-8, 2007. - 2007
- Modeling Nitrogen in the Upper Susquehanna Basin of New York using the SCOPE-NANI Approach. Woodbury PB, Howarth RW, Swaney DP. Invited platform presentation, Watershed Management and Science Conference, Binghamton University, May 22, 2007. - 2007
- The US Terrestrial Carbon Budget 1990-2005: Comparing Estimates from Land-Based Measurements, Ecosystem Models, and Atmospheric Models. Woodbury PB. Invited platform presentation, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Seminar Series, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, March 14, 2007. - 2007
Selected Publications
- Woodbury PB, Smith JE, Heath LS. 2007. Carbon sequestration in the US forest sector from 1990 to 2010. Forest Ecology and Management doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2006.12.008).
- Johnson MS, Woodbury PB, Pell AN, Lehmann CJ. 2007. Land use change and stream water fluxes: Decadal dynamics in watershed nitrate loadings. Ecosystems DOI: 10.1007/s10021-007-9091-2.
- Woodbury PB, Heath LS, Smith JE. 2007. Effects of Land Use Change on Soil Carbon Cycling in the Conterminous USA from 1900 to 2050. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 21, GB3006, doi:10.1029/2007GB002950.
- Nagle GN, Fahey TJ, Ritchie JC, Woodbury PB. 2007. Variations in sediment sources and yields in the Finger Lakes and Catskills regions of New York. Hydrological Processes 21(6):828-838.
- Woodbury PB, Heath LS, Smith JE. 2006. Land use change effects on forest carbon cycling throughout the southern USA. Journal of Environmental Quality 35(4):1348-1363.
- Woodbury PB. 2005. Ozone Exposure ? Plant Response Relationships. In: USEPA. Air Quality Criteria for Ozone and Related Photochemical Oxidants (Final). Available at:
- Hong B, Swaney DP, Woodbury PB, Weinstein DA. 2005. Long-term nitrate export from Hubbard Brook Watershed 6 driven by climatic variation. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution 160(1-4):293-326.
- Smith JE, Heath LS, Woodbury PB. 2004. How to estimate forest carbon from inventory data. Journal of Forestry July/August: 25-31.
- Woodbury, PB, Smith JE, and Heath LS. 2004. Section on Forests in Chapter 6: Land-Use Change & Forestry. In: Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990 ? 2002. Available at:
- Woodbury PB. 2003. Do's and don'ts of spatially explicit ecological risk assessments. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 22(5): 977-982.
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