Education

PhD University of California Berkeley

Research interests

I seek to better understand the role of soils in global biogeochemistry and to clarify the role of humans in changing the Earth's global biogeochemical cycles. Within this broad objective, my research questions focus on ecosystem carbon balance and carbon dynamics, factors influencing carbon transformations, and chemistry of soil mineral-organic matter interactions. I utilize natural abundance stable isotope geochemistry to study carbon and nitrogen in estuarine and terrestrial ecosystems.

My ongoing research investigates mechanisms controlling nutrient cycling; storage, additions and losses; from agricultural, residential and forested uplands to coastal wetlands. My research at each site includes the characterization of chemical changes after changes in land use. New research includes the study of stratigraphy, morphology, and genesis of soil in near shore wetlands, and investigation of the changes in productivity and distribution of estuarine organisms in response to land use and global change.

Publications

• Jespersen, J. L. and L. J. Osher. Carbon storage in the soils of a mesotidal Gulf of Maine estuary. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 71: 372-379.
• Keats, R, L. J. Osher, and H. Neckles. 2004. The effect of nutrient loading on an estuarine faunal community: a stable isotope approach. Estuaries 27:460-471.
• Osher, L. J., P. A. Matson, and R. Amundson. The effect of land use change on soil carbon in Hawaii. Biogeochemistry 65:213-232.
• Burke, R. A., M. Molina, J. E. Cox, L. J. Osher, and M. C. Piccolo. Stable carbon isotope ratio and composition of bacterial fatty acids in tropical soils. Journal of Environmental Quality 32:198-206.
• Osher, L. J. and E. F. Kelly. Stable Isotopes and the Water Cycle. p 135-165 In D S Schimel, R Monson (Editors) Terrestrial Ecosystems and the Atmosphere, Workshop Proceedings. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder.
• Osher, L. J. and S. W. Buol. Relationship of soil properties to parent material and landscape position in eastern Madre de Dios, Peru. Geoderma 83:143-166.
• Chapela, I. H., L. J. Osher, T. R. Horton, and M. R. Henn. Ectomycorrhizal fungi introduced with exotic pine plantations induce soil carbon depletion. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 33:1733-1740.
• Osher, L. J., and C. T. Flannagan. Soil/landscape relationships in a mesotidal Maine estuary. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 71: 1323-1334.
• Keats, R., and L. J. Osher. Faunal community composition in Ruppia Maritima beds in a northeastern USA estuary. Northeastern Naturalist 14:1-11
• Osher, L. J., L. Leclerc, G. B. Wiersma, C. T. Hess, and V. E. Giuseppe. Heavy metal contamination from historic mining in upland soil and estuarine sediments of Egypt Bay, Maine, USA. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 70:169-179.
• Wang, Y., T. G. Huntington, L. J. Osher, L. Wassenaar, S. Trumbore, et al. Carbon Cycling in the Terrestrial Environment. In J. J. McDonnell and C. Kendall (Eds) Isotope Tracers in Catchment Hydrology. Elsevier, NY.

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