CONTACTS

Group Leader
Greg Valentine

Christopher P. Bickford

167 Castetter Hall

University of New Mexico

Albuquerque, NM

bickford@unm.edu

Ph.D. Student with David Hanson and Will Pockman, UNM

My research interests revolve around leaf-level physiological processes and their impact on ecosystem, landscape, and global carbon cycling processes. Specifically, I’m interested in the internal conductance to CO2 across cell membranes in plant leaves, or mesophyll conductance, and how this might change under environmental conditions such as drought, high leaf-to-atmosphere vapor pressure deficit, or variable irradiance. Most recently I have been investigating diurnal variation in carbon isotope discrimination and mesophyll conductance in Juniperus monosperma (one-seed juniper) and exploring the effect of imposed drought on mesophyll conductance in Ricinus communis (castor bean).

Education

7/2002-5/2005. M.Sc. Forestry. Northern Arizona University. Thesis: Host physiological condition regulates parasitic plant performance: Arceuthobium vaginatum subsp. cryptopodum on Pinus ponderosa.

8/2001- B.Sc. Botany. University of Oklahoma.

Employment

9/1998-8/2001. Greenhouse assistant. University of Oklahoma.

10/2001-6/2002. Member relations associate, The Nature Conservancy.

7/2002-3/2005. Graduate Research Assistant, Northern Arizona University.

4/2005-present . Graduate Research Assistant, University of New Mexico.

Professional Recognition

2001- George L. and Cleo Cross Endowed Scholarship.

2005- EES Student Professional & Academic Development Award.

Society Membership

The Nature Conservancy

American Geophysical Union

Volunteered Professional Presentations (Poster)

“Effects of Thinning on Dwarf Mistletoe Shoot Growth in Ponderosa Pine Stands” Meeting of the Southwestern Association of Biologists. September 26-28, 2003. Portal, AZ.

“Effects of Thinning on Dwarf Mistletoe Shoot Growth in Ponderosa Pine Stands” Seventh Biennial Conference of Research on the Colorado Plateau. November 3-6, 2003. Flagstaff, AZ.

“Effects of Thinning on Dwarf Mistletoe Shoot Growth in Ponderosa Pine Stands” 89th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America. August 1-6, 2004. Portland, OR.

“The ecosystem breathing: using tunable diode laser spectroscopy to measure CO2 isotopic flux on the Pajarito Plateau” Los Alamos National Laboratory Student/Post-Doc Symposium. August 2-3, 2006. Los Alamos, NM.

Volunteered Professional Presentations (Talks)

“Does restoration thinning stimulate dwarf mistletoe shoot growth in ponderosa pine stands?” Northern Arizona University School of Forestry seminar series. December 1, 2004. Flagstaff, AZ.

“Temporal variability in δ13C of leaf-respired CO2” American Geophysical Union Fall meeting. December 5, 2005. San Francisco, CA.

Technical Training

LI-6400 Portable Photosynthesis System Advanced Training Course. Li-Cor Biosciences, Lincoln, NE. October 11-13, 2005.

Publications

Bickford CP, Kolb TE, Geils BW (2005) Host physiological condition regulates parasitic plant performance: Arceuthobium vaginatum subsp. cryptopodum on Pinus ponderosa. Oecologia 146(2):179-189.

Barbour MM, Farquhar GD, Hanson DT, Bickford CP, Powers H & McDowell NG. A new measurement technique reveals temporal variation in δ18O of leaf-respired CO2. Plant, Cell, and Environment. (In review)

Barbour MM, Hanson DT, Tcherkez G, Bickford CP, Powers H & McDowell NG. A new measurement technique reveals rapid post-illumination changes in the carbon isotope composition of leaf-respired CO2. Plant, Cell, and Environment (In review)

Hanson DT, Bickford CP, Brown KM, Powers H & McDowell NG. Online estimation of carbon isotope discrimination and mesophyll conductance via tunable diode laser spectroscopy. Plant, Cell, and Environment (In review)

McDowell Lab Research

EES Focus Areas

EES Group Pages