Ross A. Virginia
Professor
Appointments
Myers Family Professor of Environmental Science Emeritus
Professor of Environmental Studies Emeritus
Research Professor of Environmental Studies
Distinguished Stefansson-Nef Arctic Faculty Fellow, Institute of Arctic Studies, Dickey Center for International Understanding
Area of Expertise
ecosystem ecology and soil biogeochemical cycling,
climate change and ecological response in arctic and antarctic ecosystems,
arctic environmental policy,
science outreach and experiential field education
Biography
I am an ecosystem ecologist and member of the Environmental Studies Department. I am interested in how rapid environmental change affects ecosystems and society. My research examines how climate change alters vegetation and soil and the ecological services they provide. This work centers on soil biodiversity and carbon and nitrogen cycling in the polar deserts of Antarctica and in the tundra of western Greenland. My teaching considers the relationships between the disciplines of ecology, ecosystem science, and environmental law as they are relevant in understanding a rapidly changing Arctic and its Indigenous communities. I am active in Arctic policy and global environmental issues as past director of Dartmouth's Institute of Arctic Studies in the Dickey Center for International Understanding and as founding co-director of the University of the Arctic Institute for Arctic Policy. As one of two distinguished lead scholars for the U.S. Department of State Fulbright Arctic Initiative I was priviledged to bring together thematic teams of researchers from the eight Arctic nations to focus on issues of community resilience and sustainability under rapid social, political, and environmental change. I contribute to setting polar science research priorities as a member of the US National Academies Polar Research Board.
Education
B.S. SUNY College Envl. Sci and Forestry
M.S. University of California Davis
Ph.D. University of California Davis
Taught Courses
Publications
Adams, L. V., D. S. Dorough, S. Chatwood, W. Erasmus, H. Eriksen, S. Ford, R. A. Virginia, S. Watt-Cloutier. 2022. Accelerating Indigenous health and wellbeing: the Lancet Commission on Arctic and Northern Health. The Lancet: 399:613-614, February 12, 2022, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00153-2
Luers, A., L. Yona, C. B. Fields, R. B. Jackson, K. J. Mach, B. Cashore, C. Elliott, L. Gifford, C. Honisberg, L. Klaassen, H. D. Matthews, A. Peng, C. Stoll, M. Van Pelt, R. A. Virginia, and L. Joppa. 2022. Making greenhouse gas accounting reliable- build interoperable systems. Nature 607, 653-656 (2022), doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02033-y
Finger Higgens, R., M. H. DeSiervo, M. P. Ayres, and R. A. Virginia. 2021. Warming temperatures are associated with increased shrub herbivory in West Greenland. Oecologia, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04899-7
DeSirervo, M. H., M. P. Ayres, R. A. Virginia, and L. E. Culler. 2020. Consumer-resource dynamics in Arctic ponds. Ecology, DOI:10.1002/ecy.3135
Wall, D. H., and R. A. Virginia. 2020. The world beneath us: Making soil biodiversity and ecosystem functioning central to environmental policy. Unsolved Problems in Ecology, A. Hobson, D. Tilman and R. D. Holt, editors, Princeton University Press, pgs 265-275 IBSN: 9780691199825
Culler, L. E., S. Lund, J. Nymand and R. A. Virginia. 2019. Facilitating increased engagement between the research communities of Greenland and the U.S. Workshop Report, August 27-28, 2019, Nuuk Greenland. https://sites.google.com/dartmouth.edu/nuukworkshop
Post, E., R. B. Alley, T. R. Christensen, M. Marcus-Fauria, B. C. Forbes, M. N. Gooseff, A. Iler, J. T. Kerby, K. L. Laidre, M. E. Mann, J. Olofsson, J. C Stroeve, F. Ulmer, R. A. Virginia, and M. Wang. 2019. The Polar Regions in a 2oC warmer world. Science Advances 2019; 5: eaaw9883
Yona, L., M. D. Dixon, R. B. Howarth, A. R. Kapuscinski, and R. A. Virginia. 2020. Applying a leverage points framework to the United Nations climate negotiations: The(dis)empowerment of youth participants. Elem Sci Anth, 8: 36. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.433
Andriuzzi, W. S., B. J. Adams, J. E. Barrett, R. A. Virginia, and D. H. Wall. 2018. Observed trends of soil fauna in the Antarctic Dry Valleys: early signs of shifts predicited under climate change. Ecology 99:312-321, DOI/10.1002/ecy.2090
Hansen, A. M. and R. A. Virginia. 2018. The future of hydrocarbon development in Greenland: Perspectives from residents of the North Slope of Alaska. ARCTIC 71(4):416-424, https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4750
Gooseff, M. N., J. E. Barrett, B. J. Adams, P. T. Doran, A. G. Fountain, W. B. Lyons, D. M. McKnight, J. C. Priscu, E. Sokol, C. Takacs-Vesbach, M. L. Vandegehuchte, R. A. Virginia, and D. H. Wall. Decadal ecosystem response to an anomalous melt season in a polar desert in Antarctica. Nature Ecology and Evolution (2017) doi:10.1038/s41559-017-0253-0
Heindel, R. C., L. E. Culler, and R. A. Virginia. Rates and processes of aeolian soil erosion in West Greenland. The Holocene (2017) 1-10, DOI: 10.1177/0959683616687381
Virginia, R. A. 2017. The Arctic environment in the age of man. The Wilson Quarterly, Vol 41, No. 3, Summer 2017, https://wilsonquarterly.com/quarterly/into-the-arctic/the-arctic-enviro…
Bradley-Cook, J I, and R A Virginia. Soil carbon storage and respiration potential across an age and climate gradient in western Greenland. Polar Biology 39:1283-1295, (2016) DOI 10.1007/s00300-015-1853-2
Fountain, A. G., G. Saba, S. Stammerjohn, B. Adams, P. Doran, W. Fraser, M. Gooseff, M. Obryk, J. Priscu, and R. A. Virginia.The role of a large-scale climate event on Antarctic ecosystem processes. BioScience 66:848-863 (2016)
Mikucki, J A, E Auken, S Tulacyzk, R A Virginia, C Schamper, K I Sorensen, P T Doran, H Dugan, and N Foley. Deep groundwater and potential subsurface habitats beneath an Antarctic dy valley. Nature Communications 6, Article number: 6831, doi:10.1038/ncomms7831 (2015)
Ball, B A, C R Tellez, and R A Virginia. Penquin activity influences soil biogeochemistry and soil respiration in rookeries on Ross Island, Antarctica. Polar Biology 38:1357-1368 (2015) DOI 10.1007/s00300-015-1699-7
Collins, J. F., M. Sfraga, R. A. Virginia, and K. S. Yalowitz. 2013. A Euro-Atlantic Action Plan for Cooperation and Enhanced Arctic Security. Conference Report and Recommendations to the Arctic Council and Interested Parties. February 11-12, 2013, Carnegie Endowment of International Peace, Washington, D. C. and the University of the Arctic Institute for Applied Circumpolar Policy
Virginia, R. A. and D. H. Wall. Ecosystem Function, Principles of. In: Levin, S. A. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, second edition, Volume 3 (2013), pp. 90-95, Academic Press: Waltham MA
Levy L, M A Kelly, J A Howley, and R A Virginia. Age of the Ørkendalen moraines, Kangerlussuaq, Greenland: Constraints on the extent of the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet during the Holocene, Quaternary Science Reviews 52 (2012) 1-5
Holm, L K, L A Grenoble, and R A Virginia. A Praxis for Ethical Research and Scientific Conduct in Greenland, Études/Inuit/Studies 35 (2011) 187-200
Brooks, R O, R T Jones, and R A Virginia. Law and Ecology: The Rise of the Ecosystem Regime. Ashgate Press (2002), 430pp.
Works in Progress
Dartmouth takes on US leadership of the NSF funded Joint Sceince Education Project (JSEP) joining students from the US, Denmark and Greenland for field study in Greenland. Award details. Story feating the Virtual JSEP 2020, 2021.
Beautiful video featuring JSEP and our climate change research in Greenland by Dartmouth Communications.
Selected Works & Activities
University of the Arctic Snowy Owl Series. In this short video I describe my research on climate change and the Arctic carbon cycle and give an overview of Dartmouth's Polar Environmental Change Graduate Program.
Discovery made below Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys. Video produced by the NSF to highlight results from our study reported in Nature Communications 6, Article number: 6831 doi:10.1038/ncomms7831
In the NEWS
Welcome to the State of Virginia, Dartmouth Alumni Magazine faculty profile, July/August 2012
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