Mary Heskel

Past NE CASC Fellow
Assistant Professor of Biology

Consortium Institution: 

Marine Biological Laboratory

Affiliations: 

Macalester College St. Paul, MN
Ecosystems Center

Education: 

Ph.D.: Ecology and Evolution, Columbia University, New York, NY 2013
M.A.: Science Education, City College of New York, NY, 2008
B. A.: Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, MA, 2006

Website: 

http://www.maryheskel.com

Experience: 

Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Macalester College, St. Paul, MN, 2018-present
Postdoctoral Scholar, Marine Biological Laboratory, 2014-2018
Postdoctoral Associate, University of Minnesota, 2014
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Australian National University, 2013 to 2014

Research Interests: 

I am a plant physiological ecologist and my research addresses how environmental change, including long-term warming, seasonal temperature variation, as well as altered nitrogen input and drought, affects leaf-level carbon exchange via photosynthesis and respiration. To do this, I’ve measured plants grown in ongoing global change experiments (B4Warmed in Minnesota and the Arctic LTER in Northern Alaska), as well in intact landscapes. My current research aims to integrate the temperature and light sensitivity of leaf respiration into estimates of net ecosystem exchange at Harvard Forest, in central Massachusetts.

Mary now works as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biology in Macalester College.

Recent Publications

Click on the author's name to view all of their publications in the NE CASC Library.

Yang, H., Yang X., Zhang Y., Heskel M. A., Lu X., J. Munger W., et al. (2017).  Chlorophyll fluorescence tracks seasonal variations of photosynthesis from leaf to canopy in a temperate forest. Global Change Biology. 23(7), 2874 - 2886.
Heskel, M. A., O'Sullivan O. S., Reich P. B., Tjoelker M. G., Weerasinghe L. K., Penillard A., et al. (2016).  Convergence in the temperature response of leaf respiration across biomes and plant functional types. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113(14), 
Heskel, M. A., Bitterman D., Atkin O. K., Turnbull M. H., & Griffin K. L. (2014).  Seasonality of foliar respiration in two dominant plant species from the Arctic tundra: response to long-term warming and short-term temperature variability. Functional Plant Biology. 41, 287.
Heskel, M. A., Greaves H. E., Turnbull M. H., O’Sullivan O. S., Shaver G. R., Griffin K. L., et al. (2014).  Thermal acclimation of shoot respiration in an Arctic woody plant species subjected to 22 years of warming and altered nutrient supply. Global Change Biology. 20, 2618 - 2630.
Heskel, M. A., Atkin O. K., Turnbull M. H., & Griffin K. L. (2013).  Bringing the Kok effect to light: A review on the integration of daytime respiration and net ecosystem exchange. Ecosphere. 4, art98.
Heskel, M. A., Anderson O.. R., Atkin O.. K., Turnbull M.. H., & Griffin K. L. (2012).  Leaf- and cell-level carbon cycling responses to a nitrogen and phosphorus gradient in two Arctic tundra species. American Journal of Botany. 99, 1702 - 1714.