CURRICULUM VITA
of
Steven W. Leavitt
February 2009

TITLE- Professor of Dendrochronology, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ  85721

                        (Phone 520-621-6468; FAX 520-621-8229; e-mail sleavitt@ltrr.arizona.edu)

 

EDUCATION-

            May 1982        Ph.D. Geosciences.  University of Arizona, Tucson

(Dissertation title: Inference of past atmospheric d13C and PCO2 from 13C/12C measurements in tree rings)

            Aug 1977         M.S. Environmental Sciences.  University of Virginia, Charlottesville

(Thesis title: Soil-plant relationships of nutrient and non-nutrient metals in Louisa Co., Virginia)

            June 1971        B.S. Geology.  University of Illinois, Urbana

(Thesis title: The geology and genesis of magmatic iron deposits at Kiruna and Gellivare, Sweden, and Iron Mountain, Missouri)

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND-

            Jan 2008 to present     Associate Director, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research

            Jul 1996 to present      Professor, University of Arizona

            Jul 1992 to Jul 1993    Acting Director, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research

            Aug 1990 to Jun 1996 Associate Professor of Dendrochronology, University of Arizona

            Jul 1989 to Aug 1990  Associate Professor of Geology, University of Wisconsin-Parkside
            Aug 1984 to Jul 1989  Assistant Professor of Geology, University of Wisconsin-Parkside

            Jun 1982 to Jul 1984   Post-doc Research Assoc., University of Arizona, Dept. of  Geosciences

TEACHING EXPERIENCE-

            The Weather, Earth & Man, Environmental Earth Science, Geochemistry, Environmental Geology, Hydrogeology, Dendrochronology, Senior Seminar, Mineralogy, Petrology, Tree Rings as Chronometers, Dendrochronology: Biological Applications, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Introduction to Global Change (Nats101), Isotope Dendrochonology.

RESEARCH SUMMARY-

            Dr. Leavitt's research centers on past, present and future global change, and is variously involved with light stable-isotope analysis of tree rings, native plant leaves, crop plants, and geological materials.  Dr. Leavitt has used the stable-isotope composition (d13C and d18O) of modern tree-ring chronologies from the Southwest, South America and China to calibrate and infer responses with respect to climate and atmospheric chemistry changes.  Plant materials from packrat middens and herbaria were used as recorders of morphological and ecophysiologial plant response to CO2 changes over the past 40,000 years.  Dr. Leavitt has been involved in the highly replicated FACE (Free-Air CO2 Enrichment) experiments conducted at the Maricopa Agricultural Center to assess the impact of CO2 fertilization on organic soil carbon pools.  Dr. Leavitt's ongoing investigations include isotope dendrochronology research on wood from ancient buried forests and high-resolution environmental variability in the US Great Lakes region from 4000 to 14,000 years ago, paleoclimate signals in a desert tufa deposit in southern Arizona, environmental changes in the US Great Plains inferred from soil carbon isotopes, and global carbon cycle in geologic time and the recent imbalance from anthropogenic effects, including possible modification of plant water-use efficiency.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES-

Membership: The Geochemical Society, American Geophysical Union, The Tree-Ring Society, American Quaternary Association (executive council member), Ecological Society of America

Editor: Tree-Ring Research (2002-present); Editorial Board: Radiocarbon; Communicating Editor: Trees-Structure and Function (2006-present)

Ad Hoc manuscript peer review for 25 different journals & proposal review for 10 agencies since 1994

SERVICE SUMMARY-

            Dr. Leavitt routinely contributes to intramural service at the Department, College and University levels through membership on several committees.  Most notable among these was service on the Provost's University Promotion and Tenure Committee (1996-99).  Dr. Leavitt also served as Chairman of the Global Change Interdisciplinary Program from which the Global Change Ph.D. Minor is administered (1997-99).  Dr. Leavitt's outreach activities include general talks to service organizations, and lecturing at a "Stable Isotope Ecology Course" held at the University of Utah in June (1996-2005, except 2000).

 

CURRENT AND RECENT SUPPORT (>$10K)-

Co-PI   NSF, “An Investigation of North American Monsoon Variability using Instrumental and Tree-Ring Data”, with Connie Woodhouse (PI), Ramzi Touchan, Dave Meko Chris Castro (Co-PIs), Sept, 2008, to Aug. 2011, ca. $600K

Co-PI  IALC (Intl. Arid Lands Consortium), “Climate Response of Growth and Water Use in Semi-Arid Pine Forest”, with Dan Yakir (PI), Dec 1, 2003, to Nov. 30, 2005, ca. $100K.

Co-PI   NSF, "High-resolution Younger Dryas environmental Variability: A Comprehensive Assessment from Mid-North America Tree Rings" with Irina Panyushkina (PI), Jul. 1, 2002, to June 30, 2005 (Extended to June 30, 2006), ca. $220K

PI         NSF, "Tree-Ring Formation, Isotopes, and El Niño in Ponderosa Pine of the Southwest", with Austin Long, Hal Fritts, Wm. E. Wright (co-PIs), Oct. 1, 1998, to Sept. 30, 2001 (Extended to Sept. 30, 2002), ca. $310K.

Co-PI   NSF, "An Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer for the Biological Sciences", with Dave Williams (PI) and Jay Quade, Dave Dettman, and Carlos del Rio (co-PIs), July 2000 to June 2002, $207K

Co-PI   NSF, "Technician Support: Mass Spectrometry Laboratories", with Andy Cohen (PI), Jay Quade, Dave Williams (co-PIs), July 2000 to June 2002, $124K.

PI         USDA, NRI, "Elevated CO2 and Limited Water Supply Effects on Carbon Processes and Sequestration in C4 Grass (Sorghum) Ecosystem", with Michael Ottman, Allan Matthias, Thomas Thompson, David Williams and Robert Roth (co-PIs), November 1, 1997, to Oct. 31, 2000 (Extended to Oct. 31, 2001), USDA-NRI-97-35109-5065, $505.7K.

PI        USDA, ARS, "Soil Carbon Sequestration and Age in the Historic Grasslands of North America", March 18, 1997 to Nov. 2000, $24.87K.

 

SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS (of 100 in all categories since 1979)-

2008

Anchukaitis, K.J., Evans, M.N., Lange, T., Smith, D.R., Leavitt, S.W., and Schrag, D.P., 2008. Purity and isotopic results from a rapid cellulose extraction method. Analytical Chemistry 80(6): 2035-2041.

Haavik, L., Stephen, F., Fierke, M., Salisbury, V., Leavitt, S.W. and Billings, S., 2008. Tree-ring δ13C and historic growth patterns as indicators of Northern red oak (Quercus rubra Fagaceae) susceptibility to red oak borer (Enapholodes rufulus (Haldeman) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)). Forest Ecology and Management. 255:1501–1509.

Knapp, A.K., Beier, C., Briske, D., Classen, A.T., Luo, Y., Reichstein, M., Smith, M.D., Smith, S.D., Bell, J.E., Fay, P.A., Heisler, J.L., Leavitt, S.W., Sherry, R., Smith, B., and Weng, E., 2008. Consequences of more extreme precipitation regimes for terrestrial ecosystems. BioScience 58(9): 811-821.

Leavitt, S.W., 2008. Tree-ring isotopic pooling without regard to mass: No difference from averaging δ13C values of individual trees.  Chemical Geology 252:52–55. doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2008.01.014

Leavitt, S.W., Chase, T.N., Rajagopalan, B., Lee, E., Lawrence, P.J., 2008. Southwestern U.S. tree-ring carbon isotope indices as a possible proxy for reconstruction of greenness of vegetation. Geophysical Research Letters. Vol. 35, L12704, doi:10.1029/2008GL033894.Robertson, I., Leavitt, S.W., Loader, N.J. and Buhay, B., 2008. Progress in isotope dendroclimatology. Chemical Geology 252: EX1-EX4 (editorial)

Panyushkina, I.P., Leavitt, S.W., Thompson, T.A., Schneider, A.F., Lange, T., 2008. Environment and paleoecology of a 12 ka mid-North American Younger Dryas forest chronicled in tree rings. Quaternary Research 70:433-441.

Robertson, I., Leavitt, S.W., Loader, N.J. and Buhay, B., 2008. Progress in isotope dendroclimatology. Chemical Geology 252: EX1-EX4 (editorial)

Tardif, J.C., Conciatori, F., Leavitt, S.W., 2008. Tree rings, δ13C and climate in Picea glauca growing near Churchill, subarctic Manitoba, Canada.  Chemical Geology 252:88-101. doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2008.01.015

Williams, A.P., Still, C.J., Fischer, D.T., and Leavitt, S.W., 2008. The influence of summertime fog and overcast clouds on the water relations of a coastal Californian pine: A tree-ring study.  Oecologia 156(3):601-611.

2007

Leavitt, S.W., 2007. Review of TRACE- Tree Rings in Archaeology, Climatology and Ecology.  Tree-Ring Research 63(1): 63-64.

Leavitt, S.W., Chase, T.N., Rajagopalan, B., Lee, E., Lawrence, P.J., Woodhouse, C.A., 2007. Southwestern U.S. drought maps from pinyon tree-ring carbon isotopes. Eos Tran. Am. Geophys. Union 88(4): 39-40 (Jan. 23, 2006).

Leavitt, S.W., 2007. Regional Expression of the 1988 U.S. Midwest Drought in Seasonal d13C of Tree Rings. Journal of Geophysical Research- Atmospheres 112, D06107, doi:10.1029/2006JD007081.

Leavitt, S.W., Follett, R.F., Kimble, J.M., and Pruessner, E.G., 2007. Radiocarbon and d13C depth profiles of soil organic carbon in the U.S. Great Plains:  A possible spatial record of paleoenvironment and paleovegetation. Quaternary International 162–163: 21–34.

Mode, W.N., Panyushkina, I.P., Leavitt, S.W., Williams, J.W., Sanitiago, A., Gill, J., Edwards, C., Gertz, H., 2007.  Stop 9. Late-glacial and early Holocene paleoecology: Schneider farm, Calumet County. In: Late-Glacial History of East-central Wisconsin. 53rd Midwest Friends of the Pleistocene Field Conference Guidebook, May 18-20, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, Madison. Ed. T.S. Hooyer, pp. 53-60. (PDF)

Panyushkina, I.P., Leavitt, S.W., 2007. Insights into Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene paleoecology from fossil wood around the Great Lakes region.  In: Late-Glacial History of East-central Wisconsin. 53rd Midwest Friends of the Pleistocene Field Conference Guidebook, May 18-20, Wis. Geol. and Nat. Hist. Survey, Madison. Ed. T.S. Hooyer, pp. 47-57.

2006

Benz, B., Cheng, L., Leavitt, S.W., and Eastoe, C., 2006. El Riego and early maize agricultural evolution. IN Histories of Maize, Staller, J., Tykot, R. and Benz, B. (eds.), Ch. 5, pp. 73-82.

Leavitt, S.W., Panyushkina, I.P., Lange, T., Wiedenhoeft, A., Cheng, L., Hunter, R.D., Hughes, J., Pranschke, F., Schneider, A.F., Moran, J., and Stieglitz, R., 2006. Climate in the Great Lakes region between 14,000 and 4,000 years ago from isotopic composition of conifer wood. Radiocarbon 48: 205-217.

Hunter, R.D., Panyushkina, I.P., Leavitt, S.W., Wiedenhoeft, A.C. and Zawiskie, J., 2006. A multiproxy environmental investigation of Holocene wood from a submerged conifer forest in Lake Huron, USA. Quaternary Research 66: 67-77.

Wall, G.W., Garcia, R.L., Kimball, B.A., Hunsaker, D.J., Pinter, Jr., P.J., Long, S.P., Osborne, C.P., Hendrix, D.L., Wechsung, F., Wechsung, G., Leavitt, S.W., LaMorte, R.L., and Idso, S.B., 2005. Interactive Effects of Elevated CO2 and Drought on Wheat.  Agronomy Journal 98: 354-381.

Wright, W.E. and Leavitt, S.W. 2006, Needle cell elongation and maturation timing derived from pine needle cellulose d18O.  Plant, Cell and Environment 29: 1-15.

Wright, W.E. and Leavitt, S.W. 2006.  Seasonal humidity reconstructed from a tree-cellulose d18O time series.  Journal of Geophysical Research 111: D18105, doi:10.1029/2005JD006806.

2005

Adamsen, F.J., Wechsung, G., Wechsung, F., Wall, G.W., Kimball, B.A., Pinter, P.J. Jr., LaMorte, R.L., Garcia, R.L., Hunsaker, D.J. and Leavitt, S.W. 2005. Temporal changes in soil and biomass nitrogen for irrigated wheat grown under free-air carbon dioxide enrichment (FACE). Agronomy Journal 97: 160-168.

Li, Z.-H., Leavitt, S.W., Mora, C.I., Liu, R.-M., 2005. Influence of earlywood-latewood size and isotope differences on long-term tree-ring d13C trends. Chemical Geology 216: 191-201.

Pendall, E., Williams, D.G. and Leavitt, S.W., 2005. Comparison of measured and modeled variations in piñon pine leaf water isotopic enrichment across a summer moisture gradient. Oecologia 145-605-618.

Garfin, G.M., Hughes, M.K., Yu, L., Burns, J.M., Touchan, R., Leavitt, S.W., Zhisheng, An, 2005.  Exploratory temperature and precipitation reconstructions from the Qinling Mountains, north-central China.  Tree-Ring Research 61: 59-72.

2004

Follett, R.F., Kimble, J., Leavitt, S.W. and Preussner, E., 2004. Potential use of soil C isotope analyses to evaluate paleoclimate. Soil Science 169: 471-488.

Grant, R.F., Kimball,  B.A., Wall, G.W., Triggs, J.M., Brooks, T.J., Pinter, P.J. Jr., Conley, M.M., Ottman, M.J., Lamorte, R.L., Leavitt, S.W., Thompson, T.L. and Matthias, A.D. 2004. Modeling elevated carbon dioxide effects on water relations, water use, and growth of irrigated sorghum.  Agronomy Journal 96: 1693-1705.

Liu, Y., Ma, L., Leavitt, S.W., Cai, Q., and Liu, W., 2004.  Seasonal precipitation reconstruction from tree-ring stable carbon isotopes at Mt. Helan, China, since AD 1804. Global and Planetary Change 41: 229-239.

Panyushkina, I.P., Leavitt, S.W., Wiedenhoeft, A., Noggle S., Curry, B. and Grimm, E.,  2004. Tree-ring records of near-Younger Dryas time in Central N. America- Preliminary results from the Lincoln Quarry site, central Illinois, USA. Radiocarbon 46: 933-941

Robertson, I., Loader, N.J., McCarroll, D., Carter, A.H.C., Cheng, L., Leavitt, S.W. 2004. d13C of tree-ring lignin as an indirect measure of climate change.  Water, Air and Soil Pollution 4: 531–544.

Tarhule, A. and Leavitt, S.W., 2004.  Stable-Carbon Isotope Composition in Annual Rings of Isorberlinia doka, Daniella Oliveri, and Tamarindus indica and West African Climate. Dendrochronologia 22: 61-70.

Triggs, J.M., Kimball, B.A., Pinter, P.J. Jr.,  Wall, G.W., Conley, M.M., Brooks, T.J., Lamorte, R.L., Adam, N.R., Ottman, M.J., Matthias, A.D., Leavitt, S.W., Cerveny, R.S. 2004. Free-air CO2 enrichment effects on the energy balance and evapotranspiration of sorghum. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 124: 63-79.

SELECTED RECENT CONFERENCE/WORKSHOP PRESENTATIONS (*=Invited)

2008

*Leavitt, S.W., 2008.  Current advances in tree-ring isotope dendrochronology and reconstruction of climatic conditions in recent centuries.  Geol. Assoc. Canada Annual Meeting, 26-28 May 2008. SY4:  Recent advances in isotopic reconstruction of climatic changes over the last centuries - temperature and precipitation series, Quebec City, 26 May 2008.

*Leavitt, S.W., 2008.  Environment in time and space: Opportunities from tree-ring isotope networks. Isoscapes2008, April 7 - 10, 2008, Santa Barbara, CA.

2007

*Leavitt, S.W., 2007. Current Approaches for Sampling-What is important and desirable for future advances.  ESF Stable Isotopes in Biospheric-Atmospheric Exchange (SIBAE) Program Workshop on Stable Isotopes in Dendroclimatology Current Status and Future Prospects, Potsdam, Germany, 12-16 Feb. 2007.

Williams, A.P., Still, C.J., Fischer, D.T. Leavitt, S.W., 2007. Tree rings indicate summertime stratus clouds as important sources of pre-dawn and afternoon shade for coastal vegetation in California. PACLIM, Pacific Grove, California, 13-16 May 2007.

2006

Panyushkina, I.P., Leavitt, S.W., 2006. Late Glacial-Early Holocene Climate Variability in the Great Lakes Region from Tree Rings. AMQUA Program and Abstracts, 19th Biennial Meeting, Bozeman, Montana, August 17-20, 2006, p. 137.

*Leavitt, S.W., 2006. Recent Advances and Progress in Stable Isotope Dendrochronology.  7th International Conference on Dendrochronology, Beijing, China, 11-17 June 2006.

Leavitt, S.W., Isotopic Pooling vs. Separate Analysis with Averaging: The Fallacy of a Significant Difference. 7th International Conference on Dendrochronology, Beijing, China, 11-17 June 2006.

Tardif, J.C., Conciatori, F. and Leavitt, S.W., 2006. Ring width, δ13C and climate in Picea glauca growing near Churchill, subarctic Manitoba and north central Canada. 7th International Conference on Dendrochronology, Beijing, China, 11-17 June 2006.

Wright, W.E. and Leavitt, S.W., 2006. Boundary layer humidity reconstructed from δ18O in summer wood of Pinus arizonica from the United States Southwest. 7th International Conference on Dendrochronology, Beijing, China, 11-17 June 2006.

Leavitt, S.W., Panyushkina, I.P. and Lange, T. 2006. Radiocarbon “Wiggles” in Great Lakes Wood ca.10,000 to 12,000 BP. 19th International Radiocarbon Conference, 3-7 April 2006

*Leavitt, S.W., 2006. Tree Rings and Water. EPRECOT (Effects of Precipitation Change On Terrestrial ecosystems) Workshop, Elsinore, Denmark, 22-25 May 2006.

Billings, S., Haavik, L., Stephen, F., Fierke, M., Salisbury, V., Leavitt, S., 2006.  Dendrochronological parameters of northern red oak (Quercus rubra Fagaceae) subjected to a major forest disturbance (red oak borer, Enapholodes rufulus).  International Union of Forest Researchers’ Organization.  Canopy Processes traveling meeting in northeastern United States, October 2006.

Williams, A.P., Still, C.J., Fischer, D.T., Leavitt, S.W., 2006. Teasing Foggy Memories out of Pines on the California Channel Islands Using Tree-Ring Width and Stable Isotope Approaches. AGU Fall Meeting (11-15 Dec.) Eos Trans. AGU, 87(52), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract B23C-1

2005

Williams, P., Still, C., Fischer, D., Leavitt, S., 2005. Fog and Vegetation on the California Channel Islands: A Tree Ring and Satellite Analysis, AGU Fall Meeting (5-9 Dec.), Eos Trans. AGU, 86(52), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract B11A-1009.

Leavitt, S.W., 2005. Regional Expression of the 1988 U.S. Midwest Drought in Seasonal Stable-Carbon Isotope Patterns of Tree Rings, Eos Trans. AGU, AGU Fall Meeting (5-9 Dec.), 86(52), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract H33B-1385

Panyushkina, I.P., Leavitt, S.W., Lange, T., Schneider, A.F., 2005, Tree-Ring Investigation of an in situ Younger Dryas-Age Spruce Forest in the Great Lakes Region of N. America, AGU Fall Meeting (5-9 Dec.), Eos Trans. AGU, 86(52), Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract PP13A-1484.

Harold C. Fritts, Alex V. Shashkin, Debbie L. Hemming, Steven W. Leavitt,William Edward Wright, Geoff Downes, 2005 “Advances in process-based modelling of the softwood cambium” IUFRO, "Connection between Forest Resources and Wood Quality : Modelling Approaches and Simulation software", Waiheke Island Resort, New Zealand, November 20-27, 2005.

2004

*Leavitt, S.W., “Tracing a d13C Pulse from Canopy to Growth Rings of a Ponderosa Pine Tree near Tucson, Arizona”, Mini-Workshop on Pine Trees, Weizmann Institute, Israel, 14March.

Benz, B.F., Leavitt, S.W., Eastoe, C., and Cheng, L., 2004. Prehistoric Maize Evolution in Mexico.  Society for American Archaeology 69th Annual Meeting, Montreal, Québec, 31 March-4 April 2004.

*Leavitt, S.W., 2004. Tree-Ring Isotope Rhythms: Climate and Dating from the Bands. AAAS Pacific Division, 85th Annual Meeting, Utah State University, Logan, 13–17 June 2004, Symposium on
“Lords of the Rings: Dendrochronology Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow”.

Panyushkina, I.P. and Leavitt, S.W., 2004. High-resolution records of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition from tree rings in central North America. American Quaternary Association Biennial Meeting, Lawrence, Kansas, 26-28 June 2004.

*Leavitt, S.W., 2004. Stable-carbon isotopes in tree rings and the prospect that trees are increasing water-use efficiency world-wide. Tree Rings and Climate: Sharpening the Focus, Tucson, Arizona, 6–9 April 2004

Van de Water, P. K., Betancourt, J.L., and Leavitt, S.W., 2004.  Distribution patterns and carbon acquisition physiology of the C4 shrubs Atriplex spp. in the southwestern USA across the last glacial-interglacial cycle. Geological Society of America Ann. Meeting, Denver, CO, 2-7 November 2004.

*Leavitt, S.W., Panyushkina, I.P., and Lange, T.E., 2004.  Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene forests from the Great Lakes Region, USA: Preliminary radiocarbon and stable-isotope results.  Geological Society of America Ann. Meeting, Denver, CO, 2-7 November 2004.

 Cheng, L., Leavitt, S.W., Kimball, B.A., Pinter Jr., P.J., Ottman, M.J., Matthias, A.D., Wall, G.W., Brooks, T. J., Williams, D.G., Thompson, T.L., 2004. Dynamics of labile and recalcitrant soil carbon pools in a sorghum Free-Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) agroecosystem.  EOS Trans. AGU, 85(47), Fall Meeting Supplement, Abstract B13C-0242.