Ross Virginia

Myers Family Professor of Environmental Science and Director, Institute of Arctic Studies- within the Dickey Center for International Understanding

Ross Virginia is an ecosystem ecologist interested in human influence on biogeochemical cycles. His emphasis is on understanding how processes such as desertification and climate change alter plant-soil interactions and the ecology and biodiversity of soils. Prof. Virginia's research examines carbon and nitrogen cycling in deserts, including arid lands of the southwest and the polar deserts of Antarctica, the McMurdo Dry Valleys. He is also interested in the relationships between the disciplines of ecology, ecosystem science and environmental law.

Selected Publications

• Ball, B. A., R. A. Virginia, J. E. Barrett, A. N. Parsons, and D. H. Wall. 2009. Interactions between physical and biotic factors influence CO2 flux from Antarctic dry valley soils. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 41(7): 1510-1517.
• Virginia, R. A. 2009. An ecosystem approach to mountain resorts. Pgs. 24-38, In: Milne, J. E., J. LaMense, and R. A. Virginia (editors). Mountain Resorts: Ecology and the Law. Ashgate Publishers Ltd.: Aldershot, Brookfield USA, Singapore, Sydney. For the Series: Ecology and Law in Modern Society, edited by R. O. Brooks and R. A. Virginia.
• Yalowitz, K. S., J. F. Collins, and R. A. Virginia. 2009. The Arctic Climate Change and Security Policy Conference- Final Report and Findings. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington D.C.
• Barrett, J. E., R. A. Virginia, D. H. Wall, P. T. Doran, A. G. Fountain, K. A. Welch, and W. B. Lyons. 2008. Persistent effects of a discrete climate event on a polar desert ecosystem. Global Change Biology14: 2249-2261.
• Bate, D. B., J. E. Barrett, M. A. Poage, and R. A. Virginia. 2008. Soil phosphorus cycling in an Antarctic polar desert. Geoderma 144:21-31.
• Barrett, J. E., R. A. Virginia and others. 2007. Biogeochemical stoichiometry of Antarctic Dry Valley ecosystems. JGR: Biosciences Vol.112, No. G01010
• Virginia, R. A., K. S. Yalowitz, and I. Krupnik. 2007. Introduction: Perceptions of climate change. In: Stuckenberger, N. (ed.). Thin ice: Inuit traditions within a changing environment. University Press of New England, Hanover, NH.

Courses

• ENVS 15
• ENVS 25
• ENVS 80
• AFSP

Office: 109 Steele

Phone: 603-646-0192

Email: ross.a.virginia@dartmouth.edu

Web Page: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ravirg/index.htm

Faculty Directory: http://dfd.dartmouth.edu/directory/show/285

The Institute of Arctic Studies: http://dickey.dartmouth.edu/content/view/9/17/