FACULTY
Statement of Interests and Research:
Pete's main area of research deals with aspects of vegetation change. He continues work on a project funded by the United States Department of Agriculture's Plant and Environmental Adaptation Program to determine if increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have caused significant increases in the radial growth rates of ponderosa pine, an environmentally and economically important western tree species.
Pete is also doing vegetation change work in the region and locally. In a project funded by Grandfather Mountain, Inc., he is examining red spruce trees found on the higher elevations of Grandfather Mountain to determine if acid rain or other environmental vectors are causing changes in the radial growth rates. In another collaborative project (with Dr. Gary Walker of the Department of Biology) funded by the National Park Service, he is examining the tree-ring record of red cedar trees growing within the Obed Wild and Scenic River area of central Tennessee.
In support of his tree-ring research, Pete operates the Department of Geography and Planning’s Dendroecology lab. Pete is currently sharing the lab with Dr. Saskia van de Gevel and any graduate students interested in pursuing tree-ring research.
Pete teaches Introduction to Physical Geography, Weather and Climate, Global Climates and Meteorology, Quantitative Methods, and graduate courses in Natural Hazards and Quantitative Methods.
A list of Pete's recent publication follows:
2008 J. T. Maxwell and P. T. Soulé. (in press) “Drought in the United States during
2007: Historical perspectives.” Climate Research.
2008 P. T. Soulé and P. A. Knapp. Does an August Singularity Exist in the
Northern Rockies of the United States? Journal of Applied Meteorology and
Climatology. (DOI;0.1175/2007Jamc1735.1)
2007 P. T. Soulé and P. A. Knapp. “Topoedaphic and Morphologic Complexity of Mortality and Foliar Damage Within Western Juniper Woodlands Following an Extreme Meteorological Event. Journal of Biogeography. V. 34: 1927-1937.
2007 P. A. Knapp and P. T. Soulé. “Trends in mid-latitude cyclone frequency and
occurrence during fire season in the Northern Rockies: 1900-2004.”
Geophysical Research Letters. 34, L20707, doi:10.1029/2007GL031216.
2006 P. T. Soulé and P. A. Knapp. "Radial growth rate increases in naturally occurring ponderosa pine trees: a late-20 th century CO 2 fertilization effect?" New Phytologist. V. 171 (2006): 379-390
2005 P. T. Soulé. "A Comparison of 30-yr Climatic Normals for the Southeastern United States." Southeastern Geographer. V. 45 (2005): 16-24.
2005 P. A. Knapp and P. T. Soulé. "Impacts of an Early Season Freeze Event in the Interior Pacific Northwest (October 30th -November 3rd , 2002) on Western Juniper Woodlands." Journal of Applied Meteorology. V. 44 (2005): 1152-1158.
2004 P. T. Soulé, P. A. Knapp, and H. D. Grissino-Mayer. "Human Agency, Environmental Drivers, and Western Juniper Establishment During the Late Holocene." Ecological Applications. V. 14 ( 2004):96-112.
2004 P. A. Knapp, P. T. Soulé, and H. D. Grissino-Mayer. "Occurrence of Sustained Droughts in the Interior Pacific Northwest (AD 1733-1980) Inferred from Tree-Ring Data. "Journal of Climate. V. 17 (2004): 140-150.
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