Faculty Research: John Melack

Especially significant results of recent studies include

1. Development of active and passive microwave remote sensing as a tool to examine wetland biogeochemistry (Figure 1)
2. Demonstration for the Amazon basin that outgassing of carbon dioxide from wetlands about balances uptake by the forests.
3. Experimental studies and measurements in high elevation lakes of the Sierra Nevada that indicate impacts of nutrients inputs.
4. Experimental studies and measurements that indicate the importance of seasonal transitions in the release of nitrogen from chaparral and alpine catchments.
5. Experimental and long-term studies of solute acquisition and transport in high elevation catchments (Figure 2)
6. Measurements and modeling of fluxes of water and nutrients from coastal catchments bordering Santa Barbara Channel and integration of these studies with a Long Term Ecological Study of the interactions between terrestrial and aquatic systems.
7. Long-term studies of how the ecology of Mono Lakes responds to changes in lake level.

Melack's research has emphasized ecological processes in lakes, wetlands and streams, and hydrological and biogeochemical aspects of catchments. He has incorporated innovative remote sensing into his research and has conducted multi-year studies in eastern Africa and tropical South America as well as in California. During his career he has published over 200 scientific papers, edited two books and a special issue of Limnology and Oceanography, and written numerous book reviews, and technical, workshop and committee reports.

Melack currently serves on the NRC Committee on Geophysical and Environmental Data, the Science Steering Committee for the Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia, and is an elected US representative to the International Society of Limnology and is past President of the International Society of Salt Lake Research. He is a member of the Independent Science Board for California Bay-Delta Authority's CALFED Bay-Delta Program and served on the National Academy of Sciences committee that prepared The Mono Basin Ecosystem-Effects of Changing Lake Level. He is an Associate Editor for Biogeochemistry and on the Editorial Board for Hydrobiologia. Melack played a seminal role in the establishment and development of the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, which trains students to be professional environmental scientists. He has taught core and elective courses in aquatic ecology for 25 years at the graduate and undergraduate level, and has supervised as major professor 25 Ph.D. students.

Figure 1: Shuttle Imaging Radar Experiment

Figure 2: Emerald Lake and its Catchment Sierra Nevada, CA

John Melack | Research | Publications | Curriculum Vitae

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