My major research programs are the North Temperate Lakes LTER project based in Madison and at Trout Lake, and the BioComplexity project (which dovetails closely with LTER) - the Cascade Project in northern Wisconsin, which is a project to develop integrative models for lakes of northern Wisconsin, and is a cluster of international projects on building theory for ecosystem management.

Personally, I am most excited by two research themes which cut across most of my projects. The first is the development of tools for envisioning and projecting future change in ecosystems.
Examples include the scenarios project for northern Wisconsin (http://lakefutures.wisc.edu), work on landscape models of water, organic carbon, and phosphorus cycling, and modeling and empirical studies of thresholds for regime shifts in the phosphorus cycle and aquatic food webs.

The second is research to understand ecosystem management. The science of managing ecosystems is not a problem in ecology or social science alone, but instead is a completely new transdisciplinary field. It is increasingly important because of rapid global change in ecosystems and expanding human demand for services that ecosystems provide. With a group of international collaborators, I am developing a new framework for analyzing, comparing, understanding, and perhaps even improving ecosystem management.

Additionally, Professor Steve Carpenter serves as co-chair of the Scenarios Working Group for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. The Millennium Assessment is an international project to assess the condition of earth’s ecosystems and the implications for human well-being. The Scenarios Working Group is charged with evaluating the plausible futures of ecosystem services used by humans over the next 50 years. See their web site (www.millenniumassessment.org) for more information. View a news release about this groups' Oct. 13, 2006 article in Science.

Teaching

Courses:

Zoology 535 - Ecosystem Analysis
Zoology 725 - Ecosystem Concepts
Zoology 911 - Limnology and Marine Science Seminar
Zoology 955 - Seminar - Limnology

Graduate students currently supervised:

Reinette Biggs (biggs@wisc.edu)
    Ecological economics of adaptive ecosystem management.

Amy Kamarainen (kamarainen@wisc.edu)
    Zoology - Long-term dynamics of phosphorus recycling in the Madison-area lakes

Owen Langman (oclangman@wisc.edu)
    Signal processing for automated acquisition of limnological data

Nick Preston (npreston@wisc.edu)
    Limnology and Marine Science - Processing of terrigenous organic carbon in freshwater ecosystems

Matthew Van de Bogert (mcvandeb@wisc.edu)
    Limnology and Marine Science - Modeling of hydrologic, organic carbon and phosphorus linkages in lake-dominated landscapes

Graduate students supervised who earned graduate degrees:

Pieter Johnson, Ph.D., Zoology, 2006.
Darren Bade, Ph.D., Limnology and Marine Sciences, 2004.
Paul C. Hanson, Ph.D. Limnology and Marine Science 2003
Elena Bennett, Ph.D. Limnology and Marine Sciences 2002
Jeff Houser, Ph.D. Zoology 2001
Doug Beard, Ph.D. in Zoology 2001
Benjamin Greenfield, M.S. 2000

Selected Publications

• Carpenter, S.R. and W.A. Brock.  2006.  Rising variance:  A leading indicator of ecological transition.  Ecology Letters 9: 311-318.

• Walker, B., L. Gunderson, A. Kinzig, C. Folke, S. Carpenter and L. Schultz 2006. A Handful of Heuristics and Some Propositions for Understanding Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems. Ecology and Society 11 (1): 13. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art13/

• Gunderson, L. H., S. R. Carpenter, C. Folke, P. Olsson and G. Peterson 2006. Water RATs (Resilience, Adaptability, and Transformability) in Lake and Wetland Social-Ecological Systems . Ecology and Society 11 (1): 16. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art16/

• Olsson, P., L. H. Gunderson, S. R. Carpenter, P. Ryan, L. Lebel, C. Folke and C. Holling 2006. Shooting the Rapids: Navigating Transitions to Adaptive Governance of Social-Ecological Systems. Ecology and Society 11 (1): 18. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art18/

• Bade, D.L., M.L. Pace, J.J. Cole and S.R. Carpenter.  2006.  Can algal photosynthetic fractionation in lakes be predicted from existing models?  Aquatic Sciences 68:  142-153.

• Hanson, P.C, S.R. Carpenter, D.E. Armstrong, E.H. Stanley and T.K. Kratz.  2006. Lake dissolved inorganic carbon and dissolved oxygen: changing drivers across scales from days to decades.  Ecological Monographs 76:  343-363..

• Cole, J.J., S.R. Carpenter, M.L. Pace, M.C. Van de Bogert, J.F. Kitchell and J.R. Hodgson.  2006.  Differential support of lake food webs by three types of terrestrial organic carbon.  Ecology Letters 9: 558-568.

• Bade, D., S.R. Carpenter, J.J. Cole, M.L. Pace, E. Kritzberg, M.C. Van de Bogert, R. Corey and D.M. McKnight.  2006.  Sources and fates of dissolved organic carbon in lakes as determined by whole-lake isotope additions.  Biogeochemistry:  in press.

• Carpenter, S.R. and C. Folke.  2006.  Ecology for transformation.  Trends in Ecology and Evolution 21:  309-315.

• Carpenter, S. R., E. M. Bennett, and G. D. Peterson. 2006. Scenarios for ecosystem services: an overview. Ecology and Society 11(1): 29. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art29/

• Chapin, F. S., III, M. Hoel, S. R. Carpenter, J. Lubchenco, B. Walker, T. V. Callaghan, C. Folke, S. Levin, K.-G. Mäler, C. Nilsson, S. Barrett, F. Berkes, A.-S. Crépin, K. Danell, T. Rosswall, D. Starrett, T. Xepapadeas,  and S. A. Zimov.  2006.  Building resilience and adaptation to manage Arctic change.  Ambio 35:  198-202.

• Sass, G.G., J.F. Kitchell, S.R. Carpenter, T.R. Hrabik, A.E. Marburg, and M.G. Turner.  2006.  Fish community and food web responses to a whole-lake removal of coarse woody habitat.  Fisheries 31:  321-330.

• Brock, W. A. and S. R. Carpenter 2006. Variance as a Leading Indicator of Regime Shift in Ecosystem Services. Ecology and Society 11 (2): 9. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss2/art9/

• Brose, U., T. Jonsson, E.R. Berlow, P. Warren, C. Banasek-Richter, L.F. Bersier, J.L. Blanchard, T. Brey, S.R. Carpenter, M.F. Cattin Blandinier, L. Cushing, H.A. Dawah, T. Dell, F. Edwards, S. Harper-Smith, U. Jacob, M.E. Ledger, N.D. Martinez, J. Memmott, K. Mintenbeck, J.K. Pinnegar, B.C. Rall, T.S. Rayner, D.C. Reumann, L. Reuss, W. Ulrich, R.J. Williams, G. Woodward and J.E. Cohen.  2006.  Consumer-resource body size relationships in natural food webs.  Ecology 87:  2411-2417.

• Johnson, P.T.J. and S.R. Carpenter.  2006.  Influence of eutrophication on disease in aquatic ecosytems:  patterns, processes and predictions.  In R. Ostfeld, F. Keesing and V. Eviner (eds.), Reciprocal Interactions of Ecosystems and Disease.  Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.

• Johnson, P.T.J., D.E. Stanton, E.R. Preu, K.J. Forshay, and S.R. Carpenter.  2006.  Dining on disease:  How interactions between infection and environment affect predation risk.  Ecology 87:  1973-1980.

• Carpenter, S.R., R. DeFries, H.A. Mooney, S. Polasky, W. Reid and R. Scholes.  2006.  Millennium Ecosystem Assessment:  Research Needs.  Science 313:  257-258.

• Sterner, T., M. Troell, M., S. Aniyar, S. Barrett, W. Brock, S. Carpenter, K. Chopra, P. Ehrlich, M. Hoel, S. Levin, K-G. Mäler, J. Norbert, L. Pihl, T. Söderqvist, J. Wilen and A. Xepapadeas.  2006.  Quick fixes for environmental problems:  Part of the solution, or part of the problem?  Environment 48:  20-27.

• Carpenter, S.R. and W.A. Brock. 2005. Rising variance: A leading indicator of ecological transition. Ecology Letters: in press.

• Ludwig, D., W. A. Brock and S. R. Carpenter 2005. Uncertainty in Discount Models and Environmental Accounting. Ecology and Society 10 (2): 13. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol10/iss2/art13/

• Gunderson, L., S.R. Carpenter, C. Folke, P. Olsson and G. Peterson. 2005. Water RATs (Resilience, Adaptability and Transformability) in Lake and Wetland Social-Ecological Systems. Ecology and Society: in press.

• Folke, C., S. Carpenter, B. Walker, M. Scheffer, T. Elmqvist, L. Gunderson and C.S. Holling. 2005. Regime shifts, resilience and biodiversity in ecosystem management. Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics 35: 557-581.

• Walker, B., C. S. Holling, S. R. Carpenter, and A. Kinzig. 2004. Resilience, adaptability and transformability in social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society 9(2): 5. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss2/art5

• Jonsson, T., J.E. Cohen and S.R. Carpenter. 2005. Food webs, body size, and species abundance in ecological community description. Advances in Ecological Research 36: 2-84.

• Genkai-Kato, M. and S.R. Carpenter. 2005. Eutrophication due to phosphorus recycling in relation to lake morphometry, temperature and macrophytes. Ecology 86: 210-219.

• Cohen, J.E. and S.R. Carpenter. 2005. Species’ average body mass and numerical abundance in a community food web: statistical questions in estimating the relationship. Pp. 137-156 in P.C. de Ruiter, V. Wolters, and J.C. Moore (editors), Dynamic Food Webs: Multispecies Assemblages, Ecosystem Development and Environmental Change. Academic Press.

• Bennett, E. M., S. R. Carpenter, and M. Clayton. 2005. Soil phosphorus variability: Scale-dependency in an urbanizing agricultural landscape. Landscape Ecology: in press.

• Gergel, S.E., S.R. Carpenter and E.H. Stanley. 2005. Do dams and levees impact nitrogen cycling? Simulating the effects of floodplain alterations on floodplain denitrification. Global Change Biology 11: 1352-1367.

• Carpenter, S.R., J.J. Cole, M. L. Pace, M. Van de Bogert, D.L. Bade, D. Bastviken, C.M. Gille, J. R. Hodgson, J. F. Kitchell, and E. S. Kritzberg. 2005. Ecosystem subsidies: terrestrial support of aquatic food webs from 13C addition to contrasting lakes. Ecology 86: 2737-2750.

• Carpenter, S.R., R.C. Lathrop, P. Nowak, E.M. Bennett, T. Reed and P.A. Soranno. 2005. The ongoing experiment: Restoration of Lake Mendota and its watershed. Pp. 236-256 in J.J. Magnuson, T.K. Kratz and B.J. Benson (eds.), Long-Term Dynamics of Lakes in the Landscape. Oxford University Press, London, England.

• Foley, J., R. de Fries, G.P. Asner, C. Barford, G. Bonan, S.R. Carpenter, F.S. Chapin, M.T. Coe, G.C. Daily, H.K. Gibbs, J.H. Helkowski, T. Hollaway, E.A. Howard, C.J. Kucharik, C. Monfreda, J.A. Patz, I.C. Prentice, N. Ramankutty, and P.K. Snyder. 2005. Global consequences of land use. Science 309: 570-574.

• Carpenter, S.R. 2005. Eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems: Bistability and soil phosphorus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102: 10002-10005. Available on the Internet: http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/101073/pnas.0503959102.

• Brose, U., L. Cushing, C. Banasak-Richter, E.L. Berlow, L.-F. Bersier, J.L. Blanchard, T. Brey, S.R. Carpenter, M.-F. Cattin-Blandinier, J.E. Cohen, H.A. Daway, T. Dell, F. Edwards, S. Harper-Smith, U. Jacob, T. Jonsson, R.A. Knapp, M.E. Ledger, N.D. Martinez, J. Mennott, K. Mintenbeck, J.K. Pinnegar, T. Rayner, L. Ruess, W. Ulrich, P. Warren, R.J. Williams, G. Woodward and P. Yodzis. 2005. Empirical body sizes of consumers and their resources. Ecology 86: 2545-2545.

• Adger, W.N., T.P. Hughes, C. Folke, S.R. Carpenter and J. Rockstrom. 2005. Social-ecological resilience to coastal disasters. Science 309: 1036-1039.

• Brock, W.A., Carpenter, S.R. & Scheffer, M. 2005. Regime shifts, environmental signals, uncertainty and policy choice. In A Theoretical Framework for Analyzing Social-Ecological Systems, eds. Norberg, J. and Cumming, G. (Columbia, New York), in press.

• Walker, B., L. Gunderson, A. Kinzig, C. Folke, S. Carpenter and L. Schultz. 2005. A Handful of Heuristics and Some Propositions for Understanding Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems. Ecology and Society: In press.

• Scheffer, M., S.R. Carpenter and B. de Young. 2005. Cascading effects of overfishing marine systems. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 20: 579-581.

• Genkai-Kato, M. and S.R. Carpenter. 2005. Eutrophication due to phosphorus recycling in relation to lake morphometry, temperature and macrophytes. Ecology 86: 210-219.

• Jonsson, T., J.E. Cohen and S.R. Carpenter. 2003. Food webs, body size, and species abundance in ecological community description. Advances in Ecological Research 36: in press.

• Walker, B., C. S. Holling, S. R. Carpenter, and A. Kinzig. 2004. Resilience, adaptability and transformability in social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society 9(2): 5. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss2/art5

• Folke, C., S. Carpenter, B. Walker, M. Scheffer, T. Elmqvist, L. Gunderson and C.S. Holling. 2005. Regime shifts, resilience and biodiversity in ecosystem management. Annual Review of Ecology Evolution and Systematics 35: 557-581.

• Bade, D.L., S.R. Carpenter, J.J. Cole, P.C. Hanson and R.L. Hesslein. 2004. Controls of ?13C-DIC in lakes: Geochemistry, lake metabolism and morphometry. Limnology and Oceanography 49: 1160-1172.

• Hanson, P.C., A.I. Pollard, D.L. Bade, K. Predick, S.R. Carpenter and J.A. Foley. 2004. A model of carbon evasion and sedimentation in temperate lakes. Global Change Biology 10: 1285-1298.

• Carpenter, S.R. and W.A. Brock. 2004. Spatial complexity, resilience and policy diversity: Fishing on lake-rich landscapes. Ecology and Society 9(1): 8. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss1/art8

• Pace, M.L., J.J. Cole, S.R. Carpenter, J.F. Kitchell, J.R. Hodgson, M. Van de Bogert, D.L. Bade, E.S. Kritzberg, and D. Bastviken. 2004. Whole-lake carbon-13 additions reveal terrestrial support of aquatic food webs. Nature 427: 240-243.

• Scheffer, M. and S.R. Carpenter. 2003. Catastrophic regime shifts in ecosystems: linking theory to observation. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 12: 648-656.

• Carpenter, S.R. 2003. The need for fast and frugal models. in C. Canham and W. Lauenroth (eds.), Understanding Ecosystems: The Role of Quantitative Models in Observation, Synthesis and Prediction. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., U.S.A.

• Beard, T.D., Jr., P.W. Rasmussen, S.P. Cox and S.R. Carpenter. 2003. Evaluation of a mixed walleye spearing and angling fishery management system in northern Wisconsin. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 23: 481-491.

• Beard, T. D., Jr., S. P. Cox and S.R. Carpenter. 2003. Impacts of daily bag limit reductions on angler effort in Wisconsin walleye lakes. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 23: 1283-1293.

• Ludwig, D., S. Carpenter and W. Brock. 2003. Optimal phosphorus loading for a potentially eutrophic lake. Ecological Applications 13: 1135-1152.

• Hanson, P. C., D. L. Bade, S. R. Carpenter, and T. K. Kratz. 2003. Lake metabolism: Relationships with dissolved organic carbon and phosphorus. Limnology and Oceanography 48: 1112-1119.

• Bennett, E.M., S.R. Carpenter, G.D. Peterson, G.S. Cumming, M. Zurek and P. Pingali. 2003. Why global scenarios need ecology. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 1: 322-329.

• Beard, T. D., Jr., M.J. Hansen and S. R. Carpenter. 2003. Development of a regional stock-recruitment model for understanding factors affecting walleye recruitment in Northern Wisconsin lakes. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 132: 396-405.

• Cohen, J.E., T. Jonsson and S.R. Carpenter. 2003. Ecological community description using food webs, species abundance and body size. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 100: 1781-1786.

• Hobbie, J.E., S.R. Carpenter, N.B. Grimm, J.R. Gosz and T.R. Seastedt. 2003. The U.S. Long Term Ecological Research program. BioScience 53: 21-32.

• Beisner, B.E., A.R. Ives and S.R. Carpenter. 2003. Effects of an exotic fish invasion on the prey communities of two lakes. Journal of Animal Ecology: 72: 331-342.

• Beisner, B.E., C.L. Dent and S.R. Carpenter. 2003. Variability of lakes on the landscape: roles of phosphorus, food webs and dissolved organic carbon. Ecology 84: 1563-1575 .

• Peterson, G.D., T.D. Beard, B.E. Beisner, E.M. Bennett, S.R.Carpenter, G.G. Cumming, C.L. Dent, T.D. Havlicek. 2003. Assessing future ecosystem services: A case study of the Northern Highland Lake District, Wisconsin. Conservation Ecology 7(3): 1. [online] URL: http://www.consecol.org/vol7/iss3/art1.

• Peterson, G.D., G.S. Cumming and S.R. Carpenter. 2003. Scenario planning: A tool for conservation in an uncertain world. Conservation Biology: Conservation Biology 17: 358-366.

• Peterson, G.D., S.R. Carpenter and W.A. Brock. 2003. Uncertainty and management of multi-state ecosystems: an apparently rational route to collapse. Ecology 84: 1403-1411.

• Ives, A.R., B. Dennis, K.L. Cottingham and S.R. Carpenter. 2003. Estimating community stability and ecological interactions from time-series data. Ecological Monographs: 73: 301-330.

• Carpenter, S.R. and K.L. Cottingham. 2002. Resilience and the restoration of lakes. Pp. 51-70 in L.H. Gunderson and L. Pritchard Jr. (eds.), Resilience and the Behavior of Large-Scale Ecosystems. Island Press, Washington, D.C. [reprinting of Carpenter and Cottingham 1997, #131].