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Dr. Steven W. Leavitt has been a professor in the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona since 1990. His undergraduate degree is in geology, and his graduate degrees are in environmental science and geoscience (geochemistry). Dr. Leavitt’s research centers on past, present and future global change, variously using light stable-isotope analysis of tree rings, native plant leaves, crop plants, soils and geological materials.
Leavitt has used carbon isotope analysis in multiple FACE (Free-Air CO2 Enrichment) experiments conducted at the Maricopa Agricultural Center (Arizona), including cotton, wheat and sorghum, to understand more about impact of CO2 fertilization on crop production and soil organic carbon pools.
He has further pursued use of carbon isotopes in tree rings to investigate environmental moisture, drought, and water-use efficiency of pinyon pine, ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir trees in networks of sites around the US Southwest and Baja.
Much of Leavitt’s recent efforts have involved ongoing investigation of wood from ancient buried forests from around the Great Lakes area spanning the period from about 4,000 to 15,000 years ago, for tree-ring and isotope analysis to better understand the environment of that time. Additionally, several recent and ongoing studies have involved investigation of tree rings and tree-ring isotopes in China with respect to climate and ecological questions.Show Less
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Courses
- GBCGlobal Biogeochemical Cycles
- IGCIntroduction to Global Change
- EHSEnvironmental History of the Southwest
- TEIEThe Earth and Its Environments
Grants
- Subcontract No. 407375
Principal Investigator (PI)
2016
$3.3K
- Support for AmeriDendro Conference, Tucson, May 13-17, 2013
Principal Investigator (PI)
2013
$9.1K
- Collaborative Research: Processes and Patterns in The North American Monsoon Macrosystem
Co-Investigator (COI)
2011
$2.9M
- P2C2: Reconstructing Winter Temperatures in the Rocky Mountains Using Tree-Ring Oxygen Isotopes
Co-Investigator (COI)
2011
$208.6K
- P2C2: Flickering Climate: Assessment of HTE Non-Stationary Environment in the Great Lakes Area, 14 ka to 8 ka BP - A Time of Rising Human Population..
Co-Investigator (COI)
2010
$597.4K
- Influence of Changes in Temperature and Moisture on Structure and Composition of Annual Rings in Siberian Trees
Principal Investigator (PI)
2009
$14.5K
- P2C2: North American Monsoon Variability Using Instrumental and Tree-Ring Data
Co-Investigator (COI)
2008
$599.1K
News
- Weakening of Asian Summer Monsoon Blamed on Pollution
2019
- Monsoon Failure Key to Long Droughts in Southwest
2013
- UA Community Gives Thanks to Faculty
2013
- UA Awarded $2.95M to Study Monsoon Ecology
2011
Publications (201)
Recent
- Soil Organic Carbon Isotope Tracing in Sorghum under Ambient CO2 and Free-Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE)
2022
- Terminal bud size, spring and summer temperatures regulate the timing of height-growth cessation of Smith fir on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau
2022
- p The 1820s Marks a Shift to Hotter‐Drier Summers in Western Europe Since 1360 /p
2022
- Douglas Fir Multiproxy Tree-Ring Data Glimpse MIS 5 Environment in the U.S. Pacific Northwest
2022
- Intra-annual tree-ring isotope variations: do they occur when environment remains constant?
2022
- Data from the Arizona FACE (Free-Air CO2 Enrichment) experiments on sorghum at ample and limiting levels of water
2021
- No benefits from warming even for subnival vegetation in the Himalayas
2021
- Dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating
2021
- Tree-ring δ18O identifies similarity in timing but differences in depth of soil water uptake by trees in mesic and arid climates
2021
- In Memoriam- Minze Stuiver
2021
- Tree ring-based historic hydroclimatic variability of the Baja California Peninsula
2020
- IN MEMORIAM— Wallace S. Broecker
2020
- p In MemoriamWallace ( ldquo;Wally rdquo;) S. Broecker1931 ndash;2019 /p
2020
- p Recent anthropogenic curtailing of Yellow River runoff and sediment load is unprecedented over the past 500 y /p
2020
- Tree Ring‐Based Historic Hydroclimatic Variability of the Baja California Peninsula
2020
- Tree-ring δ18O from Southeast China reveals regional monsoon precipitation and ENSO variability
2020
- Anthropogenic Aerosols Cause Recent Pronounced Weakening of Asian Summer Monsoon Relative to Last Four Centuries
2019
- In Memoriam Harold Clark Fritts 1928–2019
2019
- Past the climate optimum: Recruitment is declining at the world’s highest juniper shrublines in the Tibetan Plateau
2019
- Comment on “Non-Mineralized Fossil Wood” by George E. Mustoe (Geosciences, 2018)
2018
- Differences in xylogenesis between dominant and suppressed trees
2018
- Field experimental data for crop modeling of wheat growth response to nitrogen fertilizer, elevated CO2, water stress, and high temperature
2018
- Physical robustness of canopy temperature models for crop heat stress simulation across environments and production conditions
2018
- Past the climate optimum: Recruitment is declining at the world’s highest juniper shrublines on the Tibetan Plateau
2018
- Disentangling seasonal and interannual legacies from inferred patterns of forest water and carbon cycling using tree-ring stable isotopes
2018
- Moisture-limited tree growth for the subtropical Himalayan conifer forest, western Nepal
2018
- Moisture-Limited Tree Growth for a Subtropical Himalayan Conifer Forest in Western Nepal
2018
- Performance of induction module cavity ring-down spectroscopy (IM-CRDS) for measuring δ18 O and δ2 H values of soil, stem, and leaf waters
2017
- Recent enhancement of central Pacific El Nino variability relative to last eight centuries
2017
- A 1400-year Bølling-Allerød tree-ring record from the U.S. Great Lakes
2017
- p 土壌,茎および葉水の delta;~18 0および delta;~2H値を測定するための誘導モジュール空洞リングダウン分光法(IM CRDS)の性能【Powered by NICT】 /p
2017
- Performance of induction module cavity ring-down spectroscopy (IM-CRDS) for measuring delta O-18 and delta H-2 values of soil, stem, and leaf waters
2017
- Data from the Arizona FACE (Free-Air CO2 Enrichment) experiments on wheat at ample and limiting levels of water and nitrogen.
2017
- p TREE-RING EVIDENCE OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY OF LATE PLEISTOCENE DEGLACIATION IN THE NORTH AMERICAN MIDCONTINENT /p
2016
- A dynamic leaf gas-exchange strategy is conserved in woody plants under changing ambient CO2: evidence from carbon isotope discrimination in paleo and CO2 enrichment studies
2016
- Trends In Elemental Concentrations of Tree Rings From the Siberian Arctic
2016
- Tree taxa and pyrolysis temperature interact to control the efficacy of pyrogenic organic matter formation
2016
- Latitudinal gradients in tree-ring stable carbon and oxygen isotopes reveal differential climate influences of the North American Monsoon system.
2016
- p Latitudinal gradients in tree ring stable carbon and oxygen isotopes reveal differential climate influences of the North American Monsoon System: Intra-annual Tree Ring C and O Isotopes /p
2016
- Drought-induced changes in nitrogen partitioning between cyanide and nitrate in leaves and sterns of sorghum grown at elevated CO2 are age dependent
2016
- p THE STABLE-ISOTOPIC VIEW OF TREE-RING SERIES FROM THE GREAT LAKES AREA BETWEEN CA. 12 KA AND 13.8 KA /p
2016
- p Tree-Ring Investigation of Holocene Flood-Deposited Wood From the Oneida Lake Watershed, New York State /p
2015
- Corrigendum: Tree-ring stable carbon isotope-based May July temperature reconstruction over Nanwutai, China, for the past century and its record of 20th century warming (vol 93, pg 67, 2014)
2015
- Corrigendum to Tree-ring stable carbon isotope-based May-July temperature reconstruction over Nanwutai, China, for the past century and its record of 20th century warming [Quat. Sci. Rev. 93 (2014) 67-76]
2015
- TREE-RING INVESTIGATION OF HOLOCENE FLOOD-DEPOSITED WOOD FROM THE ONEIDA LAKE WATERSHED, NEW YORK STATE
2015
- Deglacial hydroclimate of midcontinental North America
2015
- Editors’ note
2014
- p Relative humidity history on the Batang ndash;Litang Plateau of western China since 1755 reconstructed from tree-ring delta;18O and delta;D /p
2014
- Recent strengthening of correlations between tree-ring δ13C and δ18O in mesic western China: Implications to climatic reconstruction and physiological responses
2014
- Excursions in the 14C record at AD 774-775 in tree rings from Russia and America
2014
- Tree-ring stable carbon isotope-based May-July temperature reconstruction over Nanwutai, China, for the past century and its record of 20th century warming
2014
- North American monsoon precipitation reconstructed from tree-ring latewood
2013
- Annually resolved temperature reconstructions from a late Pliocene-early Pleistocene polar forest on Bylot Island, Canada
2013
- Sierra San Pedro Mártir, Baja California, cool-season precipitation reconstructed from earlywood width of Abies concolor tree rings
2013
- Relative humidity history on the Batang-Litang Plateau of western China since 1755 reconstructed from tree-ring δ18O and δD
2013
- Dendrochronology in Asia
2013
- Herbivory-induced mortality increases with radial growth in an invasive riparian phreatophyte
2013
- p North American monsoon precipitation reconstructed from tree-ring latewood: NA MONSOON PRECIPITATION RECONSTRUCTION /p
2013
- Ancient boreal forests under the environmental instability of the glacial to postglacial transition in the great lakes region (14 000 -11 000 years BP)
2013
- A 400-year tree-ring δ18O chronology for the southeastern Tibetan Plateau: Implications for inferring variations of the regional hydroclimate
2013
- Methodology for development of a 600-year tree-ring multi-element record for larch from the Taymir Peninsula, Russia
2013
- p Sierra San Pedro M aacute;rtir, Baja California, cool-season precipitation reconstructed from earlywood width of em Abies concolor /em tree rings: BAJA CALIFORNIA PRECIPITATION /p
2013
- p Monsoon precipitation reconstructed from tree rings in the southwestern United States /p
2013
- Elemental composition of tree rings: A new perspective in biogeochemistry
2013
- Reflections on the foundation, persistence, and growth of the laboratory of tree-ring research, circa 1930-1960
2012
- Specific climatic signals recorded in earlywood and latewood δ18O of tree rings in southwestern China
2012
- Tree-ring δ18O in southwestern China linked to variations in regional cloud cover and tropical sea surface temperature
2012
- Individual and pooled tree-ring stable-carbon isotope series in Chinese pine from the Nan Wutai region, China: Common signal and climate relationships
2012
- p U.S. Southwest monsoon precipitation inferred from tree-ring stable-carbon isotopes /p
2012
- Latewood chronology development for summer-moisture reconstruction in the US Southwest
2011
- Annual precipitation reconstruction since AD 775 based on tree rings from the Qilian Mountains, northwestern China
2011
- A 200 year temperature record from tree ring δ13C at the Qaidam Basin of the Tibetan Plateau after identifying the optimum method to correct for changing atmospheric CO2 and δ13
2011
- Increase in water-use efficiency and underlying processes in pine forests across a precipitation gradient in the dry Mediterranean region over the past 30 years
2011
- The North American monsoon in the U.S. Southwest: Potential for investigation with tree-ring carbon isotopes
2011
- An annually resolved bristlecone pine carbon isotope chronology for the last millennium
2011
- p In Memoriam- Austin Long (1936 ndash;2010) /p
2011
- Tree-ring C-H-O isotope variability and sampling
2010
- Temporal stability in bristlecone pine tree-ring stable oxygen isotope chronologies over the last two centuries
2010
- Using tree rings to predict the response of tree growth to climate change in the continental United States during the twenty-first century
2010
- Stable carbon isotopes of tree rings as a tool to pinpoint the geographic origin of timber
2010
- p Using Tree Rings to Predict the Response of Tree Growth to Climate Change in the Continental United States during the Twenty-First Century /p
2010
- Forest responses to increasing aridity and warmth in the southwestern United States
2010
- Environment in time and space: Opportunities from tree-ring isotope networks
2010
- Ancient tree ring archives in the U.S. great lakes region
2010
- Late pliocene dawson cut forest bed and new tephrochronological findings in the Gold Hill Loess, east-central Alaska
2009
- Stratigraphy, age, and flora of the Southport forest bed, Southeastern Wisconsin
2009
- Editor's note
2009
- Dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating: The laboratory of tree-ring research connection
2009
- Effect of Free Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment (FACE) on the chemical composition and nutritive value of wheat grain and straw
2009
- Southwestern U.S. tree-ring carbon isotope indices as a possible proxy for reconstruction of greenness of vegetation
2008
- Consequences of more extreme precipitation regimes for terrestrial ecosystems
2008
- p Progress in isotope dendroclimatology /p
2008
- Environment and paleoecology of a 12 ka mid-North American Younger Dryas forest chronicled in tree rings
2008
- Dendrochronological parameters of northern red oak (Quercus rubra L. (Fagaceae)) infested with red oak borer (Enaphalodes rufulus (Haldeman) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae))
2008
- Tree-ring isotopic pooling without regard to mass: No difference from averaging δ13C values of each tree
2008
- The influence of summertime fog and overcast clouds on the growth of a coastal Californian pine: A tree-ring study
2008
- Tree rings, δ13and climate in Picea glauca growing near Churchill, subarctic Manitoba, Canada
2008
- Consequences of a rapid cellulose extraction technique for oxygen isotope and radiocarbon analyses
2008
- Radiocarbon and δ13C depth profiles of soil organic carbon in the U.S. Great Plains: A possible spatial record of paleoenvironment and paleovegetation
2007
- Regional expression of the 1988 U.S. Midwest drought in seasonal δ13C of tree rings
2007
- Radiocarbon wiggles in great lakes wood at about 10,000 to 12,000 bp
2007
- p RADIOCARBON WIGGLES IN GREAT LAKES WOOD AT ABOUT 10,000 TO 12,000 BP /p
2007
- Dynamics of labile and recalcitrant soil carbon pools in a sorghum free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) agroecosystem
2007
- p Southwestern U.S. drought maps from pinyon tree‐ring carbon isotopes /p
2007
- Boundary layer humidity reconstruction for a semiarid location from tree ring cellulose δ18O
2006
- Needle cell elongation and maturation timing derived from pine needle cellulose δ18O
2006
- Interactive effects of elevated carbon dioxide and drought on wheat
2006
- p Late pliocene dawson cut forest bed and new tephrochronological findings in the Gold Hill Loess, east-central Alaska /p
2006
- Petroleum Geologist's award to novelist Crichton is inappropriate
2006
- A multiproxy environmental investigation of Holocene wood from a submerged conifer forest in Lake Huron, USA
2006
- Climate in the Great Lakes region between 14,000 and 4000 years ago from isotopic composition of conifer wood
2006
- Comparison of measured and modeled variations in piñon pine leaf water isotopic enrichment across a summer moisture gradient
2005
- Exploratory temperature and precipitation reconstructions from the Qinling Mountains, North-Central China
2005
- Temporal changes in soil and biomass nitrogen for irrigated wheat grown under free-air carbon dioxide enrichment (FACE)
2005
- Influence of earlywood-latewood size and isotope differences on long-term tree-ring δ13C trends
2005
- Potential use of soil C isotope analyses to evaluate paleoclimate
2004
- Tree-ring records of near-Younger Dryas time in central North America - Preliminary results from the Lincoln quarry site, central Illinois, USA
2004
- δ13C of tree-ring lignin as an indirect measure of climate change
2004
- Modeling elevated carbon dioxide effects on water relations, water use, and growth of irrigated sorghum
2004
- Free-air CO2 enrichment effects on the energy balance and evapotranspiration of sorghum
2004
- Comparison of stable-carbon isotope composition in the growth rings of Isorberlinia doka, Daniella oliveri, and Tamarindus indica and West African climate
2004
- A preliminary seasonal precipitation reconstruction from tree-ring stable carbon isotopes at Mt. Helan, China, since AD 1804
2004
- The effect of long-term atmospheric CO2 enrichment on the intrinsic water-use efficiency of sour orange trees
2003
- Development of C4 photosynthesis in sorghum leaves grown under free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE)
2003
- Tracing changes in ecosystem function under elevated carbon dioxide conditions
2003
- Above- and below-ground responses of C3-C4 species mixtures to elevated CO2 and soil water availability
2003
- Prospects for reconstruction of seasonal environment from tree-ring δ13C: Baseline findings from the Great Lakes area, USA
2002
- Leaf δ13C variability with elevation, slope aspect, and precipitation in the southwest United States
2002
- Historical variations in δ13Cleaf of herbarium specimens in the southwestern U.S.
2002
- Leaf cellulose δD and δ18O trends with elevation differ in direction among co-occurring, semiarid plant species
2002
- Spatial expression of ENSO, drought, and summer monsoon in seasonal δ13C of ponderosa pine tree rings in southern Arizona and New Mexico
2002
- Photosystem II energy use, non-photochemical quenching and the xanthophyll cycle in Sorghum bicolor grown under drought and free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) conditions
2002
- Carbon isotope discrimination by Sorghum bicolor under CO2 enrichment and drought
2001
- Elevated CO2 stimulates soil respiration in a FACE wheat field
2001
- Elevated CO2 increases sorghum biomass under drought conditions
2001
- Monsoonal moisture sources revealed using temperature, precipitation, and precipitation stable isotope timeseries
2001
- Dynamics of resistant soil carbon of midwestern agricultural soils measured by naturally occurring 14C abundance
2001
- Modeling interactions among carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and climate on energy exchange of wheat in a free air carbon dioxide experiment
2001
- CO2 enrichment increases water-use efficiency in sorghum
2001
- Elevated CO2, drought and soil nitrogen effects on wheat grain quality
2001
- Elevated carbon dioxide and irrigation effects on water stable aggregates in a Sorghum field: A possible role for arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
2001
- Reduced photorespiration and increased energy-use efficiency in young CO2-enriched sorghum leaves
2001
- Stable-carbon isotopes and soil organic carbon in wheat under CO2 enrichment
2001
- Elevated atmospheric CO2 improved Sorghum plant water status by ameliorating the adverse effects of drought
2001
- Acclimation response of spring wheat in a free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) atmosphere with variable soil nitrogen regimes. 1. Leaf position and phenology determine acclimation response
2000
- CO2 enrichment and soil nitrogen effects on wheat evapotranspiration and water use efficiency
2000
- Acclimation response of spring wheat in a free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) atmosphere with variable soil nitrogen regimes. 2. Net assimilation and stomatal conductance of leaves
2000
- p Photosynthesis and conductance of spring wheat ears: field response to free‐air CO sub 2 /sub enrichment and limitations in water and nitrogen supply /p
2000
- Acclimation response of spring wheat in a free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) atmosphere with variable soil nitrogen regimes. 3. Canopy architecture and gas exchange
2000
- p Eva Interglaciation Forest Bed, Unglaciated East-Central Alaska: Global Warming 125,000 Years Ago /p
2000
- Leaf nitrogen concentration of wheat subjected to elevated [CO2] and either water or N deficits
2000
- Free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE): Blower effects on wheat canopy microclimate and plant development
2000
- Photosynthesis and conductance of spring wheat ears: Field response to free-air CO2 enrichment and limitations in water and nitrogen supply
2000
- Free-air CO2 enrichment and soil nitrogen effects on energy balance and evapotranspiration of wheat
1999
- Paleoclimatic significance of δD and δ13C values in pinon pine needles from packrat middens spanning the last 40,000 years
1999
- Measuring wheat senescence with a digital camera
1999
- Field variability of carbon isotopes in soil organic carbon
1997
- Radiocarbon dating for determination of soil organic matter pool sizes and dynamics
1997
- Carbon isotope ratios of Great Plains soils and wheat-fallow systems
1997
- p VARIATIONS OF WOOD delta;13C AND WATER‐USE EFFICIENCY OF ABIES ALBA DURING THE LAST CENTURY /p
1997
- p FIELD VARIABILITY OF CARBON ISOTOPES IN SOIL ORGANIC CARBON /p
1997
- Eva Interglaciation forest bed, unglaciated East-Central Alaska: Global warming 125,000 years ago
1997
- Variations of wood δ13C and water-use efficiency of Abies alba during the last century
1997
- Modification of CERES-Wheat to accept leaf area index as an input variable
1997
- Stable carbon isotope in tree rings from Huangling, China and climatic variation
1996
- Carbon isotopes and carbon turnover in cotton and wheat FACE experiments
1996
- Estimation of slow- and fast-cycling soil organic carbon pools from 6N HCl hydrolysis
1996
- Trends in stomatal density and 13C/12C ratios of Pinus flexilis needles during last glacial-interglacial cycle
1994
- Carbon isotope dynamics of free-air CO2-enriched cotton and soils
1994
- Major wet interval in White Mountains Medieval warm period evidenced in delta13C of bristlecone pine tree rings
1994
- South American tree rings show declining δ13C trend
1994
- p Trends in Stomatal Density and sup 13 /sup C/ sup 12 /sup C Ratios of em Pinus flexilis /em Needles During Last Glacial-Interglacial Cycle /p
1994
- Modelling carbon isotope fractionation in tree rings based on effective evapotranspiration and soil water status
1993
- p Seasonal 13C/12C changes in tree rings: species and site coherence, and a possible drought influence /p
1993
- Method for batch processing small wood samples to holocellulose for stable-carbon isotope analysis
1993
- p Report of the Workshop, Prospects for Temporal Extension of the Radiocarbon Calibration /p
1992
- A new tree-ring width ,δ13C and 14C investigation of the Two Creeks site
1992
- Altitudinal differences in δ13C of bristlecone pine tree rings
1992
- Seasonal stable-carbon isotope variability in tree rings: possible paleoenvironmental signals
1991
- Chronology from plant matter [4]
1991
- The atmospheric δ13C record as derived from 56 pinyon trees at 14 sites in the southwestern United States
1990
- Variation of concentration, 14C activity and 13C/12C ratios of CO2 in air samples from Kitt Peak, Arizona
1990
- Accelerator-measured 14C activity in tree rings from the vicinity of the first atomic bomb test
1990
- Drought indicated in carbon-13/carbon-12 ratios of southwestern tree rings
1989
- p Variation of concentration, 14C activity and 13C/12C ratios of CO2 in air samples from Kitt Peak, Arizona /p
1989
- p The atmospheric delta;13C record as derived from 56 pinyon trees at 14 sites in the southwestern United States /p
1989
- p Stable carbon isotope chronologies from trees in the southwestern United States /p
1988
- p Trends of 13C/12C Ratios in Pinyon Tree Rings of the American Southwest and the Global Carbon Cycle /p
1986
- p Stable‐Carbon Isotope Variability in Tree Foliage and Wood /p
1986
- p TREE -RING DATING THROUGH PATTERN -MATCHING OF STABLE -CARBON ISOTOPE TIME SERIES /p
1985
- p Stable-carbon isotopic composition of maple sap and foliage. /p
1985
- Sampling strategy for stable carbon isotope analysis of tree rings in pine
1984
- p On a 50-year climate-free delta (super 13) C record from juniper tree rings. /p
1983
- Possible climatic response of delta13C in leaf cellulose of pinyon pine in Arizona, U.S.A.
1983
- An atmospheric 13C/12C reconstruction generated through removal of climate effects from tree-ring 13C/12C measurements.
1983
- p Stable Carbon Isotopes as a Potential Supplemental Tool in Dendrochronology /p
1982
- Annual volcanic carbon dioxide emission: An estimate from eruption chronologies
1982
- Evidence for 13C/12C fractionation between tree leaves and wood
1982
- Evaluation of biogeochemical prospecting methods in the search for sulfide deposits in the Appalachian piedmont, Virginia, U.S.A.
1979
- p PLANT REGULATION OF ESSENTIAL AND NON-ESSENTIAL HEAVY METALS /p
1979
- GATE-B scale cloudiness from whole-sky cameras on four US ships.
1979