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= Merritt R. Turetsky = Merritt R. Turetsky is a biogeochemist and ecosystem ecologist. She is an associate professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder and the director of the university's program INSTAAR (Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research). Turetsky specializes in wetland ecology, permafrost science, and the carbon cycle.

Early life and education
Turetsky earned her B.S. in biology from Villanova University in 1997. She initially studied photography, art, and journalism until her third year of undergraduate school, in which she decided to study her current fields of ecology and environmental science. Turetsky was inspired by her undergraduate research opportunities in Arctic Canada to initiate Villanova University's first environmental club. She earned her PhD in biological sciences from the University of Alberta in 2002. While earning her doctorate, Turetsky studied under Dale Vitt, a professor of plant biology at Southern Illinois University.

Jobs:
Turetsky is an associate professor at University of Colorado, Boulder. She was appointed director of INSTAAR (Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research) on January 1st, 2020. She occupies a Canada Research Chai r in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Guelph. Merritt Turetsky is a founding member of the Permafrost Carbon Network and a member of their steering committee. She is a member of the Permafrost Action Team steering committee initiated in 2015 with SEARCH (Study of Environmental Arctic Change). Turetsky also does research as a co-investigator with the Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research program associated with the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks and supported by the National Science Foundation and the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Turetsky additionally works with NASA’s Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) in her relevant fields. Turetsky is a Polar Research Board member in the Division on Earth and Life Studies for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Fields:
Turetsky has contributed significantly to research on permafrost and boreal forests as they are impacted by climate change. She specifically studies the abrupt thawing of permafrost and discontinuous permafrost occurring in boreal forests in Alaska and Canada. Turetsky researches how warming global temperatures and other climate fluctuations occurring impact the permafrost in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions, and in turn how this melting permafrost functions within the carbon cycle. Turetsky educates northern governments, institutes, and communities of her relevant scientific findings to better inform their climate change- and environmental-related decisions. Turetsky is the principal investigator for and creator of the Turetsky Lab, where examples of her research can be found.

Awards and honors
Turetsky was named to the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists by the Royal Society of Canada in 2015. Turetsky is a 2018-2019 American Association for the Advancement of Science Leshner Leadership Institute Public Engagement Fellow.

Grants:
Collaborative Research: Soil Climate and its Control on Wetland Carbon Balance in Interior Boreal Alaska: Experimental Manipulation of Thermal and Moisture Regimes : Turetsky received this award of $381,932 from the Division of Environmental Biology of the National Science Foundation in 2007 as the principal investigator of the sponsored project. Through this grant, Turetsky researched how Alaskan wetlands control atmospheric greenhouse gas levels and how these environments then respond to changes in climate.

Publications

 * The Role of Bryophytes in Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling : This article appeared in The Bryologist in 2003. Turetsky studies how human changes to ecosystem energy cycles can affect plant-soil interactions on a chemical level. As humans expand land use, disturb natural water cycles, and contribute to pollution, these changes lead to alterations in both small-scale biota chemical reactions and large-scale biogeochemical cycles. Turetsky’s article discusses specifically carbon and nitrogen cycles and how these cycles take place in forests and peatlands, thus affecting mosses. Further, Turetsky’s article examines how plants and bryophytes are adapting to human changes to their environments.


 * Losing Legacies, Ecological Release, and Transient Responses: Key Challenges for the Future of Northern Ecosystem Science : This article on increased wildfires in northern ecosystems due to climate change was written with support from the National Science Foundation . Contributors, including Turetsky, researched legacy carbon loss in peatlands, permafrost, and conifer forests using radiocarbon dating methods. Specifically, the impact of intensified wildfires on northern biomes was studied.


 * Carbon Release Through Abrupt Permafrost Thaw : Turetsky's article, which appears in Nature Geoscience, describes the effect abrupt thawing of permafrost has on carbon sequestered in the permafrost zone. The article urges climate scientists to consider abrupt thawing of permafrost, and therefore increased carbon emissions, when analyzing thawing permafrost's role in climate change.


 * Climate Change and the Permafrost Carbon Feedback : This article discusses findings on the timing of carbon dioxide and methane release after permafrost thaw in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions.

Additional peer-viewed articles can be found at Turetsky's Google Scholar page.

Public engagement
Turetsky created and hosts CTV’s Your Morning Program: Science Unscrambled. In this regular five-minute news segment, Turetsky explains three science topics to the general public.