Research Interests:

Ecology from an ecosystem perspective. Plant and fire effects on soil nutrients in dry and moist tropical ecosystems, in temperate forests and in the alpine, particularly treeline. A second research emphasis is land use history, mainly the biogeochemical signatures that people have left on the landscape and how they affect ecological processes today.

Link to Sanford Publication List

Recent Publications:

• Jaramillo, V.J., A. Martínez-Yrízar, and R.L. Sanford Jr. 2009. Primary Productivity and Biogeochemistry of Primary and Secondary Tropical Dry Forests IN Tropical Dry Forest Ecosystems. R. Dirzo and H.A. Mooney Eds. In Press: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
• Housman, D.C., C.M. Yeager, B.J. Darby, R.L. Sanford, Jr., C.R. Kuske, D.A. Neher, and J. Belnap. 2007. Heterogeneity of soil nutrients and subsurface biota in dryland ecosystems: the role of vascular plants and biological soil crusts. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 39(8):2138-2149.
• Titiz, B and R.L. Sanford, Jr., 2007. Soil charcoal in tropical old-growth forest from the Continental Divide to sea level. Biotropica 39(6):673-682.
• Withington, C.L. and R.L. Sanford, Jr. 2007. Decomposition rates increase with altitude in the forest-alpine tundra ecotone. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 39: 68-75.
• Neff, J.C., R. Reynolds, R.L. Sanford, Jr., D. Fernandez and P. Lamothe. 2006. Geologic controls over soil and plant chemistry in Southeastern Utah. Ecosystems 9: 870-893.
• Boyce, R., J. Larson and R.L. Sanford, Jr. 2006. Nitrogen and phosphorus photosynthetic co-limitation in Rocky Mountain pine (Pinus aristata) Tree Physiology 26: 1477-1486.