Still, Chris

Position Type: 
Faculty
Job Title: 
Professor
Department: 
Forest Ecosystems & Society
Office Location: 

326 Richardson Hall

Phone Number: 
(541) 737-4086
Education: 
Postdoctoral research: University of California, Berkeley and National Center for Atmospheric Research
Ph.D., Biological Sciences, Stanford University
B.S., Biochemistry, Colorado State University
Research Areas: 
  • Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Continuum
  • Genetics and Physiology
  • Forest, Wildlife and Landscape Ecology
Research Interests: 
  • Biogeography
  • Ecophysiology
  • Ecosystem Ecology
My research is centered on forests and climate change feedbacks and impacts, on linkages between the carbon and water cycles at multiple spatial and temporal scales, and on the global biogeography and biogeochemistry of C4 grasses. My group uses a variety of measurement and modeling approaches for this research, including thermal imaging, deployment of microclimate and physiological sensors, and ecological and physiological process modeling.

Advising

Graduate Major Advisor
Courses Taught: 
  • FES 595
    Ecosystem Processes: Models and Measurements
  • FES 505/605
    Global Forest Ecology and Climatology
  • FES 561
    Woody Plant Ecophysiology
  • FES 399
    Scientific Methods for Analyzing Natural Resource Problems
Selected Publications: 
  1. Still, C.J., Powell, R., Aubrecht, D., Kim, Y., Helliker, B., Roberts, D., Richardson, A., and M.L. Goulden. 2019. Thermal imaging in plant and ecosystem ecology: applications and challenges. Ecosphere 10(6).
  2. Voelker, S.L., Merschel, A.G., Meinzer, F.C., Ulrich, D.E., Spies, T.A. and C.J. Still. 2019. Fire deficits have increased drought sensitivity in dry conifer forests: Fire frequency and tree‐ring carbon isotope evidence from Central Oregon. Global Change Biology, 25(4), pp.1247-1262.
  3. Pau, S., Detto, M., Kim, Y., and C.J. Still. 2018. Tropical forest temperature thresholds for gross primary productivity. Ecosphere 9 (7), e02311.
  4. Greer, B. T., Still, C., Cullinan, G. L., Brooks, J. R., & Meinzer, F. C. 2017. Polyploidy influences plant–environment interactions in quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.). Tree Physiology, 1-11.
  5. Baguskas, S.A., Still, C.J., Fischer, D.T., D’Antonio, C.M., and J.Y. King. 2016. Coastal fog during summer drought improves the water status of sapling trees more than adult trees in a California pine forest. Oecologia, DOI: 10.1007/s00442-016-3556-y.
  6. Greer, B. Still, C.J., Tague, C., Roberts, D., and G. Howe. 2016. Populations of aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) with different evolutionary histories differ in their climate occupancy. Ecology and Evolution, DOI: 10.1002/ece3.2102.
  7. Williams, A.P., Schwartz, R.E., Iacobellis, S., Seager, R., Cook, B.I., Still, C.J., Husak, G. and J. Michaelsen. 2015. Urbanization causes increased cloud-base height and decreased fog in coastal southern California. Geophysical Research Letters, DOI: 10.1002/2015GL063266
  8. Still, C.J., Pau, S. and E.J. Edwards. 2014. Land surface skin temperature captures thermal environments of C3 and C4 grasses. Global Ecology & Biogeography, DOI:10.1111/geb.12121.
  9. Still, C.J., Riley, W.J., Biraud, S.C., Noone, D.C., Buenning, N.H., Randerson J.T., Torn, M.S., Welker, J., White, J.W.C., Vachon, R., Farquhar, G.D., and J.A. Berry. 2009. The influence of clouds and diffuse radiation on ecosystem-atmosphere CO2 and CO18O exchanges. Journal Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences 114, G01018, doi:10.1029/2007JG000675.
  10. Carbone, M.S., Still, C.J., Ambrose, A.M., Dawson, T.E., Williams, A.P., Boot, Schaeffer, S.M. and J.P. Schimel. 2011. Seasonal and episodic moisture controls on plant and microbial contributions to soil respiration. Oecologia. 167:265–278 DOI 10.1007/s00442-011-1975-3.
  11. Still, C.J., Berry, J.A., Ribas-Carbo, M. and B.R. Helliker. 2003. The contribution of C3 and C4 plants to the carbon cycle of a tallgrass prairie: An isotopic approach. Oecologia 136, 347-359.
  12. Still, C.J., Randerson, J.T. and I.Y. Fung. 2004. Large-scale plant light-use efficiency inferred from the seasonal cycle of atmospheric CO2. Global Change Biology, 10(8), 1240-1252.
  13. Edwards, E.J. and C.J. Still. 2008. Climate, phylogeny, and the ecological distribution of C4 grasses. Ecology Letters 11, 266–276 doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2007.01144.x.
  14. Still, C.J., Berry, J.A., Collatz, G.J. and R.S. DeFries. 2003. The global distribution of C3 and C4 vegetation: carbon cycle implications. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 17(1), 1006.
  15. Fischer, D.T., Williams, A.P. and C.J. Still. 2009. Significance of summer overcast and fog to drought stress and ecological functioning of coastal California endemic species. Journal of Biogeography doi:10.1111/j.13652699.2008.02025.x.
  16. Williams, A.P., Allen, C.D., Millar, C.I., Swetnam, T.W., Michaelsen, J., Still, C.J., and S.W. Leavitt. 2010. Forest responses to increasing aridity and warmth in the southwestern United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA doi/10.1073/pnas.0914211107.
  17. Riley, W.J., Still, C.J., Helliker, B.R., Ribas-Carbo, M., and J.A. Berry. 2003. 18O composition of CO2 and H2O ecosystem pools and fluxes: Simulations and comparisons to measurements. Global Change Biology 9, 1567-1581.
  18. Hoag, K.J., Still, C.J., Fung, I.Y., and K.A. Boering. 2005. Triple oxygen isotope composition of tropospheric carbon dioxide as a tracer of terrestrial gross carbon fluxes. Geophysical Research Letters 32 (2), L02802.