RICHARD B. SUSFALK

Associate Research Scientist

EDUCATION:

B.A. 1992, Chemistry, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA
M.S. 1994, Hydrology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
Ph.D. 2000, Hydrology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV

PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS:

Dr. Susfalk’s interests are in forest soils, soil chemistry, surface water quality, and watershed hydrology. He has worked extensively in the semi-arid forests of the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains for the past ten years. Currently, Dr. Susfalk is coordinating the Incline Creek Watershed Project (http://www.inclinecreek.dri.edu), whose goal is attract process-level research studies in an effort to understand how urbanization affects the water quality of Lake Tahoe. Before joining DRI, Dr. Susfalk was a Post-Doctoral assistant at the University of California, Santa Cruz where he was part of a multi-institutional, collaborative project attempting to use stable carbon isotopes to partition soil respiration under native forest vegetation into its component rhizosphere- and microbial-derived parts. During graduate studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, Dr. Susfalk investigated how the Mediterranean-type climate of the eastern Sierra Nevada controls nutrient cycling within forests. Dr. Susfalk has also investigated the soil chemistry of phosphorus as it relates to plant-availability and chemical extractability tests in soils of differing phosphorus status. Currently, Dr. Susfalk’s projects relate to understanding and estimating the transport of nutrients and suspended sediments in streams, rivers, and lakes. Within the Lake Tahoe basin, Dr. Susfalk is assessing the impacts that urbanization, such as recreational and commercial land-uses, has on water quality. He is also monitoring the impact that a stream restoration project has on the transport and delivery of coarse, medium, and fine-grained suspended sediment to Lake Tahoe. Outside of the basin, Dr. Susfalk’s turbidity monitoring will help support an upcoming suspended sediment TMDL for the Upper Carson River, and he is part of a collaborative team charged with assessing the use of polyacrylamides as a way to reduce seepage from irrigation canals by conducting experiments at the laboratory and field scales.

RESEARCH AREAS:

Forest soils, biogeochemical cycling, soil chemistry, watershed hydrology, rhizosphere processes, polyacrylamides, suspended sediment/turbidity

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Young, M.H.; Tappen, J.J.; Susfalk, R.B.; Miller, G.C.; 2007 (submitted).

Characterizing the risk of using linear anionic polyacrylamide (LA-PAM) to reduce seepage from unlined water delivery canals. J. Soc. Risk Assessment.

Dana, G.L.; Panorska, A.K.; Susfalk, R.B.; 2006.

Suspended sediment loading in the middle reach of the Truckee River, California, 2002-03. Journal of the Nevada Water Resources Association. v.3. pp.65-80.

Cheng, W.; Fu, S.; Susfalk, R.B.; Mitchell, R.J.; 2005.

Measuring tree root respiration using 13C natural abundance: rooting medium matters. New Phytologist. v.167. pp.297-307.

Johnson, D.W.; Murphy, J.F.; Susfalk, R.B.; Caldwell, T.G.; Miller, W.W.; Walker, R.F.; Powers, R.F.; 2005.

The effects of wildfire, salvage logging, and post-fire N-fixation on the nutrient budgets of a Sierran forest. Forest Ecology and Management. v.220. pp.155-165.

Johnson, D.W.; Susfalk, R.B.; Caldwell, T.G.; Murphy, J.D.; Walker, R.; Miller, W.W.; 2004.

Fire Effects on carbon and nitrogen budgets in forests. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution. pp.263-275.

CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS

Susfalk, R.B.; Epstein, B.; Goreham, J.O.; Young, M.H.; Moran, E.; Martain, C.; Gates, T.; Swihart, J.; Smith, D.; Fitzgerald, B.C.; 2006.

Use of Polyacrylamide to Reduce Seepage from Unlined Water Delivery Canals. Fall 2006 AGU Meeting. San Francisco, CA.

Susfalk, R.B.; Young, M.H.; Goreham, J.O.; Epstein, B.; Smith, D.; Schmidt, M.; Swihart, J.; 2006.

Use of Polyacrylamide to Reduce Seepage From Unlined Irrigation Canals. 18th World Congress of Soil Science. Philadelphia, PA.

Susfalk, R.B.; 2006.

Impact Of The Rosewood Creek Restoration Project On Suspended Sediment Loading To Lake Tahoe: Pre-Monitoring And Year 1. 2006 Joint Federal Interagency Sedimentation Conference. Reno, NV.

Susfalk, R.B.; Young, M.H.; Goreham, J.O.; Epstein, B.; Schmidt, M.; Smith, D.; Swihard, J.; 2006.

Use of Polyacrylamide to Reduce Seepage From Unlined Irrigation Canals. 2006 Soil and Water Conservation Society Meeting. Keystone, CO.

Susfalk, R.B.; Epstein, B.J.; Schmidt, M.; Goreham, J.O.; Fitzgerald, B.C.; Young, M.H.; Martin, C.; Swihart, J.; Smith, D.; 2006.

Seepage Reduction from Unlined Irrigation Canals: Water Quality and Seepage Reduction Effectiveness. AGU. San Francisco, CA.

Chen, L.; Zhu, J.; Young, M.H.; Susfalk, R.B.; 2006.

Modeling Polyacrylamide Transport in Water Delivery Canals. ASA-CSSA-SSSA. Indianapolis, IN.

Shanafield, M.; Johnson, J.; Sawyer, F.; Green, J.; Assam, J.; Becket , H.; Brown, S.; Carlos, W.; Fosbury, D.; Meadows, D.G.; Mienert, M.; Rasmussen, B.; Royce, G.; Stein, C.; Unger, K.; Wright, M.; Hunkup, D.; Wolf, D.; Susfalk, R.B.; Tyler, S.; 2005.

Analysis of Hungry Valley groundwater pumping and management, Washoe County, Nevada. Nevada.

Dana, G.L.; Panorska, A.; Susfalk, R.B.; 2005.

Sediment loading in the Middle Truckee River. Nevada.

Susfalk, R.B.; Young, M.H.; Schmidt, M.; Epstein, B.J.; Goreham, J.O.; Swhihart, J.; Smith, D.; 2005.

Use of polyacrylamide to reduce seepage from unlined irrigation canals: initial results from small scale test troughs. AGU. San Francisco, CA.

Cheng, W.; Fu, S.; Susfalk, R.B.; Mitchell, R.; 2004.

Assessing tree rhizosphere carbon dioxide efflux using a natural 13C tracer method. ESA. Portland, OR.