You can’t take your eyes off the images on the walls of William Sobczak’s office. Here, the lush and stunning beauty of the Connecticut River Valley. There, the complexity and intricacy of the wetlands along the Hudson River. And on his door, the frozen landscape of the Siberian Arctic.
Sobczak, associate professor of biology and director of environmental studies at Holy Cross, studies the ecology of streams and rivers both close to home and around the globe. The beauty of these priceless natural treasures attracts our gaze, of course; but as a scientist, Sobczak is constantly looking beyond—far beyond—the static image. His work in the field—from an ancient forest 30 miles from campus to the permafrost in the Arctic—examines how ecosystems are changing and what that means for our world.
A member of the Holy Cross faculty since 2002, Sobczak earned his Ph.D. from Cornell University in ecology and evolutionary biology. He has received numerous grants and fellowship including two recent grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support his current research at Harvard Forest and to study storm events on watersheds in New England. In the past he received NSF funding for the international Polaris Project in the Siberian Arctic, and was a Harvard University Bullard Fellow in residence at Harvard Forest. He teaches a variety of courses including first-year classes on environmental science; freshwater ecology, with an integrated field-based laboratory for collaborative research with students; and ecosystem ecology, which is a capstone seminar that focuses on human-accelerated ecology issues.
Sobczak’s current research explores linkages between local forest and stream ecosystem fluxes of energy and nutrients at time scales spanning minutes to decades. “Over the past couple of years my students and I have investigated the coupling of terrestrial and aquatic biogeochemical cycles at a variety of spatial and time scales,” he explains.
Understanding freshwater ecosystems are just as important as understanding open ocean processes he says. In fact, there has been a surge in the last couple of years in freshwater study opportunities.
“Because of changes in land use, an increase in exotic pests, and extremes in weather patterns—from hurricanes to droughts—studying what’s happening to local rivers can show us how larger landscapes are also being altered,” he says. “More governmental agencies and the public at large have an interest in studying freshwater resources. Medical doctors use veins to infer the health of a body, streams and rivers are analogous to veins, as we study them to better understand larger landscapes or organisms.”
Local Efforts
One local area close to his heart is the Harvard Forest, in Petersham, Mass., one of the oldest and most intensively studied landscapes in North America, consisting of 3000 acres of forests, wetlands, and streams. Harvard Forest is about a 45 minute drive from Holy Cross.
He is currently a co-investigator at Harvard Forest through an NSF Long-term Ecological Research grant titled “New Science, Synthesis, Scholarship, and Strategic Vision for Society,” that aims to understand how forest succession and disturbance influence the region’s ecosystem services. He is also working with colleagues at Yale University and the U.S. Geological Survey through a five-year grant on how major storm events affect New England’s watersheds and drainage networks, such as an outflow of a reservoir or the mouth of a bay.
“Specifically we are looking at where and when watersheds lose or leach soil nutrients to downstream rivers, reservoirs and estuaries,” he explains. “These dissolved soil nutrients fuel aquatic microbial growth, which contributes to greenhouse gases (such as CO2) as well as impair drinking water quality.”
Student Opportunities
Craig Connolly ’13, who worked with Sobczak, was a frequent visitor to his office in O’Neil 207 to talk with his mentor about environmental science. “I would often just stop by to talk, I always wanted to learn more from him,” he remembered , while visiting his former professor and mentor during a recent return visit to campus. “He was a big advocate for me.” Connolly worked through the College’s study abroad office, to team up with the Center for Marine and Resource Management Studies in Turks and Caicos to conduct a project about sea grass community dynamics his junior year.
Connolly was also funded by the Hudson River Foundation in New York during the summer of his junior year, through a Tibor T. Polgar Fellowship, and examined the change in sea level rise in the river in order to better understand the impacts of global warming, salinity, and climate change.
“He is very excited about his work and gets students interested in the environment,” said Connolly, who is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Texas Austin in marine science and Arctic river biogeochemistry.
Global Impact
Sobczak has also been involved with the international Polaris Project for six years “Scientists have suspected that carbon that has been locked away for thousands of years will escape into the atmosphere if global warming thaws large patches of frozen ground in Alaska and Siberia,” explains Sobczak. “Called permafrost, the frozen ground contains large amounts of prehistoric carbon-rich grass and animal matter. The thawing of permafrost will eventually release into the atmosphere as either carbon dioxide or methane, both greenhouse gases. An excess of these greenhouse gases can raise the temperature of a planet to record levels. Scientists estimate that permafrost makes up 25 percent of land in the Northern Hemisphere.”
Sobczak has mentored six students who conducted field work in Northeast Siberia. Most recently in 2012, Madeleine LaRue ’14 took a course with Sobczak, and became interested in ecology, and applied successfully to the Polaris Project, where she studied aquatic microbial ecology, which allows Arctic scientists to better understand how permafrost is converted to carbon dioxide.
The Major
Sobczak is an enthusiastic supporter of the program he directs. Environmental studies now boasts 20 majors, 45 minors, and 12 core faculty members. Sobczak says students can specialize in different areas, from ecological sciences to environmental policy to environmental economics, but no matter what the emphasis, what students benefit the most from at Holy Cross is the close faculty/student interaction and the rare undergraduate research opportunities. “Holy Cross biology and environmental studies faculty are committed to including undergraduates in their research programs and helping advanced students find early career science positions and specialized graduate school training.”
Related Information
With late night study sessions and finals preparation under way, one thing is for sure, good nutrition should be part of your study plan this year during finals week. Administrators — including Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J., president —at the College of the Holy Cross have volunteered to serve students breakfast late into the night during finals week. Midnight breakfast will be served Sunday, Dec. 14 through Thursday, Dec. 18.
