General Lab Information

Shawn Serbin

Ecologist, Terrestrial Ecosystem Science & Technology, Environmental and Climate Sciences Department

Shawn Serbin

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Environmental and Climate Sciences Department
Bldg. 490A, Room 12-102
P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000

(631) 344-3165
sserbin@bnl.gov

Shawn Serbin is broadly trained in forest ecology, plant physiology, ecosystem science and remote sensing. His research focuses on the exchanges of carbon, water and energy between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere with a focus on scaling and model-data synthesis. Shawn’s research spans several global biomes and leverages a number of tools including spectroscopy and novel quantitative methods, which he uses to effectively scale process knowledge.

Expertise | Education | Publications | Awards


Expertise

  • Ecosystem ecology, reflectance spectroscopy, remote sensing, plant physiology, chemical ecology, disturbance ecology, ecosystem monitoring, land-use change, biosphere-atmosphere interactions, terrestrial carbon cycle, ecosystem process modeling, radiative transfer modeling, global environmental change.

Education

  • University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ph.D., Forest Ecology
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison, M.S. Forest Ecology; M.S. Environmental Monitoring
  • Michigan State University, B.A. Telecommunications with a cognate in Geography and Geographic Information Sciences

Selected Publications

  • Shiklomanov AN, Dietze MC, Fer I, Viskari T, Serbin SP (2021) Cutting out the middleman: calibrating and validating a dynamic vegetation model (ED2-PROSPECT5) using remotely sensed surface reflectance. Geoscientific Model Development 14:2603–2633. doi: 10.5194/gmd-14-2603-2021
  • Cawse-Nicholson K, Townsend PA, Schimel D, Assiri AM, Blake PL, et al. (2021) NASA's surface biology and geology designated observable: A perspective on surface imaging algorithms. Remote Sensing of Environment 257:112349. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2021.112349
  • Thompson DR, Schimel DS, Poulter B, Brosnan I, Hook SJ, Green RO, Glenn N, Guild L, Henn C, Cawse-Nicholson K, Kokaly R, Lee C, Luvall J, Miller CE, Nastal J, Pavlick R, Phillips B, Schneider F, Uz SS, Serbin S, Stavros N, Townsend P, Turner W, Turpie K, Wang W (2020) NASA's Surface Biology and Geology Concept Study: Status and Next Steps. IGARSS 2020 - 2020 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. doi: 10.1109/igarss39084.2020.9323295
  • Kamoske AG, Dahlin KM, Serbin SP, Stark SC (2020) Leaf traits and canopy structure together explain canopy functional diversity: an airborne remote sensing approach. Ecological Applications. doi: 10.1002/eap.2230
  • Rogers A, Kumarathunge DP, Lombardozzi DL, Medlyn BE, Serbin SP, Walker AP (2020) Triose phosphate utilization limitation: an unnecessary complexity in terrestrial biosphere model representation of photosynthesis. New Phytologist 230:17–22. doi: 10.1111/nph.17092
  • Walker AP, Johnson AL, Rogers A, Anderson J, Bridges RA, Fisher RA, Lu D, Ricciuto DM, Serbin SP, Ye M (2020) Multi-hypothesis comparison of Farquhar and Collatz photosynthesis models reveals the unexpected influence of empirical assumptions at leaf and global scales. Global Change Biology 27:804–822. doi: 10.1111/gcb.15366
  • Fer I, Gardella AK, Shiklomanov AN, Campbell EE, Cowdery EM, De Kauwe MG, Desai A, Duveneck MJ, Fisher JB, Haynes KD, Hoffman FM, Johnston MR, Kooper R, LeBauer DS, Mantooth J, Parton WJ, Poulter B, Quaife T, Raiho A, Schaefer K, Serbin SP, Simkins J, Wilcox KR, Viskari T, Dietze MC (2020) Beyond ecosystem modeling: A roadmap to community cyberinfrastructure for ecological data-model integration. Global Change Biology 27:13–26. doi: 10.1111/gcb.15409
  • Koven CD, Knox RG, Fisher RA, Chambers JQ, Christoffersen BO, Davies SJ, Detto M, Dietze MC, Faybishenko B, Holm J, Huang M, Kovenock M, Kueppers LM, Lemieux G, Massoud E, McDowell NG, Muller-Landau HC, Needham JF, Norby RJ, Powell T, Rogers A, Serbin SP, Shuman JK, Swann ALS, Varadharajan C, Walker AP, Wright SJ, Xu C (2020) Benchmarking and parameter sensitivity of physiological and vegetation dynamics using the Functionally Assembled Terrestrial Ecosystem Simulator (FATES) at Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Biogeosciences 17:3017–3044. doi: 10.5194/bg-17-3017-2020
  • Meacham-Hensold K, Fu P, Wu J, Serbin S, Montes CM, Ainsworth E, Guan K, Dracup E, Pederson T, Driever S, Bernacchi C (2020) Plot-level rapid screening for photosynthetic parameters using proximal hyperspectral imaging. Journal of Experimental Botany 71:2312–2328. doi: 10.1093/jxb/eraa068
  • Walker AP, Johnson AL, Rogers A, Anderson J, Bridges RA, Fisher RA, Lu D, Ricciuto DM, Serbin SP, Ye M (2020) Multi-hypothesis comparison of Farquhar and Collatz photosynthesis models reveals the unexpected influence of empirical assumptions at leaf and global scales. Global Change Biology 27:804–822. doi: 10.1111/gcb.15366
  • Yang D, Meng R, Morrison BD, McMahon A, Hantson W, Hayes DJ, Breen AL, Salmon VG, Serbin SP (2020) A Multi-Sensor Unoccupied Aerial System Improves Characterization of Vegetation Composition and Canopy Properties in the Arctic Tundra. Remote Sensing 12:2638. doi: 10.3390/rs12162638
  • Serbin SP, Townsend PA (2020) Scaling Functional Traits from Leaves to Canopies. Remote Sensing of Plant Biodiversity 43–82. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-33157-3_3
  • Meng R, Yang D, McMahon A, Hantson W, Hayes D, Breen A, Serbin S (2019) A UAS Platform for Assessing Spectral, Structural, and Thermal Patterns of Arctic Tundra Vegetation. IGARSS 2019 - 2019 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. doi: 10.1109/igarss.2019.8897953
  • Zhao F, Meng R, Gu H, Serbin S (2019) Assessing Post-Fire Tree Mortality and Biomass Change by Integrating Lidar and Hyperspectral data. IGARSS 2019 - 2019 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. doi: 10.1109/igarss.2019.8900522
  • Burnett AC, Davidson KJ, Serbin SP, Rogers A (2019) The "one-point method" for estimating maximum carboxylation capacity of photosynthesis: A cautionary tale. Plant, Cell & Environment 42:2472–2481. doi: 10.1111/pce.13574
  • Dickman LT, McDowell NG, Grossiord C, Collins AD, Wolfe BT, Detto M, Wright SJ, Medina-Vega JA, Goodsman D, Rogers A, Serbin SP, Wu J, Ely KS, Michaletz ST, Xu C, Kueppers L, Chambers JQ (2019) Homoeostatic maintenance of nonstructural carbohydrates during the 2015–2016 El Niño drought across a tropical forest precipitation gradient. Plant, Cell & Environment 42:1705–1714. doi: 10.1111/pce.13501
  • Ely KS, Burnett AC, Lieberman-Cribbin W, Serbin SP, Rogers A (2019) Spectroscopy can predict key leaf traits associated with source–sink balance and carbon–nitrogen status. Journal of Experimental Botany 70:1789–1799. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erz061
  • Kamoske AG, Dahlin KM, Stark SC, Serbin SP (2019) Leaf area density from airborne LiDAR: Comparing sensors and resolutions in a temperate broadleaf forest ecosystem. Forest Ecology and Management 433:364–375. doi: 10.1016/j.foreco.2018.11.017
  • Massoud EC, Xu C, Fisher RA, Knox RG, Walker AP, Serbin SP, Christoffersen BO, Holm JA, Kueppers LM, Ricciuto DM, Wei L, Johnson DJ, Chambers JQ, Koven CD, McDowell NG, Vrugt JA (2019) Identification of key parameters controlling demographically structured vegetation dynamics in a land surface model: CLM4.5(FATES). Geoscientific Model Development 12:4133–4164. doi: 10.5194/gmd-12-4133-2019
  • Rogers A, Serbin SP, Ely KS, Wullschleger SD (2019) Terrestrial biosphere models may overestimate Arctic CO 2 assimilation if they do not account for decreased quantum yield and convexity at low temperature. New Phytologist 223:167–179. doi: 10.1111/nph.15750
  • Serbin SP, Wu J, Ely KS, Kruger EL, Townsend PA, Meng R, Wolfe BT, Chlus A, Wang Z, Rogers A (2019) From the Arctic to the tropics: multibiome prediction of leaf mass per area using leaf reflectance. New Phytologist 224:1557–1568. doi: 10.1111/nph.16123
  • Shiklomanov AN, Bradley BA, Dahlin KM, M Fox A, Gough CM, Hoffman FM, M Middleton E, Serbin SP, Smallman L, Smith WK (2019) Enhancing global change experiments through integration of remote-sensing techniques. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 17:215–224. doi: 10.1002/fee.2031
  • Smith NG, Keenan TF, Colin Prentice I, Wang H, Wright IJ, Niinemets Ü, Crous KY, Domingues TF, Guerrieri R, Yoko Ishida F, Kattge J, Kruger EL, Maire V, Rogers A, Serbin SP, Tarvainen L, Togashi HF, Townsend PA, Wang M, Weerasinghe LK, Zhou S (2019) Global photosynthetic capacity is optimized to the environment. Ecology Letters 22:506–517. doi: 10.1111/ele.13210
  • Viskari T, Shiklomanov A, Dietze MC, Serbin SP (2019) The influence of canopy radiation parameter uncertainty on model projections of terrestrial carbon and energy cycling. PLOS ONE 14:e0216512. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0216512
  • Wu J, Rogers A, Albert LP, Ely K, Prohaska N, Wolfe BT, Oliveira RC, Saleska SR, Serbin SP (2019) Leaf reflectance spectroscopy captures variation in carboxylation capacity across species, canopy environment and leaf age in lowland moist tropical forests. New Phytologist 224:663–674. doi: 10.1111/nph.16029
  • Wu J, Serbin SP, Ely KS, Wolfe BT, Dickman LT, Grossiord C, Michaletz ST, Collins AD, Detto M, McDowell NG, Wright SJ, Rogers A (2019) The response of stomatal conductance to seasonal drought in tropical forests. Global Change Biology 26:823–839. doi: 10.1111/gcb.14820
  • DuBois S, Desai AR, Singh A, Serbin SP, Goulden ML, Baldocchi DD, Ma S, Oechel WC, Wharton S, Kruger EL, Townsend PA (2018) Using imaging spectroscopy to detect variation in terrestrial ecosystem productivity across a water-stressed landscape. Ecological Applications 28:1313–1324. doi: 10.1002/eap.1733
  • Fisher RA, Koven CD, Anderegg WRL, Christoffersen BO, Dietze MC, Farrior CE, Holm JA, Hurtt GC, Knox RG, Lawrence PJ, Lichstein JW, Longo M, Matheny AM, Medvigy D, Muller-Landau HC, Powell TL, Serbin SP, Sato H, Shuman JK, Smith B, Trugman AT, Viskari T, Verbeeck H, Weng E, Xu C, Xu X, Zhang T, Moorcroft PR (2017) Vegetation demographics in Earth System Models: A review of progress and priorities. Global Change Biology 24:35–54. doi: 10.1111/gcb.13910
  • Pisek J, Buddenbaum H, Camacho F, Hill J, Jensen JLR, Lange H, Liu Z, Piayda A, Qu Y, Roupsard O, Serbin SP, Solberg S, Sonnentag O, Thimonier A, Vuolo F (2018) Data synergy between leaf area index and clumping index Earth Observation products using photon recollision probability theory. Remote Sensing of Environment 215:1–6. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2018.05.026
  • Raczka B, Dietze MC, Serbin SP, Davis KJ (2018) What Limits Predictive Certainty of Long-Term Carbon Uptake? Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 123:3570–3588. doi: 10.1029/2018jg004504
  • Walker AP, Ye M, Lu D, De Kauwe MG, Gu L, Medlyn BE, Rogers A, Serbin SP (2018) The multi-assumption architecture and testbed (MAAT v1.0): R code for generating ensembles with dynamic model structure and analysis of epistemic uncertainty from multiple sources. Geoscientific Model Development 11:3159–3185. doi: 10.5194/gmd-11-3159-2018

Awards & Recognition

  • 2010 Dr. Laurel Salton Clark Memorial Graduate Fellowship, Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium (WSGC)
  • 2008 Earth & Space Sciences Fellowship (ESSF), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
  • 2004 Merit award, Michigan State University, Undergraduate Research & Arts Forum
  • 2003 Young Scientist Award, International Arctic Science Committee (IASC)
  • Member of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the Ecological Society of America (ESA)
Shawn Serbin

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Environmental and Climate Sciences Department
Bldg. 490A, Room 12-102
P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000

(631) 344-3165
sserbin@bnl.gov

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