About

Lily Young is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University. She holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University. Her research interests include anaerobic microbial metabolism of environmental contaminants and microbial ecology. She is based at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences on the George H. Cook Campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and can be contacted via phone at 848-932-5710 or email at lily.young@rutgers.edu.

Research topics

• Biology
• Environmental chemistry
• Ecology
• Chemistry
• Environmental science
• Biochemistry
• Microbiology
• Organic chemistry
• Genetics

Selected publications

• A Century of Reforestation Reduced Anthropogenic Warming in the Eastern United States

  Earth s Future · 2024-02-01 · 30 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Restoring and preserving the world's forests are promising natural pathways to mitigate some aspects of climate change. In addition to regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, forests modify surface and near‐surface air temperatures through biophysical processes. In the eastern United States (EUS), widespread reforestation during the 20th century coincided with an anomalous lack of warming, raising questions about reforestation's contribution to local cooling and climate mitigation. Using new cross‐scale approaches and multiple independent sources of data, we uncovered links between reforestation and the response of both surface and air temperature in the EUS. Ground‐ and satellite‐based observations showed that EUS forests cool the land surface by 1–2°C annually compared to nearby grasslands and croplands, with the strongest cooling effect during midday in the growing season, when cooling is 2–5°C. Young forests (20–40 years) have the strongest cooling effect on surface temperature. Surface cooling extends to the near‐surface air, with forests reducing midday air temperature by up to 1°C compared to nearby non‐forests. Analyses of historical land cover and air temperature trends showed that the cooling benefits of reforestation extend across the landscape. Locations surrounded by reforestation were up to 1°C cooler than neighboring locations that did not undergo land cover change, and areas dominated by regrowing forests were associated with cooling temperature trends in much of the EUS. Our work indicates reforestation contributed to the historically slow pace of warming in the EUS, underscoring reforestation's potential as a local climate adaptation strategy in temperate regions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Century Of Reforestation Reduced Anthropogenic Warming in the Eastern United States

  2023-04-11 · 7 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Restoring and preventing losses of the world’s forests are promising natural pathways to mitigate climate change. In addition to regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, forests modify surface and near-surface air temperatures through biophysical processes. In the eastern United States (EUS), widespread reforestation during the 20th century coincided with an anomalous lack of warming, raising the question of whether reforestation contributed to biophysical cooling and slowed local climate change. Using new cross-scale approaches and multiple independent sources of data, our analysis uncovered links between reforestation and the response of both surface and air temperature in the EUS. Ground- and satellite-based observations showed that EUS forests cool the land surface by 1-2 °C annually, with the strongest cooling effect during midday in the growing season, when cooling is 2 to 5 °C. Young forests aged 25-50 years have the strongest cooling effect on surface temperature, which extends to the near-surface air, with forests reducing midday air temperature by up to 1 °C. Our analyses of historical land cover and air temperature trends showed that the cooling benefits of reforestation extend across the landscape. Locations predominantly surrounded by reforestation were up to 1 °C cooler than neighboring locations that did not undergo land cover change, and areas dominated by regrowing forests were associated with cooling temperature trends in much of the EUS. Our work indicates that reforestation contributed to the historically slow pace of warming in the EUS, highlighting the potential for reforestation to provide local climate adaptation benefits in temperate regions worldwide.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Metagenomic analysis of Fe(II)-oxidizing bacteria for Fe(III) mineral formation and carbon assimilation under microoxic conditions in paddy soil

  The Science of The Total Environment · 2022-08-17 · 22 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Bacteria responsible for nitrate-dependent antimonite oxidation in antimony-contaminated paddy soil revealed by the combination of DNA-SIP and metagenomics

  Soil Biology and Biochemistry · 2021-03-05 · 56 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Characterization of Nitrate-Dependent As(III)-Oxidizing Communities in Arsenic-Contaminated Soil and Investigation of Their Metabolic Potentials by the Combination of DNA-Stable Isotope Probing and Metagenomics

  Environmental Science & Technology · 2020 · 140 citations

  • Environmental chemistry
  • Biology
  • Chemistry

  , and Burkholderiales-related bacteria. Metagenomic analysis further indicated that most of these putative NDAB contained genes for As(III) oxidation and nitrate reduction, confirming their roles in NDAO. The identification of novel putative NDAB expands current knowledge regarding the diversity of NDAB. The current study also suggests the proof of concept of using DNA-SIP to identify the slow-growing NDAB.

  PublisherDOI

• Faculty Opinions recommendation of Cometabolic Enzymatic Transformation of Organic Micropollutants under Methanogenic Conditions.

  Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature · 2020-02-13

  dataset1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Faculty Opinions recommendation of Reducing aquatic micropollutants - Increasing the focus on input prevention and integrated emission management.

  Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature · 2020-02-13

  dataset1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Faculty Opinions recommendation of Metagenomics reveal triclosan-induced changes in the antibiotic resistome of anaerobic digesters.

  Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature · 2020-02-13

  dataset1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Faculty Opinions recommendation of Impact of in-Sewer Degradation of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) Population Markers on a Population Model.

  Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature · 2020-02-13

  dataset1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Bacteria Responsible for Nitrate-dependent Antimonite Oxidation in Antimony-contaminated Paddy Soil Revealed by the Combination of DNA-SIP and Metagenomics

  Research Square · 2020-09-17 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Maria D. Rivera

  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  39 shared

• David S. Kosson

  35 shared

• Gary L. Taghon

  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  33 shared

• Patricia J.S. Colberg

  University of Wyoming

  33 shared

• Max M. Häggblom

  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  33 shared

• Karl J. Rockne

  University of Illinois Chicago

  31 shared

• Leslie Shor

  University of Connecticut

  29 shared

• Ingeborg D. Bossert

  Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  22 shared

Education

• Ph.D.

  Harvard