Emily Bernhardt

About

Emily S. Bernhardt is an ecosystem ecologist and biogeochemist whose research is principally concerned with tracking the movement of elements through ecological systems. Her work aims to document the extent to which the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems are being altered by land use change, including urbanization, agriculture, and mining, as well as by global change factors such as rising CO2 levels and sea levels, and chemical pollution. This research is essential for understanding how ecosystem change can be mitigated or prevented through active ecosystem management. Dr. Bernhardt holds the position of James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Biology at Duke University, where she has been a faculty member since 2016. She is also the Chair of the Department of Biology and a Professor of Marine Science and Conservation at the Nicholas School of the Environment. Her academic career includes a Ph.D. from Cornell University and a B.S. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her contributions extend to her roles in various initiatives, including the Duke Initiative for Science & Society, and she has been recognized for her leadership and research in environmental science.

Research topics

• Ecology
• Environmental science
• Biology
• Environmental chemistry
• Chemistry
• Geology
• Geography
• Computer Science
• Environmental engineering
• Meteorology

Selected publications

• River ecosystem metabolism and carbon biogeochemistry in a changing world

  Nature · 2023 · 514 citations

  DOI

• Light and flow regimes regulate the metabolism of rivers

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2022 · 201 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation drive much of the variation in productivity across Earth's terrestrial ecosystems but do not explain variation in gross primary productivity (GPP) or ecosystem respiration (ER) in flowing waters. We document substantial variation in the magnitude and seasonality of GPP and ER across 222 US rivers. In contrast to their terrestrial counterparts, most river ecosystems respire far more carbon than they fix and have less pronounced and consistent…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Amazon forests capture high levels of atmospheric mercury pollution from artisanal gold mining

  Nature Communications · 2022 · 165 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Mercury emissions from artisanal and small-scale gold mining throughout the Global South exceed coal combustion as the largest global source of mercury. We examined mercury deposition and storage in an area of the Peruvian Amazon heavily impacted by artisanal gold mining. Intact forests in the Peruvian Amazon near gold mining receive extremely high inputs of mercury and experience elevated total mercury and methylmercury in the atmosphere, canopy foliage, and soils. Here we show for the first ti…

  DOI

• Artificial lake expansion amplifies mercury pollution from gold mining

  Science Advances · 2020 · 63 citations

  Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is the largest global source of anthropogenic mercury emissions. However, little is known about how effectively mercury released from ASGM is converted into the bioavailable form of methylmercury in ASGM-altered landscapes. Through examination of ASGM-impacted river basins in Peru, we show that lake area in heavily mined watersheds has increased by 670% between 1985 and 2018 and that lakes in this area convert mercury into methylmercury at net rates f…

  DOI

• Do Two Wrongs Make a Right? Persistent Uncertainties Regarding Environmental Selenium–Mercury Interactions

  Environmental Science & Technology · 2020 · 53 citations

  Mercury (Hg) is a pervasive environmental pollutant and contaminant of concern for both people and wildlife that has been a focus of environmental remediation efforts for decades. A growing body of literature has motivated calls for revising Hg consumption advisories to co-consider selenium (Se) levels in seafood and implies that remediating aquatic ecosystems with ecosystem-scale Se additions could be a robust solution to Hg contamination. Provided that elevated Se concentrations are also known…

  DOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Proposal: Coupled C, N and S cycling in coastal plain wetlands: how will climate change and salt water intrusion alter ecosystem dynamics?

  NSF · $520k · 2010–2013

• MRA: Continental scale controls on instream and catchment contributions to greenhouse gas fluxes from rivers

  NSF · $699k · 2021–2026

• CAREER: Potential for the Recovery of Biogeochemical Function in Degraded Stream Ecosystems

  NSF · $627k · 2006–2011

Frequent coauthors

• Matthew Ross

  Colorado State University

  194 shared

• Michael Vlah

  Duke University

  176 shared

• Amanda Delvecchia

  171 shared

• Spencer Rhea

  Duke University

  164 shared

• Audrey Thellman

  Duke University

  163 shared

• Nick Gubbins

  161 shared

• Stuart E. Bunn

  Griffith University

  102 shared

• Clifford N. Dahm

  University of New Mexico

  102 shared

Labs

• Bernhardt LabPI

Awards & honors

• Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies Research Principal Inves…
• Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies Research Principal Inves…
• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences LTREB: S…

Similar researchers at Duke University

• James S. Clarkh-93
• Patrick Halpinh-62
• Nicolas Cassarh-61