Christopher K. Black

What I Do

Modeling, data wrangling, and biology. Research interests in ecophysiology, biogeochemistry, and global change ecology of belowground interactions between plants and their environment. Special skills in Bayesian statistics, reproducible data analysis, R and C++ application development, and programming for high-performance computing environments. Less special skill: very good at digging holes.

Education

Ph.D., Plant Biology. University of Illinois 2016.

B.A., Biology. Reed College 2008.

Publications

Burridge, J.D., Black, C.K., Nord, E.A., Postma, J.P., Sidhu, J.S., York, L.M, Lynch, J.P. An analysis of soil coring strategies to estimate root depth. Submitted.

Postma, J.A., Black, C.K.. Advances in root architectural modeling during the last decade. In: Understanding and improving crop root function (Peter Gregory, ed.). Burleigh-Dodds. In press, expected June 2020. ISBN: 9781786763600

Schnepf, A., Black, C.K., Couvreur, V., Delory, B.M., Doussan, C., Koch, A., Koch, T., Javaux, M., Landl, M., Leitner, D., Lobet, G., Mai, T.H., Meunier, F., Petrich, L., Postma, J.A., Priesack, E., Schmidt, V., Vanderborght, J., Vereecken, H., Weber, M. 2020. Call for participation: Collaborative benchmarking of functional-structural root architecture models. The case of root water uptake. Frontiers in Plant Science. DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2020.00316. Preprint available at https://doi.org/10.1101/808972

Black, C.K., Woolbright, S.A., Pederson, T.L., Sligar, C.R., DeLucia, E.H. Metagenomic sequencing of soil cores shows taxonomic partitioning of root placement by depth in a prairie plant community. Submitted. Text, data, and code available at https://github.com/infotroph/Prairie_seq

Black, C.K., Masters, M.D., LeBauer, D.S., Anderson-Teixeira, K.J., DeLucia, E.H. 2017. Root volume distribution of maturing perennial grasses revealed by correcting for minirhizotron surface effects. Plant and Soil 419:391-404. DOI: 10.1007/s11104-017-3333-7. Data available in Dryad: http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.79822

Black, C.K., Davis, S.C, Hudiburg, T.W., Bernacchi, C.J., DeLucia, E.H. 2017. Elevated CO2 and temperature increase soil C losses from a soybean-maize ecosystem. Global Change Biology 23:435-445. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13378. Data available in Dryad: http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bn7j3

Black, C.K. 2016. Plant root contributions to the carbon balance of a changing agricultural Midwest. University of Illinois doctoral dissertation. https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/95339

Masters, M.D., Black, C.K., Kantola, I.B., Woli, K.P., Voigt, T., David, M.B. & DeLucia, E.H. 2016. Soil nutrient removal by four potential bioenergy crops: Zea mays, Panicum virgatum, Miscanthus x giganteus, and prairie. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 216:51-60. DOI: 10.1016/j.agee.2015.09.016

Anderson-Teixeira, K.J., Masters, M.D., Black, C.K., Zeri, M., Hussain, M.Z., Bernacchi, C.J. & DeLucia, E.H. 2013. Altered belowground carbon cycling following land-use change to perennial bioenergy crops. Ecosystems 16: 508–520. DOI: 10.1007/s10021-012-9628-x

Black, C.K. 2008. Associative Nitrogen Fixation Ability Does Not Predict Symbiotic Nodulation Ability in Burkholderia tropica. Reed College thesis. WorldCat: 268908795

Lin, R., Teng, Y., Park, H.J., Ding, L., Black, C., Fang, P., Wang, H. 2008. Discrete and essential roles of the multiple domains of arabidopsis FHY3 in mediating phytochrome A signal transduction. Plant Physiology 148: 981-992. DOI: 10.1104/pp.108.120436

Invited talks

Black, C.K. November 2017. Inferring root-soil interactions: When samples are expensive, a model can help. Biology Department seminar, University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Black, C.K. April 2013. How much carbon, for how long? Chambana Science Café, Urbana IL.

Contributed talks

Black, C.K., Lynch, J.P. November 2018. Accounting for soil hardness to resculpt root systems. International Soil Modeling Consortium conference.

Black, C.K., Masters, M.D., Anderson-Teixeira, K.J., DeLucia, E.H. August 2015. 3 m up, >1.3 m under: Tracking carbon fluxes of a change from Midwestern row crops to perennial grasses. Ecological Society of America annual meeting.

Black, C.K., Davis, S.C., Bernacchi, C.J., DeLucia, E.H. August 2012. Elevated temperature and carbon dioxide prime soil-specific increases in heterotrophic respiration. Ecological Society of America annual meeting.

Black, C.K., Davis, S.C., Bernacchi, C.J., DeLucia, E.H. August 2011. Transient increases of heterotrophic respiration from soil with elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature. Ecological Society of America annual meeting.

Posters

Black, C.K., Schäfer, E.D., Lynch, J.P. July 2019. Add grit for traction: Pushing a root growth model toward meaningful soil parameters. Society for Experimental Biology annual meeting.

Black, C.K., Schäfer, E.D., Lynch, J.P. December 2018. Better modeling of root-soil interactions by explicit representation of soil hardness. American Geophysical Union annual meeting.

Black, C.K., Masters, M.D., LeBauer, D.S., Anderson-Teixeira, K.J., DeLucia, E.H. June 2017. Root volume distribution of maturing perennial grasses revealed by correcting for minirhizotron surface effects. University of Missouri Interdisciplinary Plant Group annual symposium.

Black, C.K., Davis, S.C, Hudiburg, T.W., Bernacchi, C.J., DeLucia, E.H. December 2015. Climate change increases soil C losses from a corn-soy ecosystem. American Geophysical Union annual meeting.

Black, C.K., Miller, J.M., Masters, M.D., Bernacchi, C.J. & DeLucia, E.H. December 2014. Field-Scale Partitioning of Ecosystem Respiration Components in a Bioenergy Grass Ecosystem. American Geophysical Union annual meeting.

Black, C.K., Davis, S.C., Bernacchi, C.J., DeLucia, E.H. February 2011. Ecosystem warming alters heterotrophic but not total soil respiration at SoyFACE. INTERFACE workshop, Captiva Island FL.

Black, C.K., Davis, S.C., Bernacchi, C.J., DeLucia, E.H. August 2010. Response of soil respiration to ecosystem warming and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide. Ecological Society of America annual meeting.

Honors and Awards

John R. Laughnan award from the University of Illinois Department of Plant Biology, 2015.

Service

Officer for Plant Biology Association of Graduate Students (PBAGS), University of Illinois: Chair 2014-2015, Graduate Affairs committee, 2013-2014, Colloquium coordinator 2012-2013.

Bio-Outreach program, University of Illinois. 2010.

Manuscripts reviewed for Annals of Botany, Biology and Fertility of Soils, Ecologia, Ecosphere, Journal of Experimental Botany, Plant and Soil, Plant Physiology, PLOS ONE, Scientific Reports.

Selected Professional Experience

Postdoctoral Scholar, Pennsylvania State University. 2017-present.

R Programmer, National Center for Supercomputing Applications. 2017-2018.

Research Assistant, University of Illinois/Energy Biosciences Institute. 2009-2015.

Teaching Assistant, University of Illinois School of Integrative Biology:

IB 100 Integrative Biology, 2016.
IB 411 Bioinspiration, 2015
IB 203 Ecology, 2013

Plant Genomics Research NSF-REU intern, Boyce Thompson Institute. 2007.

Web Developer, Reed College. 2004-2007.