2026 Jerry M. Melillo: Ecology and Evolution Researcher – H-Index, Publications & Awards

Discipline name	D-Index	World Ranking	Current World Ranking	National Ranking	Current National Ranking	Publications	Citations
Ecology and Evolution	151	28	28	13	13	486	106385

Research.com Recognitions

2026 - Research.com Ecology and Evolution in United States Leader Award
2025 - Research.com Ecology and Evolution in United States Leader Award
2014 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
2012 - Fellow of the Ecological Society of America (ESA)
2007 - Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Overview

Jerry M. Melillo is affiliated with the Marine Biological Laboratory in the United States. Their research primarily focuses on environmental science with significant contributions in agricultural and biological sciences. The scientist's work spans several subfields, including global and planetary change, soil science, molecular biology, ecology, and ecology, evolution, behavior, and systematics.

Their research covers a diverse range of topics, notably soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics, microbial community ecology and physiology, gut microbiota and health, plant water relations and carbon dynamics, climate change impacts on agriculture, water-energy-food nexus studies, and fire effects on ecosystems.

Among their recent publications are:

Microbial diversity drives carbon use efficiency in a model soil (2020) in Nature Communications
Carbon budget of the Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research site: pattern, process, and response to global change (2020) in Ecological Monographs
Soil aggregate-mediated microbial responses to long-term warming (2020) in Soil Biology and Biochemistry
Uncertainty analysis of vegetation distribution in the northern high latitudes during the 21st century with a dynamic vegetation model: Uncertainty Analysis of Vegetation Distribution (2024) in OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information)
Substrate availability and not thermal acclimation controls microbial temperature sensitivity response to long-term warming (2022) in Global Change Biology

Jerry M. Melillo frequently collaborates with several researchers, including Serita D. Frey, Kristen M. DeAngelis, David W. Kicklighter, Luiz A. Domeignoz-Horta, and Xiao-Jun Allen Liu.

Their research has been published often in venues such as Frontiers in Environmental Science, Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Global Change Biology, the Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, and Nature Communications.

Notable recognitions awarded to the scientist include being named Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2014, Fellow of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) in 2012, and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007.

Best Publications

Human Domination of Earth's Ecosystems

Peter M. Vitousek;Harold A. Mooney;Jane Lubchenco;Jerry M. Melillo

13459
Citations
Nitrogen and Lignin Control of Hardwood Leaf Litter Decomposition Dynamics

Jerry M. Melillo;John D. Aber;John F. Muratore

3430
Citations
Nitrogen saturation in northern forest ecosystems

John D. Aber;Knute J. Nadelhoffer;Paul Steudler;Jerry M. Melillo

3254
Citations
Global climate change and terrestrial net primary production

Jerry M. Melillo;A. David McGuire;David W. Kicklighter;Berrien I.I.I. Moore

2649
Citations
Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States

T. R. Karl;J. M. Melillo;T. C. Peterson

2516
Citations
Climate Change Impacts in the United States

Jerry M. Melillo;Terese Richmond;Gary W. Yohe

1972
Citations
The carbon cycle and atmospheric CO2

IC Prentice;GD Farquhar;Mjr Fasham;ML Goulden

1932
Citations
Recent patterns and mechanisms of carbon exchange by terrestrial ecosystems

D. S. Schimel;J. I. House;K. A. Hibbard;P. Bousquet

1889
Citations
Soil Warming and Carbon-Cycle Feedbacks to the Climate System

J. M. Melillo;P. A. Steudler;J. D. Aber;K. Newkirk

1771
Citations
Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assessment

Jerry M. Melillo;Gary Wynn Yohe;Terese Richmond

1511
Citations
Reconciling carbon-cycle concepts, terminology, and methods

F. S. Chapin Iii;G. M. Woodwell;J. Randerson;E. B. Rastetter

1329
Citations
Changes in the Carbon Content of Terrestrial Biota and Soils between 1860 and 1980: A Net Release of CO"2 to the Atmosphere

R. A. Houghton;J. E. Hobbie;J. M. Melillo;B. Moore

1302
Citations
The Sustainable Biosphere Initiative: An Ecological Research Agenda: A Report from the Ecological Society of America

Jane Lubchenco;Annette M. Olson;Linda B. Brubaker;Stephen R. Carpenter

1213
Citations
Global agriculture and nitrous oxide emissions

Dave S. Reay;Eric A. Davidson;Keith A. Smith;Pete Smith

1180
Citations
Potential Net Primary Productivity in South America: Application of a Global Model

James W. Raich;E. B. Rastetter;J. M. Melillo;D. W. Kicklighter

1115
Citations
Aboveground Production and N and P Cycling Along a Nitrogen Mineralization Gradient on Blackhawk Island, Wisconsin

John Pastor;John D. Aber;Charles A. McClaugherty;Jerry M. Melillo

1053
Citations
Pattern and variation of C:N:P ratios in China’s soils: a synthesis of observational data

Hanqin Tian;Guangsheng Chen;Chi Zhang;Jerry M. Melillo

1019
Citations
Carbon and nitrogen dynamics along the decay continuum: Plant litter to soil organic matter

Jerry M. Melillo;John D. Aber;Arthur E. Linkins;Andrea Ricca

1005
Citations
Global Warming and Terrestrial Ecosystems: A Conceptual Framework for Analysis

Gaius R. Shaver;Josep Canadell;F. S. Chapin;Jessica Gurevitch

995
Citations
Carbon balance of the terrestrial biosphere in the Twentieth Century: Analyses of CO2, climate and land use effects with four process‐based ecosystem models

A.D. McGuire;S. Sitch;Joy S. Clein;R. Dargaville

975
Citations
Influence of nitrogen fertilization on methane uptake in temperate forest soils

P. A. Steudler;R. D. Bowden;J. M. Melillo;J. D. Aber

969
Citations

Frequent Co-Authors

David W. Kicklighter Marine Biological Laboratory

Paul A. Steudler Marine Biological Laboratory

Qianlai Zhuang Purdue University West Lafayette

John D. Aber University of New Hampshire

John M. Reilly MIT

Andrei P. Sokolov MIT

A. D. McGuire University of Alaska Fairbanks

Carlos Clemente Cerri Universidade de São Paulo

Ronald G. Prinn MIT

Hanqin Tian Auburn University

External Links

Personal website of Jerry M. Melillo

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