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Ecology and Evolution
USA
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Ecology and Evolution

D-Index
122
Citations
71881
World Ranking
97
National Ranking
34

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
  • 2007 - Fellow of American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Overview

William J. Parton is affiliated with Colorado State University in the United States. Their research primarily addresses topics within Agricultural and Biological Sciences and Environmental Science, with significant contributions to several subfields including Soil Science, Global and Planetary Change, Agronomy and Crop Science, Ecology, and Plant Science.

The scientist has focused on main research areas such as Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics, Bioenergy Crop Production and Management, Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics, Biofuel Production and Bioconversion, Rangeland and Wildlife Management, Soil and Water Nutrient Dynamics, and Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics.

Frequent publication venues for their work include:

  • GCB Bioenergy
  • Soil Science Society of America Journal
  • Geoderma
  • Carbon Management
  • Ecosphere

Notable recent papers include:

  • Emergent temperature sensitivity of soil organic carbon driven by mineral associations, 2024, Nature Geoscience
  • Satellite solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence and near-infrared reflectance capture complementary aspects of dryland vegetation productivity dynamics, 2021, Remote Sensing of Environment
  • Bayesian calibration of the DayCent ecosystem model to simulate soil organic carbon dynamics and reduce model uncertainty, 2020, Geoderma
  • 21st-century biogeochemical modeling: Challenges for Century-based models and where do we go from here?, 2020, GCB Bioenergy
  • Beyond ecosystem modeling: A roadmap to community cyberinfrastructure for ecological data-model integration, 2020, Global Change Biology

William J. Parton has collaborated frequently with the following co-authors:

  • Melannie D. Hartman
  • Robert G. Woodmansee
  • Evan H. DeLucia
  • Stephen J. Del Grosso
  • Stephen M. Ogle

The scientist has published one book with Cambridge University Press, titled Natural Resource Management Reimagined (2021).

William J. Parton was recognized as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in 2007.

Best Publications

  • Analysis of factors controlling soil organic matter levels in Great Plains grasslands

    W. J. Parton;D. S. Schimel;C. V. Cole;D. S. Ojima

  • Agricultural Intensification and Ecosystem Properties

    Pamela Matson;W.J. Parton;A.G. Power;M. Swift

  • Dynamics of C, N, P and S in grassland soils: a model

    W. J. Parton;J. W. B. Stewart;C. V. Cole

  • The knowns, known unknowns and unknowns of sequestration of soil organic carbon

    Uta Stockmann;Mark A. Adams;John W. Crawford;Damien J. Field

  • Observations and modeling of biomass and soil organic matter dynamics for the grassland biome worldwide

    W. J. Parton;J. M. O. Scurlock;D. S. Ojima;T. G. Gilmanov

  • Formation of soil organic matter via biochemical and physical pathways of litter mass loss

    M. Francesca Cotrufo;Jennifer L. Soong;Andrew J. Horton;Eleanor E. Campbell

  • Temperature and soil organic matter decomposition rates – synthesis of current knowledge and a way forward

    Richard T. Conant;Richard T. Conant;Michael G. Ryan;Göran I. Ågren;Hannah E. Birge

  • Primary Production of the Central Grassland Region of the United States

    O. E. Sala;W. J. Parton;L. A. Joyce;W. K. Lauenroth

  • Progressive Nitrogen Limitation of Ecosystem Responses to Rising Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

    Yiqi Luo;Bo Su;William S. Currie;Jeffrey S. Dukes

  • Global-Scale Similarities in Nitrogen Release Patterns During Long-Term Decomposition

    William Parton;Whendee L. Silver;Ingrid C. Burke;Leo Grassens

  • A comparison of the performance of nine soil organic matter models using datasets from seven long-term experiments

    P Smith;J U Smith;D S Powlson;W B McGill

  • Climatic, edaphic, and biotic controls over storage and turnover of carbon in soils

    David S. Schimel;B. H. Braswell;Elisabeth A. Holland;Rebecca McKeown

  • Methane and nitrous oxide fluxes in native, fertilized and cultivated grasslands

    A. Mosier;D. Schimel;D. Valentine;K. Bronson

  • Texture, climate, and cultivation effects on soil organic matter content in U.S. grassland soils

    I C Burke;C M Yonker;W J Parton;C V Cole

  • Long‐term dynamics of pine and hardwood litter in contrasting environments: toward a global model of decomposition

    Henry L. Gholz;David A. Wedin;Stephen M. Smitherman;Mark E. Harmon

  • DAYCENT and its land surface submodel: description and testing

    William J. Parton;Melannie Hartman;Dennis Ojima;David Schimel

  • LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF NET GREENHOUSE-GAS FLUX FOR BIOENERGY CROPPING SYSTEMS

    Paul R. Adler;Stephen J. Del Grosso;Stephen J. Del Grosso;William J. Parton

  • A general model for soil organic matter dynamics: sensitivity to litter chemistry, texture and management.

    William J. Parton;Dennis S. Ojima;C. Vernon Cole;David S. Schimel

  • Contribution of increasing CO2 and climate to carbon storage by ecosystems in the United States

    David S. Schimel;Jerry M. Melillo;Hanqin Tian;A. D. McGuire

  • Modeling soil organic matter in organic-amended and nitrogen-fertilized long-term plots

    Keith Paustian;William J. Parton;Jan Persson

Frequent Co-Authors

Dennis S. Ojima
Dennis S. Ojima Colorado State University
David S. Schimel
David S. Schimel Jet Propulsion Lab
Arvin R. Mosier
Arvin R. Mosier University of Melbourne
Timothy G. F. Kittel
Timothy G. F. Kittel University of Colorado Boulder
Ingrid C. Burke
Ingrid C. Burke Yale University
Ram Oren
Ram Oren Duke University
Belinda E. Medlyn
Belinda E. Medlyn Western Sydney University
Evan H. DeLucia
Evan H. DeLucia University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Richard J. Norby
Richard J. Norby University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Jack A. Morgan
Jack A. Morgan Agricultural Research Service

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