Xanthe Walker

Xanthe Walker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Northern Arizona University and a member of the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society. Her research focuses on boreal forest ecosystems, wildfire dynamics, carbon cycling, and climate change impacts, particularly in North America and Alaska.

Her research interests center on the ecological impacts of wildfires, carbon dynamics in organic soils, and forest responses to climate change. She investigates how disturbances like overwintering fires affect forest regeneration and carbon storage, and how changing fire regimes influence boreal ecosystems. Her work integrates field data with remote sensing and large-scale environmental modeling.

Recent publications highlight trends in wildfire science, carbon cycling in northern latitudes, and ecosystem responses to climate change. Her research spans fire behavior, carbon flux variability, and long-term forest biomass change, often in collaboration with major environmental science initiatives like ABoVE.

• Overwintering fires in peatlands and upland forests
• Seasonal CO2 amplitude in northern high latitudes
• Predictability of forest biomass change in boreal North America
• Range expansion of lodgepole pine in Interior Alaska
• Post-fire recovery of soil organic carbon

Xanthe Walker actively mentors and collaborates on interdisciplinary research projects, contributing to large-scale data synthesis efforts. She has been involved in multiple grants related to Arctic and boreal ecosystem vulnerability, though specific grant details are not listed. Her datasets are publicly available and widely used in the ecological research community.

She is involved in collaborative research networks focusing on boreal forest dynamics, carbon emissions from wildfires, and climate change impacts. Her work contributes to understanding ecosystem resilience and feedbacks in a warming climate, particularly in vulnerable high-latitude regions.