Dr. Nick Saliendra serves as an Ecologist in the research team under the leadership of Dr. Rebecca Phillips. His current research includes the study of sustainable rangeland productivity in conjunction with ground-level biometric/spectral measurements and air-borne hyperspectral imageries or remote sensing. He recently joined the NGPRL in June 2011 after working on biophysical research projects that involve measurements and modeling of carbon, water and energy fluxes at different spatial scales such as ecosystem and landscape levels. His past research has encompassed a wide range of ecosystems including suburban forests in Maryland, regenerating forests and wetlands in northern Wisconsin, and various rangelands in Utah, Idaho and Central Asia at the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. His post-doctoral research topics have included water relations, hydraulic conductance, carbon isotope discrimination, and leaf/whole plant gas exchange, i.e., water vapor and carbon dioxide, in sugarcane cultivars, coffee varieties and a riparian tree species. He obtained his Ph.D. in agronomy and soil science from the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, and M.S. in agronomy and B.S. in agriculture from the University of the Philippines at Los Baños.

Micrometeorological sensors for measuring carbon dioxide, water vapor and heat fluxes on top of the Cub Hill tower in suburban Baltimore, Maryland.