biology

Mary K. Firestone

Mary K. Firestone is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mary K. Firestone rather than just read about it. In short: Mary K. Firestone is a professor of soil microbiology in the Department of Environmental Studies, Policy, and Management at the University of California, Berkeley and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Key takeaways

Mary K. Firestone belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mary K. Firestone to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mary K. Firestone from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mary K. Firestone is a professor of soil microbiology in the Department of Environmental Studies, Policy, and Management at the University of California, Berkeley and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Her laboratory's research focuses on the ecology of microbes in various soils, and their contribution to the carbon cycle and nitrogen cycle in particular.

Education and career Firestone received her M.Sc. in microbiology in 1977 and her Ph.D. in soil microbiology at Michigan State University in 1979. Firestone became a Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America in 1995. Since then, she has received numerous honors and awards throughout her career, including the Emil Truog Soil Science Award, and most recently, the Berkeley College of Natural Resources Career Achievement Award in 2013. In addition to these awards, she was named Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2002, and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2017. She is also a fellow of the Soil Science Society of America, the Ecological Society of America, and the American Geophysical Union. Firestone has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters which have been cited over 9,000 times.

Research focus Firestone's lab's interests include studying how carbon and nitrogen are processed in soil ecosystems. In particular, her lab is interested in understanding carbon and nitrogen interactions between roots and soil microbes. She is also interested in understanding how the structure of soil microbial communities controls nitrogen and carbon transformations such as nitrification, denitrification, and mineralization She is also interested in understanding the biophysical properties and mechanisms of bacteria and plant interactions in soil environments and examining how the physical characteristics of soil matrices affect the growth and activity of soil microbes

Selected publications Brodie EL, DeSantis TZ, Joyner DC, Baek SM, Larsen JT, Adersen GL, Hazen TC, Richardson PM, Herman DJ, Tokunaga TK, Wan JM, Firestone MK (2006). Application of a high-density oligonucleotide microarray approach to study bacterial population dynamics during uranium reduction and reoxidation. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 72(9):6288-6298. Waldrop MP, Balser TC, Firestone MK (2000). Linking microbial community composition to function in a tropical soil. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 32(13):1837-1846. Stark JM, Firestone MK (1995). Mechanisms for soil moisture effects on activity of nitrifying bacteria. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 61(1):218-221. Davidson EA, Hart SC, Firestone MK (1992). Internal cycling of nitrate in soils of a mature coniferous forest. Ecology. 73(4):1148-1156. Davidson EA, Hart SC, Shanks CA, Firestone MK (1991). Measuring gross nitrogen mineralization, and nitrification by 15N isotopic pool dilution in intact soil cores. Journal of Soil Science. 42(3):335-349. Kieft TL, Soroker E, Firestone MK (1987). Microbial biomass response to a rapid increase in water potential when dry soil is wetted. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 19(2):119-126. Firestone MK, Firestone RB, Tiedje JM (1980). Nitrous oxide from soil denitrification: factors controlling its biological production. Science. 208(4445):749-751.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mary K. Firestone

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mary K. Firestone claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mary K. Firestone before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mary K. Firestone ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mary K. Firestone

In research: Mary K. Firestone appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mary K. Firestone in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mary K. Firestone is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American microbiologists, American soil scientists, Biologists from Oklahoma, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mary K. Firestone outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mary K. Firestone in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mary K. Firestone means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mary K. Firestone out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mary K. Firestone in simple terms?

Why does Mary K. Firestone matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mary K. Firestone?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mary K. Firestone.