UM Directory

Troy Magney is a forest ecophysiologist whose work bridges the fields of tree physiology, ecosystem ecology, and remote sensing. His research program focuses on how plants absorb, reflect, and emit energy to monitor photosynthesis, stress, and carbon cycling across spatial scales. His lab develops new field instrumentation and modeling approaches to track ecosystem function from the leaf to the satellite - contributing to climate and carbon monitoring initiatives and understanding vegetation dynamics in the context of forest management. He likes to tinker, ride bikes, run rivers and recreate on public lands.

Education

• NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow | Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 2015-2018
• Ph.D. University of Idaho | Natural Resources, Department of Forest, Rangeland and Fire Sciecnes, 2015
• B.A. University of Denver | Physical Geography, Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, 2010

Current Position

Associate Professor and W.A. Franke Endowed Chair of Forest Conservation

Courses Taught

• FORS 351 - Environmental Remote Sensing (spring semester)
• FORS 240 - Tree Biology (spring semester)
• FORS 491/591 - Forest Ecophysiology (fall semester)

Projects

Actively funded projects

NSF Division of Environmental Biology | Improved understanding of natural variability on tree growth across the United States

• Collaborators: University of Idaho, Columbia University
• Project Duration: 2026-2031

Save the Redwoods League | Thermal Thresholds and Ecosystem Vulnerability: Scaling Redwood Heat Stress from Needles to Forest Canopies

• Collaborators: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, UC Davis
• Project Duration: 2026-2027

NASA EPSCoR - After the fire(s): Integrating forest biogeochemistry and regeneration into landscape-scale vegetation modeling under anomalously short-interval wildfires.

• Collaborators: U Montana, USFS - Missola Fire Lab
• Project Duration: 2026-2028

California Dept of Forestry | An Integrated Observatory for Redwood Forest Health

• Collaborators: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, UC Davis, Montana
• Project Duration: 2023-2028

NASA | Smoke and Optics - Assessing ecosystem productivity in the presence of fire-related aerosols through a scaled remote sensing approach

• Collaborators: UC Davis, Montana
• Project Duration: 2025-2028

NSF Center for Pandemic Insights

• Website: https://www.pandemicinsights.org/
• Project Duration: 2025-2032

USDA | Examining Perennial Tree Physiology, Evapotranspiration, and Carbon Dynamics Using Surface-based Measurements and Proximal Remote Sensing Techniques.

• Collaborators: USDA - ARS, UC Davis
• Project Duration: 2023-2027

NSF Integrative Biology

• Title: Integrative Demography: Combining Ecology, Remote Sensing, and Genomics to Understand Population Dynamics
• Collaborators: UC Davis, Montana
• Project Duration: 2023-2027

Field of Study

Tree physiology, plant ecophysiology, ecosystem ecology, carbon cycle science, environmental data science, remote sensing, field instrumentation development

Selected Publications

Some recent highlights:

116. Klinek, L.,  Au, J.,  Rodriguez-Caton, M.,  Rao, M. P.,  Fety, L.,  Koch, G. W., &  Magney, T. S. (2026).  Summer heat stress downregulates photochemistry in coast redwoods. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences,  131, e2026JG010052. https://doi.org/10.1029/2026JG010052

114. Rao, M. P., Pacheco-Solana, A., Li, R., Oryan, B., Jensen, J. E., Rodriguez-Caton, M., ... & Magney, T. S. (2026). Decoupled carbon assimilation and growth responses to aridity in temperate deciduous oaks. Science Advances, 12(24), eady7139. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ady7139

113. Ray, R., Quarles-Chidyagwai, B., Lyons, J., Ashlock, S., Gremer, J.R., Maloof, J.N. and Magney, T.S. (2026). Spectral network analysis illuminates coordinated plant traits across a climate gradient. New Phytologist https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.71513

112. Klein, M. C., Wong, C. Y., Monroe, J. G., Bailey-Bale, J., Buckley, T. N., Chen, J. G., …Taylor, G.T., Magney, T.S. (2026). Unraveling plant phenotype to genotype associations with daily hyperspectral traits in Populus trichocarpa. Plant Phenomics,  8(2), 100174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plaphe.2026.100174

110. Woodgate, W., Magney, T., & Johnson, J. E. (2026). Interpreting the spectral fingerprint of chloroplast movement: implications for understanding photosynthetic light capture and use across scales. New Phytologist. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70984 

108. Magney, T. S., Brissette, L. E. G., Pierrat, Z. A., Logan, B., Reblin, J., Nelson, S., Stutz, J., Frankenberg, C., Bowling, D. R., & Wong, C. Y. S. (2026). Tracking subtle seasonal shifts in pigment composition with hyperspectral reflectance in a temperate evergreen forest. Tree Physiology, 46(1), Article tpaf108. https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpaf108

105. Svoboda, M., et al. (2025).  Monitoring the pulse of America's natural resources from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory missions. AGU Advances,  6, e2025AV002063. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025AV002063

102. Worden, M. A., et al.  (2025). Combining Observations and Models: A Review of the CARDAMOM Framework for Data-Constrained Terrestrial Ecosystem Modeling. Global Change Biology  31, no. 8: e70462. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70462.

100. Klein, M.C., et al. (2025), Climate adaptation in Populus trichocarpa: key adaptive loci identified for stomata and leaf traits. New Phytologist. 247(6), https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.70343.

96. Runkle, B., et al. (2025). Near-surface remote sensing applications for a robust, climate-smart Measurement, Monitoring, and Information System (MMIS). Carbon Management. 16(1) https://doi.org/10.1080/17583004.2025.2465361

95. Pierrat, Z.A., Magney, T.S., et al. (2025), Proximal remote sensing: an essential tool for bridging the gap between high-resolution ecosystem monitoring and global ecology. New Phytologist. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.20405

94. Magney, T.S., Pierrat, Z.A. (2025). Shifting equilibria in a warming boreal forest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 122 (3) e2424669122. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2424669122.

92. Magney, T.S. (2025), Hyperspectral reflectance integrates key traits for predicting leaf metabolism. New Phytologist. 246(2), 383. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.20345

90. Pierrat, Z. A., Magney, T. S., et al. (2024). Seasonal timing of fluorescence and photosynthetic yields at needle and canopy scales in evergreen needleleaf forests. Ecology, e4402. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4402

89. Wood, J. D., et al. (2024). The Ecosystem as Super-organ/Ism, Revisited: Scaling Hydraulics to Forests under Climate Change. Integrative And Comparative Biology, icae073. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icae073 

85. Pierrat, Z. A., Magney, T. S., et al. (2024). The biological basis for using optical signals to track evergreen needleleaf photosynthesis. BioScience, biad116. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biad116

Publications

Google Scholar for complete updated list: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Q87VW00AAAAJ&hl=en 

Professional Experience

• 2025 - present, Associate Professor and W.A. Franke Endowed Chair | University of Montana | Department of Forest Management
• 2023 - 2025, Associate Professor | University of California, Davis | Department of Plant Sciences
• 2020  - 2023, Assistant Professor | University of California, Davis | Department of Plant Sciences
• 2018 - 2020, Research Scientist | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory | California Insitute of Technology | Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems Group 
• 2015-2018, NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory | California Insitute of Technology | Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems Group
• 2011 - 2015, Graduate Research Assistant | NASA Idaho Space Grant Consortium Graduate Fellow | University of Idaho | College of Natural Resources
• 2010-2011, Field Instructor | McCall Outdoor Science School | McCall, Idaho