|
|||||
 |
Ruth S. DeFries |
||||
|
Geospatial Analysis for Sustainable Ecosystems and Development LAB |
Ruth DeFries’ research examines human transformation of the landscape and its consequences for climate, biogeochemical cycling, biodiversity, and other ecosystem services that make our planet habitable. The work is based on the premise that land use change involves tradeoffs between human necessities such as food and unintended environmental consequences such as greenhouse gas emissions and habitat loss. A particular focus is tropical deforestation and its impacts on atmospheric carbon emissions and conservation. The research analyzes land use changes over broad scales through the lens of satellite observations. She is actively involved in linking scientific information into policy decisions. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representative publications DeFries, R. and C. Rosenzweig, 2010. Toward a whole-landscape approach for sustainable land use in the tropics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107,46): 19627-19632. DeFries, R., Rudel, T.K., Uriarte, M., and Hansen, M., 2010. Deforestation driven by urban population growth and agricultural trade in the twenty-first century. Nature Geoscience, 3, 178-181. DeFries, R., Karanth, K., and Pareeth, S., 2010. Interactions between protected areas and their surroundings in human-dominated tropical landscapes. Biological Conservation, 143, 2870-2880. DeFries, R., and D. Pandey. 2010. Urbanization, the energy ladder and forest transitions in India's emerging economy: Trade-offs and synergies for ecosystem services and human well-being. Land Use Policy. 27: 130-138. DeFries, R., F. Rovero, P. C. Wright, J. Ahumada, S. J. Andelman, K. Brandon, J. Dempewolf, A. Hansen, J. Hewson, and J. Liu. 2009. From plot to landscape scale: Linking tropical biodiversity measurements across spatial scales. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. doi:10.1890/080104. DeFries, R., D. Morton, G. van der Werf, L. Giglio, G. J. Collatz, J. T. Randerson, J. T. Houghton, P. Kasibhatla, and Y. Shimabukuro. 2008. Fire-related carbon emissions from land use transitions in Southern Amazonia. Geophysical Research Letters. 35(L22705): doi:10.1029/2008GL035689. DeFries, R. 2008. Terrestrial vegetation in the coupled human-earth system: Contributions of remote sensing. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 33:369-390. pdf Research papers: Morton, D., R. DeFries, Y. Shimabukuro, L. Anderson, E. Arai, F. Espirito-Santo, R. Freitas and J. Morisette. 2006. Cropland expansion changes deforestation dynamics in the southern Brazilian Amazon. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103(39): 14637-14641. pdf DeFries, R., Houghton, R.A., Hansen, M., Field, C., Skole, D.L. and Townshend, J.: 2002, Carbon emissions from tropical deforestation and regrowth based on satellite observations for the 1980s and 90s. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99(22): 14256-14261. pdf Books and special issues: DeFries, R., Asner, G., and Houghton, R. (eds.) 2004. Ecosystems and Land Use Change. American Geophysical Union. Geophysical Monograph Series. Vol. 153. Washington, DC. 309 pp. link Note: Please email here to request reprints |
|||||
|
Current and past Ph.D. students K. Wurster, “Using MISR to Assess the Impact of Charcoal Production on Forest Regeneration Rates in Southeastern Senegal” (awarded 2009) S. Zeigler, “Incorporating Landscape in Population Viability Analysis: Improving Generic Modeling Platforms for Endangered Species Conservation” (awarded 2009) D. Morton, “Savannization of a Tropical Forest Frontier: Carbon Consequences of Climate and Anthropogenic Fire from a Height-Structured Ecosystem Model” (awarded 2007) J. Dempewolf, “Fire Dynamics and Woody Cover Changes in the Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem 2000 to 2005: A Remote Sensing Approach” (awarded 2007) L. Anderson (co-advisor), “Analyzing the Impact of Participatory-Developed Conservation Policies in the Negril Environmental Protection Area, Western Jamaica” (awarded 2007) M. Songer, “Dynamics of Non-Timber Forest Product Extraction in a Protected Tropical Dry Forest Area in Southeast Asia” (awarded 2006) M. Macedo, “Tropical Deforestation and the Land-Water Interface” (advanced to candidacy) V. Gutierrez, "Land use evolution and carbon dynamics in Amazonia: Integrating land change processes into carbon modeling" (advanced to candidacy) M. Fagan, "The changing matrix: Assessing connectivity in a Costa Rican habitat corridor" (advanced to candidacy) M. Marlier (co-advisor), "Using atmospheric modeling and remote sensing to understand the effects of biomass burning emissions" (advanced to candidacy) M. Jain (co-advise with S. Naeem), “Resilience of Agriculture to Climate Variability in Northwest India” (advanced to candidacy) M. Agarwala, “Mapping Forest Degradation in Tropical Deciduous Forests” M. Cattau, “Landscape change, Disassembly of plant-animal mutualistic interactions and consequences for ecosystem function ” |
||||
|
EESC W2330y Science for Sustainable Development (fall 2011) EEEB G6150 Adv. in Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology (fall 2011) SDEV W3330 Ecology & Social Systems for Sustainable Development (fall 2011) |
||||
|
Honors and Awards |
||||
|
Download CV |
||||