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Journal Articles

van der Werf, G. R., J. Dempewolf, S. N. Trigg, J. T. Randerson, P. S. Kasibhatla, L. Giglio, D. Murdiyarso, W. Peters, D. Morton, G. J. Collatz, and R. DeFries. in press. Climate regulation of fire emissions and deforestation in equatorial Asia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

DeFries, R., D. Morton, G. van der Werf, L. Giglio, G. J. Collatz, J. T. Randerson, J. T. Houghton, P. Kasibhatla, and Y. Shimabukuro. in press. Fire-related carbon emissions from land use transitions in Southern Amazonia. Geophysical Research Letters.

DeFries, R., and D. Pandey. in review. 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.

DeFries, R., F. Rovero, P. C. Wright, J. Ahumada, S. J. Andelman, K. Brandon, J. Dempewolf, A. Hansen, J. Hewson, and J. Liu. in review. Linking plot-level biodiversity measurements with human infleunces over multiple spatial scales in the tropics: A conceptual framework. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

DeFries, R. 2008. Terrestrial vegetation in the coupled human-earth system: Contributions of remote sensing. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 33:369-390.

Morton, D., R. DeFries, J. T. Randerson, L. Giglio, W. Schroeder, and G. van der Werf. 2008. Agricultural intensification increases deforestation fire activity in Amazonia. Global Change Biology 14:2262-2276.

van der Werf, G. R., D. C. Morton, R. S. DeFries, L. Giglio, J. T. Randerson, G. J. Collatz and P. S. Kasibhatla. in press. Estimates of fire emissions from an active deforestation region in the southern Amazon based on satellite data and biogeochemical modeling. Biogeosciences Discussion.

Hansen, M. C., S. V. Stehman, P. V. Potapov, T. Loveland, J. R. G. Townshend, R. DeFries, K. W. Pittman, B. Arunarwati, F. Stolle, M. K. Steininger, M. Carroll and C. DiMiceli 2008. Humid tropical forest clearing from 2000 to 2005 quantified using multi-temporal and multi-resolution remotely sensed data. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105(27): 9439-9444.

Achard, F., R. DeFries, H. Eva, M. Hansen, P. Mayaux and H.-J. Stibig. 2007. Pan-tropical monitoring of deforestation. Environmental Research Letters 2: 045022.

DeFries, R., F. Achard, F. Brown, M. Herold, D. Murdiyarso, B. Schlamadinger and C. M. Souza. 2007. Earth observations for estimating greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation in developing countries. Environmental Science and Policy. 10: 385-394.

DeFries, R., A. J. Hansen, B. L. Turner II, R. Reid and J. Liu. 2007. Land use change around protected areas: Management opportunities to balance human needs and ecological function. Ecological Applications. 17: 1031-1038.

Hansen, A. J. and R. DeFries. 2007. Ecological mechanisms linking nature reserves to surrounding lands. Ecological Applications. 17: 974-988.

Dempewolf, J., R. DeFries, S. N. Trigg and S. Eby.2007. MODIS derived burned area mapping of Serengeti-Mara region. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.4: 312-316.

Foley, J., G. P. Asner, M. A. Costa, M. Coe, R. DeFries, H. Gibbs, E. Howard, S. Olson, J. Patz, N. Ramankutty and P. Snyder. 2007. Amazonia revealed: Unexpected forest degradation and the loss of ecosystem goods and services in the Amazon basin. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 5 (1): 25-32.

Carpenter, S. R., R. DeFries, T. Dietz, H. A. Mooney, S. Polasky, W. V. Reid and R. J. Scholes. 2006. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: Research needs. Science 313: 257-258.

DeFries, R., G. P. Asner and J. Foley. 2006. A glimpse out the window: What landscapes reveal about livelihoods, land use, and environmental consequences. Environment 48(8): 22-36.

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.

Ramankutty, N., H. Gibbs, F. Achard, R. DeFries, J. Foley and R. A. Houghton. 2006. Challenges to estimating carbon emissions from tropical deforestation. Global Change Biology 12: 1-16.

Schimel, D., I. Y. Fung and R. DeFries. 2006. Space-based ecological observations: The NASA decadal survey. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 4(4): 171.

Nelson, G., E. Benett, A. Berhe, K. Cassman, R. DeFries, T. Dietz, A. P. Dobson, A. Doberman, A. C. Janetos, M. Levy, D. Marco, N. Nakicenovic, B. O'Neill, R. Norgaard, G. Petschel-Helf, D. Ojima, P. Pingali, R. Wateron and M. Zurek. 2006. Anthropogenic drivers of ecosystem change: An overview. Ecology and Society 11(2): 29.

Brown de Colstoun, E., R. DeFries and J. Townshend. 2006. Evaluation of ISLSCP Initiative II satellite-based land cover data sets and assessment of progress in land cover data for global modeling. Journal of Geohphysical Research 111(D22S07).

Miles, L., A.C. Newton, R. DeFries, C. Ravilious, I. May, S. Blyth, V. Kapos, and J. Gordon, 2006: A global overview of the conservation status of tropical dry forests. Journal of Biogeography. 33: 491-505.

Pongratz, J., L. Bounoua, R. DeFries, D. Morton, L. Anderson and W. Mauser. 2006. Estimating the impact of land cover change on energy and water balance in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Earth Interactions, 10:1-17.

Foley, J., R. DeFries, G.P. Asner, C.G. Barford, G.B. Bonan, S.R. Carpenter, F.S.I. Chapin, M.T. Coe, G. Daily, H. Gibbs, J.H. Helkowski, T. Holloway, E. Howard, C. Kucharik, C. Monfreda, J. Patz, I.C. Prentice, N. Ramankutty, and P.K. Snyder, 2005: Global consequences of land use. Science, 309: 570-574.

Anderson, L.O., Y.E. Shimabukuro, R.S. DeFries, and D. Morton, 2005: Assessment of land cover and land use changes in the Brazilian Amazon using multitemporal fraction images derived from Terra MODIS: Examples from the state of Mato Grosso. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, 2(3): 315-318.

Jasinski, E., D. Morton, R. DeFries, Y. Shimabukuro, L. Anderson, M. Hansen, and M. Latorre, 2005: Biophysical correlates of the expansion of mechanized agriculture in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Earth Interactions 9 (16): 1-18.

Morton, D., R. DeFries, Y. Shimabukuro, L. Anderson, F. Espirito-Santo, M. Hansen, and M. Carroll, 2005: Rapid assessment of annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon using MODIS data. Earth Interactions, 9(8): 1-22.

DeFries, R., Hansen, A.J., Newton, A.C. and Hansen, M.C., 2005. Increasing isolation of protected areas in tropical forests over the past twenty years. Ecological Applications, 15(1): 19-26.

Randerson, J.T., G.R. vanderWerf, G.J. Collatz, L. Giglio, C.J. Still, P. Kasibhatla, J.B. Miller, J.W.C. White, R. DeFries, and E.S. Kasischke, 2005: Fire emissions from C3 and C4 vegetation and their influence on interannual variability of atmospheric CO2 and d13CO2. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 19 (GB2019).

Lepers, E., Lambin, E.F., Janetos, A.C., DeFries, R., Achard, F., Ramankutty, N. and Scholes, R.J., 2005. A synthesis of rapid land-cover change information for the 1981-2000 period. BioScience, 55(2): 115-124.

Hansen, M. and DeFries, R., 2004, Detecting long term forest change using continuous fields of tree cover maps from 8km AVHRR data for the years 1982-1999. Ecosystems. DOI 10.1007/s10021-004-0243-3.

DeFries, R. and Bounoua, L. 2004. Consequences of land use change for ecosystem services: A future unlike the past. Geojournal, 61: 345-351.

DeFries, R., Foley, J. and Asner, G.P., 2004. Land Use Choices: Balancing Human Needs and Ecosystem Function. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2(5): 249-257.

Wessels, K.J., DeFries, R.S., Dempewolf, J., Anderson, L.O., Hansen, A.J., Powell, S. and Moran, E.F., 2004. Mapping regional land cover with MODIS data for biological conservation: Examples from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, USA and Para State, Brazil. Remote Sensing of Environment, 92: 67-83.

Imhoff, M., Bounoua, L., DeFries, R., Lawrence, W., Stutzer, D., Tucker, C.J. and Ricketts, T., 2004. The consequences of urban land transformation on net primary productivity in the United States. Remote Sensing of Environment, 89: 434-443.

DeFries, R. and Eshleman, K., 2004. Land use change and hydrologic processes: A major focus for the future (invited commentary). Hydrologic Processes Today, 18: 2183-2186.

Xue, Y., Juang, H.-M., Li, W.-P., Prince, S., DeFries, R., Jiao, Y. and Vasic, R., 2004. Role of land surface processes in monsoon development: Part I - East Asia and West Africa. Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 109(D03105): doi:10.1029/2003JD003556.

Zeng, X., Rao, P., DeFries, R. and Hansen, M., 2003. Interannual variability and decadal trend of global vegetation cover from 1982 to 2000. Journal of Applied Meteorology, 42: 1525-1530.

Hansen, M.C., DeFries, R.S., Townshend, J., Carroll, M., Dimiceli, C. and Sohlberg, R., 2003. Global percent tree cover at a spatial resolution of 500 meters: First results of the MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields algorithm. Earth Interactions, 7(10): 1-15.

Bounoua, L., DeFries, R.S., Imhoff, M.L. and Steininger, M.K., 2003. Land use and local climate: A case study near Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics, DOI 10.1007/a00703-003-0616-8.

Still, C., Berry, J., Collatz, G. and DeFries, R., 2003, The global distribution of C3 and C4 plants: Carbon cycle implications. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 17: 6-1 – 6-14.

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.

Chan, J.W.-C., Laporte, N., and DeFries, R., 2003, Texture classification of logging using machine learning algorithms. International Journal of Remote Sensing 24: 1401-1407.

DeFries, R., Bounoua, L. and Collatz, G.J., 2002, Human modification of the landscape and surface climate in the next fifty years. Global Change Biology 8: 438-458.

DeFries, R., 2002, Past and future sensitivity of primary production to human modification of the landscape. Geophysical Research Letters 29 (7):36-1 – 36-4.

Bounoua, L., DeFries, R., Collatz, G.J., Sellers, P. and Khan, H., 2002, Effects of land cover conversion on surface climate. Climatic Change 52: 29-64.

Hansen, M., DeFries, R., Townshend, J.R.G., Marufu, L. and Sohlberg, R., 2002, Development of a MODIS tree cover validation data set for Western Province, Zambia. Remote Sensing of Environment, 83(1-2): 320-335.

Hansen, M.C., DeFries, R.S., Townshend, J.R.G., Sohlberg, R., DiMiceli, C. and Carroll, M., 2002, Towards an operational MODIS continuous field of percent tree cover algorithm: Examples using AVHRR and MODIS data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 83(1-2): 303-319.

Huang, C., Townshend, J., Liang, S., Kalluri, S., and DeFries, R., 2002, Impact of sensor's point spread function on land cover characterization: Assessment and deconvolution. Remote Sensing of Environment, 80: 208-212.

Chan, J.C.-W., Huang, C. and DeFries, R., 2001, Enhanced algorithm performance for land cover classification using bootstrap aggregating (bagging). IEEE Transacations on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 39 (3):693-695.

DeFries, R. and Chan, J., 2000, Multiple criteria for evaluating machine learning algorithms for land cover classification from satellite data. Remote Sensing of Environment. 74:503-515.

DeFries, R. Hansen, M., Townshend, J.R.G., Janetos, A.C., and Loveland, T.R. 2000. A new global 1km data set of percent tree cover derived from remote sensing. Global Change Biology. 6: 247-254.

DeFries, R., Hansen, M., and Townshend, J., 2000, Global continuous fields of vegetation characteristics: A linear mixture model applied to multiyear 8km AVHRR data, International Journal of Remote Sensing. 21: 1389-1414.

DeFries, R. and A.S. Belward, 2000, Global and regional land cover characterization from satellite data: An introduction to the special issue, International Journal of Remote Sensing. 21: 1083-1093.

Los, S.O., Sellers, P.J., Collatz, G.J., Malmstrom, C.M., DeFries, R.S., Tucker, C.J., Pollack, N.H., Dazlich, D.A., Bounoua, L., 2000, A global 9-year biophysical landsurface dataset from NOAA AVHRR data. Journal of Hydrometeorlogy: 183-199.

Zeng, X., Dickinson, R., Walker, A., Shaikh, M., DeFries, R. and Qi, J. 2000. Derivation and evaluation of global 1-km fractional vegetation cover data for land modeling. Journal of Applied Meteorology. 39: 826-839.

Hansen, M., DeFries, R., Townshend, J. R. G. and Sohlberg, R., 2000, Global land cover classification at 1km resolution using a decision tree classifier, International Journal of Remote Sensing. 21: 1331-1365.

Zhan, X., DeFries, R., Townshend, J., Hansen, M., Huang, C. and Sohlberg, R., 2000, The global land cover change indicator product from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer of NASA's Earth Observing System, International Journal of Remote Sensing. 21: 1433-1460.

Townshend, J.R.G., Huang, C., Kalluri, S.N.V., DeFries, R. and Liang, S.: 2000, Beware of per-pixel characterization of land cover. International Journal of Remote Sensing. 21: 839-843.

DeFries, R., Field, C., Fung, I., Collatz, G. and Bounoua, L., 1999. Combining satellite data and biogeochemical models to estimate global effects of human-induced land cover change on carbon emissions and primary productivity, Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 13(3): 803-815.

DeFries, R., Townshend, J. R. G. and Hansen, M., 1999, Continuous fields of vegetation characteristics at the global scale at 1km resolution, Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres. 104, 16,911-16,925.

DeFries, R. and Los, S., 1999. Implications of land cover misclassifications for parameter estimates in global land surface models: An example from the Simple Biosphere Model (SiB2). Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing. 65(9): 1083-1088.

DeFries, R. and Townshend, J., 1999, Global land cover characterization from satellite data: From research to operational implementation?, Global Ecology and Biogeography Letters. 8 (5): 367-379.

DeFries, R., Hansen, M., Townshend, J. R. G. and Sohlberg, R., 1998, Global land cover classifications at 8 km spatial resolution: The use of training data derived from Landsat imagery in decision tree classifiers, International Journal of Remote Sensing; 19 (16): 3141-3168.

Justice, C., Vermote, E., Townshend, J., DeFries, R., Roy, D., Hall, D., Salomonson, V., Privette, J., Riggs, G., Strahler, A., Lucht, W., Myneni, R., Knyazikhin, Y., Running, S., Nemani, R., Wan, Z., Huete, A., van Leeuwan, W., Wolfe, R., Giglio, L., Muller, J.-P., Lewis, P. and Barnsley, M., 1998, The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS): Land remote sensing for global change research, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 36, 1228-1249.

DeFries, R., Hansen, M., Steininger, M., Dubayah, R., Sohlberg, R. and Townshend, J., 1997, Subpixel forest cover in Central Africa from multisensor, multitemporal data, Remote Sensing of Environment, 60, 228-246.

Smith, P., Kalluri, S., Prince, S. and DeFries, R., 1997, The NOAA/NASA Pathfinder AVHRR 8-km land data set, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 63, 12-31.

Hansen, M., Dubayah, R. and DeFries, R., 1996, Classification trees: An alternative to traditional land cover classifiers, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 17, 1075-1081.

DeFries, R., Hansen, M. and Townshend, J., 1995, Global discrimination of land cover types from metrics derived from AVHRR Pathfinder data, Remote Sensing of Environment, 54, 209-222.

DeFries, R., Field, C. B., Fung, I., Justice, C. O., Matson, P. A., Matthews, M., Mooney, H. A., Potter, C. S., Prentice, K., Sellers, P. J., Townshend, J., Tucker, C. J., Ustin, S. L. and Vitousek, P. M., 1995, Mapping the land surface for global atmosphere-biosphere models: toward continuous distributions of vegetation's functional properties, Journal of Geophysical Research, 100, 20,867-20,882.

DeFries, R. and Townshend, J. R. G., 1994, NDVI-derived land cover classification at global scales, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 15, 3567-3586.

DeFries, R., Farrington, J. and Weiss, E., 1985, SCOPE: Opportunities for international study of global environmental issues, The Environmental Professional, 7, 311-315.

DeFries, R., 1986, Effects of land use history on sedimentation in the Potomac Estuary, Maryland, U.S. Geological Survey water-supply paper 2234-K. 23 pp.

Brush, G., Martin, E., DeFries, R. and Rice, C., 1982, Comparisons of lead-210 and pollen methods for determining rates of estuarine sediment accumulation, Quaternary Research, 18 (2) 196-217.

Brush, G. and DeFries, R., 1981, Spatial distributions of pollen in surface sediments of the Potomac Estuary, Limnology and Oceanography, 26 (2) 295-309.

Books and Edited Volumes

Klink, C., Cavalcanti, R., and DeFries, R (eds.). in press. Cerrado Land Use and Conservation. Advances in Applied Biodiversity Science. Conservation International.

Hansen, A., and DeFries, R. (eds.). 2007. Land Use Change around Nature Reserves: Implications for Sustaining Biodiversity. Invited Feature for Ecological Applications.

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.

DeFries, R. and Belward, A.S. (eds.) 2000. Global and Regional Land Cover Characterization from Satellite Data. Special Issue of International Journal of Remote Sensing. includes 23 refereed papers.

Silver, C and DeFries, R. 1990. One Earth, One Future: Our Changing Global Environment. National Academy Press. Washington, D.C. 196 pp. (translated into French, Portuguese, Arabic, and Japanese)

DeFries, R. and Malone, T. (eds.) 1989. Global Change and Our Common Future: Papers from a Forum. National Academy Press. Washington, D.C. 227 pp.

Book Chapters

Morton, D., R. DeFries and Y. Shimabukuro. in press. Cropland expansion in cerrado and transition forest ecosystems: Quantifying habitat loss from satellite-based vegetation phenology. Cerrado Land Use and Conservation. C. Klink, R. Cavalcanti and R. DeFries. Washington, D.C., Advances in Applied Biodiversity Science, Conservation International.

DeFries, R., S. Pagiola, H.R. Akcakaya, A. Arcenas, S. Babu, D. Balk, U. Confalonieri, W. Cramer, S. Fritz, R. Green, E. Gutierrez-Espeleta, R. Kane, J. Latham, E. Matthews, T. Ricketts, and T.X. Yue, 2005: Analytical Approaches for Assessing Ecosystem Condition and Human Well-Being. In: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Working Group on Conditions and Trends, R. Schole and H. Rashid (eds.), Island Press, Washington, D.C.

Asner, G.P., R. DeFries, and R.A. Houghton, 2004: Typological responses of ecosystems to land use change. In: Ecosystems and Land Use Change, R. DeFries, G.P. Asner, and R.A. Houghton (eds.). 153, American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC.

DeFries, R., G.P. Asner, and R.A. Houghton, 2004: Trade-offs in land-use decisions: Towards a framework for assessing multiple ecosystem responses to land use change. In: Ecosystems and Land Use Change, R. DeFries, G.P. Asner, and R.A. Houghton (eds.). 153, American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, 1-12.

Mustard, J., DeFries, R., Fisher, T. and Moran, E.F., 2004. Land use and land cover change pathways and impacts. In: G. Gutman et al. (Editors), Land Change Science: Observing, Monitoring, and Understanding Trajectories of Change on the Earth's Surface. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.

Bonan, G.B., DeFries, R., Coe, M. and Ojima, D., 2004. Land use and climate. In: G. Gutman et al. (Editors), Land Change Science: Observing, Monitoring, and Understanding Trajectories of Change on the Earth's Surface. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.

Hansen, A.J., DeFries, R. and Turner, W., 2004. Land use change and biodiversity: A synthesis of rates and consequences during the period of satellite imagery. In: G. Gutman et al. (Editors), Land Change Science: Observing, Monitoring, and Understanding Trajectories of Change on the Earth's Surface. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.

DeFries, R., 2004. Rates of Tropical Deforestation (expert box). In: W. Steffen et al. (eds.), Global Change and the Earth System: A Planet Under Pressure. International Geosphere Biosphere Program, Stockholm, Sweden.

DeFries, R., 2003. Tropical forests, deforestation, and ecosystem services: Contributions of remote sensing. In: P.S. Roy (Editor), Geoinformatics for Tropical Ecosystems. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun, India, pp. 1-32.

DeFries, R., Townshend, J. and Los, S., 1997, Scaling land cover heterogeneity for global atmosphere-biosphere models. In Scale in Remote Sensing and GIS, edited by D. A. Quattrochi and M. F. Goodchild (Boca Raton, FL: CRC/ Lewis Publishers Inc.). pp. 231-246.

DeFries, R. and Townshend, J. R. G., 1994, Global land cover: Comparison of ground-based data sets to classifications with AVHRR data. In Environmental Remote Sensing from Regional to Global Scales, edited by G. Foody and P. Curran (U.K.: John Wiley and Sons). pp. 84-110.

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