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RUTH S. DeFRIES

Department of Geography

and

Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center

University of Maryland, College Park

   Ruth DeFries is a professor at the University of Maryland, College Park with joint appointments in the Department of Geography and the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center. Her research investigates the relationships between human activities, the land surface, and the biophysical and biogeochemical processes that regulate the Earth's habitability. She is interested in observing land cover and land use change at regional and global scales with remotely sensed data and exploring the implications for ecological services such as climate regulation, the carbon cycle, and biodiversity. Dr. DeFries obtained a Ph.D. in 1980 from the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering at Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor's degree in 1976 from Washington University with a major in earth science. Previously, Dr. DeFries worked at the National Research Council with the Committee on Global Change and taught at the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay.  She is a fellow of the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program and was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2006.

CONTACT INFORMATION

2181 Lefrak Hall

University of Maryland

College Park, MD 20742

tel: 301 405 4884

fax: 301 314 9299

email: rdefries@mail.umd.edu

SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS

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. pdf

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.

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., F. Achard, F. Brown, M. Herold, D. Murdiyarso, B. Schlamadinger and C. M. Souza. in press.. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation in developing countries: Considerations for monitoring and measuring. Environmental Science and Policy.

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

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.

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.

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., 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.

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.

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.

SELECTED RESEARCH PROJECTS

“Reducing Uncertainties of Carbon Emissions from Land Use-Related Fires with MODIS Data: From Local to Global Scale". NASA

“Large-Scale Deforestation and Local Changes in Humid Tropical Forests in Support of Biodiversity Monitoring for TEAM”, Conservation International

"Integrating Coarse and Fine Resolution Satellite Data to Monitor Land Use Change in the Amazon Basin", NASA

"Estimating carbon emissions from historical changes in global agricultural land" NASA (sub-contract to University of Wisconsin, P.I. N. Ramankutty)

"Land Use Change in and Around Protected Areas in LCLUC Sites: Synthesis of Rates and Consequences for Biodiversity", NASA (with A. Hansen, Montana State University)

“Towards Methodologies for Global Monitoring of Forest Cover Characteristics with Coarse Resolution Data”, NASA

“A Global Network of Sites for Assessing Biogeochemical and Biogeophysical Consequences of Land Cover Disturbance”, NASA

CURRENT COURSES

GEOG/AOSC/GEOL123: Causes and Implications of Global Environmental Change

GEOG639D Geographic Perspectives in Earth System Science

GEOG498D Land Use, Climate Change, and Sustainability

CURRENT STUDENTS

J. Dempewolf, “Fire Dynamics and Woody Cover Changes in the Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem 2000 to 2005: A Remote Sensing Approach” (awarded 2007)

M. Songer, “Dynamics of Non-Timber Forest Product Extraction in a Protected Tropical Dry Forest Area in Southeast Asia” (awarded 2006)

L. Anderson (co-advisor), “Analyzing the Impact of Partcipatory-Developed Conservation Policies in the Negril Environmental Protection Area, Western Jamaica” (awarded 2007)

D. Morton, “Savannization of a Tropical Forest Frontier: Carbon Consequences of Climate and Anthropogenic Fire from a Height-Structured Ecosystem Model” (advanced to candidacy)

K. Murphy, “A Multi-Sensor Approach to Identifying Trends in Anthropogenic and Natural Change in Orangutan Habitat” (advanced to candidacy)

C. Kennedy (co-advisor), “Impacts of Land Cover and Land Use Change on Bird Communities of the Mayan Forests of the Southern Yucatan Peninsula” (advanced to candidacy)

K. Wurster, topic TBD

S. Zeigler, topic TBD

M. Macedo, topic TBD

CURRICULUM VITAE

Latest update January 26, 2007