Gillian L. Galford
Ph.D. Candidate,
Brown-MBL Joint Graduate Program
Tel: 508.289.7489 | Fax: 508-457-1548
E-mail: ggalford@mbl.edu
M.Sc., Geological Sciences, Brown University, 2006
B.A. Earth & Planetary Sciences and Environmental Studies (Social Sciences Track), Washington University in St. Louis, 2004
Links:
- Full CV
- Land-Use and Land-Cover Change Research Group
- Dept. of Geological Sciences, Brown University
-Watson International Scholars of the Environment
- The Pathfinder Program in Environmental Sustainability
Research Statement
Increasing population coupled with rising standards of living have and will continue to increase demands for food, fiber and fuel in ways that alter ecosystem goods and services. I am interested in the relationship between land-use changes and ecosystems services, and scenarios for sustainable development. I utilize remote sensing and biogeochemical modeling to address these land-use and land-cover change (LCLUC) questions.
My interests in ecosystem services center on LCLUC impacts on biogeochemical cycles, particularly the emission of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. Conversions of natural ecosystems and low-intensity managed lands (i.e. pasture) to high-intensity use, such as heavily-mechanized croplands, releases carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Subsequent cropland management, such as fertilization, determines long-term patterns of soil nutrient stocks and greenhouse gas fluxes. Quantifying current temporal and spatial patterns of LCLUC with remote sensing is crucial to understand the impacts on ecosystem services, including modeling estimates of biogeochemical stocks and fluxes.
The Brazilian Frontier
In the last half-decade, the southwestern Brazilian Amazon has begun rapid transformation from natural vegetation and pastures to mechanized agriculture with significant impacts on regional biogeochemistry. In Mato Grosso and Rondônia states, we use MODIS and remote sensing tools to delineate major crop management patterns. Remote sensing of land-use and land-use changes and new biogeochemical field data have been used to improve and iteratively test the process-based Terrestrial Ecosystems Model (TEM). We use georeferenced databases of model drivers such as temperature, precipitation, and soil type to apply the model at regional scales. The enhanced TEM estimates regional fluxes of CO2 and N2O associated with agricultural intensification to determine the biogeochemical impacts of land cover change.
Publications:
Galford, G.L., J. Melillo, J.F. Mustard, C.E. Cerri, C.C. Cerri (Submitted). Global frontier of land-use change: The expansion of croplands in the Southwestern Amazon. Global Change Biology.
Galford, G.L., J.F. Mustard, J. Melillo, A. Gendrin, C.C. Cerri, C.E.P. Cerri (2008). Wavelet analysis of MODIS time series to detect expansion and intensification of row-crop agriculture in Brazil. Remote Sensing of Environment, 112: 576-587.
Neibur, C.S., R.E. Arvidson, E.A. Guinness, and G.L. Galford (2003). Lower Missouri River Flood Plain At Arrow Rock Before and After the Great Floods of 1993, in At The Confluence: Rivers, Floods, and Water Quality in the St. Louis Region, ed. R. E. Criss, D. A. Wilson, Missouri Botanical Gardens Press.
