About

I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow under Prof. William F. Laurance of James Cook University. 

My research concerns the trends, causes, and patterns of tropical forest-cover change at large spatial and temporal scales, where 'forest change' encompasses natural forest regeneration, deforestation, plantation reforestation, and ephemeral canopy cover change. In general it describes how forest changes reflect trends in land use, settlement and livelihoods, such that forest change and social change become inter-twined in space and time.  I give special attention to the spatial patterns of forest and social change and explain the ‘how’, 'why' and 'what' of forest change by defining the contexts in which it occurs. 

My interests are varied are inter-disciplinary, but center on the following major themes:

Tropical Deforestation: as by smallhodler and inudstrial agricultural expansion, wildfires, and mining and infrastructre development;

Tropical Reforestation: as through natural processes following agricultural abandonment or community and industrial plantation reforestation;

Pathways of Socio-Environmental Change: integrated trajectories of social and environmental change and their development over time and space;

Forest Management: as in contexts of growing demand and threats to forests, such as during resource booms, economic growth, forest colonization;

Threats to Forest Integrity: particularly global, resource-baed, agro-industiral threats such as mining, timber extraction, and oil-palm production, but also demographic and economic growth.

Future Forest Scenarios: entailing simple or complex estimations of future forest extent and the threats and implications thereof for forest management and biodiversity.

Interests
Research
  • Indonesia; tropical forest; tropical forest regeneration; forest transition; geography; land-change science; sustainability science; sustainability science; society-nature interaction; long-term socio-ecological research; social ecology; integrated land-change science; wildfires; Borneo; Panama; Latin America; forest plantation; deforestation; campesino; deforestation scenarios
Research Disciplines
Socio-Economic Objectives
Publications

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Journal Articles