Graduate  students

Chair of Graduated PhDs (5)

Joel Hartter (Co-Chair with Dr. Abe Goldman as Chair),  Fall 2007

Topic: Land Cover and Land Use Changes in and around Kibale National Park, Uganda

Current :
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Geography, University of New Hampshire

Co-authored Publications:

Hartter, J., Goldman, A.C., and J. Southworth. In press. Responses by Households to Resource Scarcity and Crop Raiding in Communities Near a Forest Park. Journal for Nature Conservation.

Southworth, J., Hartter, J., Binford, M.W., Goldman, A.C., Chapman, C.A., Chapman, L.J., Omeja, P., and E. Binford. 2010. Landscape effects of an East African national park on the protected tropical forest and its surrounding area. Tropical Conservation Science 3(2): 122-142.

Hartter, J. and J. Southworth. 2009. Dwindling Resources and Fragmentation of Landscapes around Parks: Wetlands and Forest fragments around Kibale National Park, Uganda. Landscape Ecology 24(5): 643-656.

Hartter, J., Southworth, J., Binford, M. 2009. Parks as a Mechanism to Maintain and Facilitate Recovery of Forest Cover: Examining Reforestation, Forest Maintenance and Productivity in Uganda. In: Southworth, J. and H. Nagendra (Eds.). Reforesting Landscapes: Linking Pattern and Process. pp. 275-296. Springer Landscape Series, New York.

Goldman, A., Hartter, J., Southworth, J., Binford, M. 2008. The Human Landscape around the Island Park: Impacts and Responses to Kibale National Park. In: Wrangham, R. and E. Ross (Eds.). Science and Conservation in African Forests: The Benefits of Longterm Research. pp. 129-144. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Matt Marsik (Co-Chair with Dr. Peter Waylen as Chair),  Fall 2008

Topic:  Appropriate scales of modeling the effects of land cover/land use in computer modeling of surface hydrology.

Current: Post-doctoral Research Associate, University of Washington

Co-Authored Publications:
Marsik, M.*, Stevens, F.*, and Southworth J.  In Revision. Patterns and Rates of Deforestation in Pando, Bolivia from 1986 to 2005. Progress in Physical Geography.

Southworth, J., G.S. Cumming, M. Marsik*, and M.W. Binford. 2006. Linking Spatial and Temporal Variation at Multiple Scales in a Heterogeneous Landscape. Professional Geographer 58(4): 406-420

Amy Daniels,  Summer 2009

Topic:  Land Cover Change, Conservation, and Wetlands: Costa Rica

Current: U.S. Forest Service, Research & Development, Climate Change Specialist, Washington, D.C. [2009 Presidential Management Fellowship Award]

Co-authored or single publications:

Daniels, A.E. (2009) Forest expansion in northwest Costa Rica: conjuncture of the global market, land-use intensification and forest protection. In Nagendra, H. and J. Southworth, editors. Reforesting Landscapes: Linking Pattern and Process. Springer, New York, New York, USA.

Daniels, A.E., K. Painter, and J. Southworth. (2008) Milpa imprint on the tropical dry forest landscape in Yucatan, Mexico: remote sensing and field measurement of edge vegetation. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 123: 293-304.

Daniels, A.E. (2006) Incorporating domain knowledge and spatial relationships into land cover classification: a rule-based approach. International Journal of Remote Sensing 27(14): 2949-2975.

Jaclyn Hall,  Summer 2009

Research Interests: I am a biogeographer with expertise in remote sensing and 12 years of experience in Africa. My current research involves determining the ecological consequences of forest loss and degradation and developing methods to measure forest structure and density in tropical forests in using satellite data.

Current: Postdoctoral Researcher, Earth and Life Institute (TECLIM), Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium,  with Dr. Eric Lambin.

Publications:
Hall, J.M., N. Burgess, J. Lovett, B. Mbilinyi and R. Gereau. 2009. Conservation implications of deforestation across an elevational gradient in the Eastern Arc Mountains. Biological Conservation 142: 2510-2521.
Hall, J.M., T.W. Gillespie, M. Mwangoka. Ecological comparison of protected and agro-forests. Environmental Management Accepted.
Hall, J.M., Remote sensing of tropical rain forest canopies. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Gardens In review.

Hall, J.M., T.W. Gillespie, D. Richardson and S. Reader. 2002. Conservation of Florida scrub in an urban landscape. Urban Ecosystems 6(4): 243-255.
Hall, J.M. and T.W. Gillespie, 2004. Rarity and Conservation of Florida Scrub. Florida Scientist 67(1):9-17.

Claudia Stickler, December 2009

Topic:  Developing a property size and land use/land cover configuration index for modelling alternative landscapes to evaluate Brazilian forest legislation

Current: Post-doc with Woods Hole Research Institute

Co-authored Publications:

C.M. Stickler* and J. Southworth. 2008. Application of a multi-scale spatial and spectral analysis to predict primate occurrence and habitat associations in Kibale
National Park, Uganda. Remote Sensing of Environment, 112: 2170-2186.

Cumming, G.S., G. Barnes, S. Perz, M. Schmink, K. E. Sieving, J. Southworth, M. Binford, R. D. Holt, C. Stickler*, T. Van Holt*. 2005. An Exploratory Framework for the Empirical Measurement of Resilience. Ecosystems, 8(8): 975-987

Chair of Current PhDs (10)

Sanchayeeta Adhikari [ABD]

Research Interests:  I am interested in protected area management, human-environment interactions, spatial-statistical modeling of socio-ecological systems, land use and land cover change science, remote sensing, and GIS. My career intention is to be a professor in a PhD granting geography department.  I enjoy the experience I receive collecting my own field data and I am firmly dedicated to the education of Geography students and other students interested in nature-human systems. I hope to continue to pursue research endeavors that both stimulate young scientists and produce results to real world questions.
Funding: UF Alumni Fellow

Publications:
Adhikari. S, Southworth. J and Nagendra. H. Spatial and temporal analysis of land-use and land-cover change in and around Bannerghatta National Park, India. Land Use Policy. Under Review

Cerian Gibbes [ABD]

Research Interests:  Cerian’s research sits within the land change science arena and examines the relationships between land cover change and conservation related processes at multiple scales. Her areas of focus include 1) land use and land cover change - examining relationships between socioeconomic policies and land use and land cover, 2) remote sensing - applicability and advancement of remote sensing techniques for spatial analysis 3) social and ecological implications of protected area and community based conservation strategies. Cerian is a doctoral candidate whose dissertation research explores multi-scale interactions between land cover change and land management practices in southern Africa, and has worked on similar topics in Latin America, and the Caribbean. 

Publications:

Southworth, J., Gibbes, C. Remote Sensing within the field of Land Change Science: Past, present and future directions. Geography Compass, Accepted.

Gibbes, C., Keys, E. The illusion of equity: Community based natural resource management in southern Africa. Geography Compass,Iin Press.

Gibbes C., Southworth J., Keys E. 2009. Wetland conservation: change and fragmentation in Trinidad’s protected areas. Geoforum, 40, 91-104.
Funding: UF Alumni Fellow and now RA for NASA project

Pinki Mondal [ABD]

As a land change scientist, my research interest lies in identifying the spatial and temporal landscape patterns, often a consequence of several natural and anthropogenic factors, and linking those patterns to the underlying processes. I use remote sensing and GIS as my research tools, and I am also interested in developing new and innovative remote sensing techniques that is transferable to any environmental setting. As a doctoral student, I address issues related to biodiversity conservation, forest management strategies, and national level policies. I am developing and testing combination of multiple methods from remote sensing, geostatistics and landscape ecology to identify changing spatial and temporal patterns in and around a tiger reserve in Central India, which I am using as a template for tropical ecosystem. In future, I would like to apply my research tools to different geographic regions and would also like to incorporate new tools/techniques into my research. I wish to continue with an active academic career and also to be involved in long-term conservation planning, while working on developing effective methodology that can inform park managers, conservation planners and bureaucrats about the changing landscapes.    
Funding: UF Alumni Fellow

Publications:

Mondal, P., Southworth, J. 2010. Protection vs. Commercial management: spatial and temporal analysis of land cover changes in the tropical forests of Central India. Forest Ecology and Management 259 (5), 1009 -1017.

Mondal, P., Southworth, J. Evaluation of conservation interventions using a Cellular Automata-Markov model. Forest Ecology and Management. Under Review.

Karla Rocha [ABD]

Topic:  remote sensing and GIS tools to evaluate land use land cover change in the tri-national frontier (MAP) – implications for sustainable land use in SW Amazon
Funding: NSF Research Assistant on MAP Project (NSF-HSD Grant)

Publications:

Muhammad Almatar

Topic: GIS and Remote Sensing Analyses of land cover change in Kuwait

Funding: Fellowship from Kuwait

Publications:

Forrest Stevens

Research Interests: Integrated modeling of socioecological systems and natural resource management, land use and landcover change science, remote sensing, rural lands and livelihoods. My general interests relate to how economic and ecological drivers impact natural resource management and land use, and how those play out at the landscape scale. To address these research interests I am transitioning back to work with ecological temperate forest dynamics and how forest health and management practices interact with the larger socioecological conditions in Wallowa County, Oregon.

Funding: Is funded as an IGERT student (PI Ben Bolker: Quantitative Spatial Environment, Ecology and Evolution) for his PhD. Defended his Masters successfully in Jan 2009 and started the PhD program and IGERT at that time.

Publications:

Marsik, M., F. R. Stevens , and J. Southworth. Patterns and rates of land cover change in Pando, northern Bolivia from 1986 to 2005. Progress in Physical Geography. In Revision.

Pfister, C. A., and F. R. Stevens. 2003. Individual variation and environmental stochasticity: Implications for matrix model predictions. Ecology 84 (no. 2):496-510.

Pfister, C. A., and F. R. Stevens. 2002. The genesis of size variability in plants and animals. Ecology 83 (no. 1):59-72.

HuiPing Tsai

Research interests: I am interested in human-environmental interaction, especially the relationship between climate variability and public health issue. My goal is mainly aim at contributing the society by providing a clear interpretation of the relationship between climate variability and public health with a simplified predicting model.   

Funding : Departmental TA, started PhD: Fall 2008

Publications:

T. K. Chang, H.P. Tsai. "Discussion on Guildelines for Ecological Engineering Methods." Journal of Chinese Agricultural Engineering 51, no. 1 (2005): 12-26.

T.J. Hu, H.W. Wang, H.Y. Lee, S.S. Shih, H.P. Tsai. "Investigation of River Corridor and Habitat Restoration on Nan-Shih River." In 2005 International Symposium on Ecological Engineering and Hydro Science. Taipei, Taiwan, 2005.

Erin Bunting

Topic: Climate Variability, Climate Change and linkages to land cover in southern Africa

Started PhD: Fall 2008

Jing Sun

Research Interests: Application of remote sensing and spatial analysis using GIS and remote sensing to evaluate changes and dynamic in a landscape. Development of multi-scale environmental indicators and indices to ecosystem structure, functions and dynamic. Multiscale analysis of critical life-support environmental processes at scales ranging from communities to landscape and regions.

Funding: Alumni Fellow, Started Fall 2008

Publications:

Sun Jing, Wang Jun, Yang Xin-jun. An overview on the resilience of social ecological systems. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 2007, 27, 12.

Sun Jing, Wang Jun, Yang Xin-jun, Liu Wenzhao, N. Zacarrelli. An Analysis of Disturbance on Social-ecological System at Multiple Scales Based on NDVI—The Yuzhong County, Gansu Province. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 2009, 29, 4.
Zhang Xiang-long, Wang Jun, Yang Xin-jun, Sun Jing. Scenario analysis and its application in ecosystem research. Chinese Journal of Ecology. 2008, 27 (10): 1763-1770.

Jessica Steele

Research Interests: My research interests include human-environment geography, land use and land cover change, global environmental change, remote sensing, and political ecology.  I'm interested in assessing land use and land cover change using remote sensing techniques and statistical methods, and also understanding the drivers of land change, including how and why humans are changing land cover.

Funding: NSF  IGERT (QSE3) Fellowship and TA in geography when not on IGERT funding.
Started Fall 2009

Chair of Graduated Masters (5)

Robert Lopez

Topic: Land Use Land Cover Change in Puerto-Rico over the last 30 years
Successfully defended thesis, March 2006

Current: Environmental Consultant – Ohio, USA

Cerian Gibbes

Topic: Land Use Land Cover Change and Fragmentation Patterns of Coastal Mangroves in Trinidad: 1985-2005
Successfully defended thesis, Fall 2006

Current: ABD in PhD Program

Muhammed Almatar

Topic: Urban and Suburban development and its drivers in Alachua county, FL, from 1980-2006
Current: In PhD program

Graduated Spring 2008, taking Quals Summer 2010

Forrest Stevens

Topic: Cross-scale analyses within the MAP region
Graduated Spring 2009

Current: IGERT fellow and in PhD program

Mariano Gonzalez

Topic : Argentina Grasslands – land cover change and game reserves – their role in the landscape.
Graduated – Fall 2009

Current :  PhD program, Duke University, Duke fellowship in Year 1, now NASA fellowship funding.

Post-Docs and Fellows (3)

Lin Cassidy

Current: Research scholar at the Okavango Research Institute, University of Botswana. Post-doc (25% time) on NASA Project 2009-2012

Research Interests: Beyond the concept of ethical, non-harming research, I believe in applied and practical research that improves our understanding of human-environment interactions and directly enhances positive change.  My research interests include:  Land tenure and property rights, Community-based natural resources management, Land use and land cover change, and landscape change, Sustainable resource use Conservation and development, and Equity and sustainability.  I work with a range of different theoretical frameworks, particularly: Coupled social-ecological systems, Complex adaptive systems, Resilience, Hierarchies and Scale.  I also focus on political ecology, including social categorization (gender, class, ethnicity) and relation to the resource base.  I use the following approaches:  GIS, remote sensing and landscape ecology metrics, Methods for social science research (statistical analyses, qualitative approaches and mixed methods), Participatory research, and Modelling – conceptual, statistical, and spatial.

Publications list:

Cassidy, L., Binford, M., Southworth, J. and Barnes, G. [in press] Social and ecological factors and land-use land-cover diversity in two provinces in south-east Asia. Accepted by Land Use Science.

Cassidy, L. 2009  Fire and Wealth, and Access to Wetland Resources in the Panhandle of Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Cape Town, South Africa, 13-17 July 2009.

Cassidy, L. 2007 Mapping burned areas in the wetlands of the Okavango Panhandle using a modified hierarchical classification approach. Wetlands Ecology and Management, Vol 15, Issue 4 pp 253-268.  OnlineFirst DOI 10.1007/s11273-006-9026-2

Gladwin, C.H., Cassidy, L. and Hoon, P.N. (eds) 2002 Gender and Soil Fertility in Africa – Special Issue, African Studies Quarterly, Vol 6, Issue 1/2. http://www.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v6/v6i1.htm.

Xia Cui

Visiting Scholar to my lab, from Lanzhou University, China
Major: Cartography and Geographic Information System.
Expected Graduation Date: Summer, 2011
Awards: 2008 Fellowship for Ph. D study at Lanzhou University

Doctoral research:
Remote monitoring of grassland above-ground biomass and improve the grassland classification for management. For visiting status is working on resilience of savanna vegetation to precipitation, within a three country region in southern Africa. A paper will be submitted form this research, with Xia as lead author, by Fall 2010..

Publications list:

Cui, X., Liang, T.G. and Liu, Y., 2009, Modeling of aboveground biomass of grassland using remotely sensed MOD09GA data. Journal of Lanzhou University (Natural Science), 45, pp. 79-87.

Cui X., Feng Q.S., Liang T.G. 2007.  Research progress on remote sensing based net primary productivity of terrestrial vegetation. Pratacultural Science, 24:36-42.

 Li X., Cui X., Huang X.D., Liang T.G. 2007.  Spatial and temporal change of MODIS vegetation indices for different grassland in northern Xingjiang. Pratacultural Science, 24:5-11.

Xanic Rondon

Visiting Scholar, Department of Geography, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL (Feb-Oct 2010), and Postdoctoral Fellow, Percy Fitz Patrick Institute, University of Cape Town, South Africa.  Advisors: G. Cumming, S. Perz, and J. Southworth. Project: NSF grant: Infrastructure change, human agency, and resilience in social-ecological systems.

Research Interests: Recently, I have become very interested in landscape ecology. I am particularly interested in studying different behaviors of selective logging and their spatial and temporal effect in forest fragmentation. My long-term goal is to continue doing research in the Peruvian Amazon and become faculty professor in a liberal arts college.

Publications list:

Cumming, G. S., Southworth, J., Rondon, X. J., Marsik, M., and Stevens, F. Do edge effects matter more than connectivity in Amazonian rainforest landscapes? To be submitted Fall 2010

Rondon, X. J., Gorchov, D. L., and F. Cornejo. Aplicación de la tala rasa en fajas en Jenaro Herrera: Evaluación de sostenibilidad. submitted. Folia Amazónica.

Rondon, X. J., Gorchov, D. L., Elliott, S., and F. Cornejo. 2010. Assessing the sustainability of strip clear-cutting, a natural forest management system in the Peruvian Amazon. Forest Economics and Policy 12:340-348.

Rondon, X. J., Gorchov, D. L., and Noble, R. B. 2009. Projection of tree-growth and timber volume following Strip Clear-Cutting in the Peruvian Amazon. Forest Ecology and Management 257:588-599.

Rondon, X. J., Gorchov, D. L. and F. Cornejo. 2009. Tree species richness and composition 15 years after strip clear-cutting in the Peruvian Amazon. Plant Ecology 201:23-27.