Oriented by three research thrusts we work in partnership with communities, industries, NGOs, local governments, and federal agencies to coordinate research on climate mitigation and adaptation. Examples of our recent collaborative work include:
1. Enhanced Natural Climate Solutions (NCS+) using case studies from the Pacific Northwest of the USA as a model temperate system (Research funded by NSF, USDA, and industry partners):
Landscape opportunity mapping for increased carbon drawdown and permanence using ecological and geological datasets.
Field experimentation for the artificial selection of plant and microbial communities that accelerate carbon stabilization in agricultural soils.
Quantification of wildfire effects on ecosystem carbon stocks and the potential for prescribed fire in stabilizing soil carbon pools.
2. Enhanced Natural Climate Solutions (NCS+) using case studies from central Brazil as a model tropical system (Research funded by NSF, National Geographic, and industry partners):
Regional opportunity mapping using social, ecological, and geological datasets to inform policies and align incentives for biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration.

Widespread forests expansion prior to modern deforestation https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/gcb.15382
Field experimentation using waste materials to reset natural succession and increase carbon stabilization in severely degraded landscapes.

Quantification of management effects on soil carbon and nutrients and the potential for indigenous land management in improving carbon stocks while sustaining livelihoods in nutrient-poor regions.

Active Research Grants
National Science Foundation: Geomorphic controls on soil organic carbon in fire-prone erosional landscapes.
National Science Foundation: Convergence Accelerator: Landscape Carbon Sequestration for Atmospheric Recovery.
National Science Foundation: Harnessing biological complexity to improve food security in the Pacific Northwest.
USDA Natural Resources and Environment: Ecological intensification for a productive oak-hazelnut savannah landscape in Oregon.
National Geographic The climate paradox: mapping resilience and vulnerability of montane forests across the Pacific Northwest
Eugene Water & Electric Board Landscape Prioritization for Carbon Drawdown: An integrated strategy for forest and water governance
Center for Environmental Futures Soundscapes of Socioecological Succession: An Interdisciplinary Record of Resilience to Wildfire
Completed grants
National Science Foundation: Delineating Holocene climate-biosphere links from climate and vegetation reconstructions from the Amazon region.
Save-the-Redwoods League: Understanding the influence of an apex predator on the forest carbon cycle
Water Sustainability and Climate (WSC) USDA-NIFA: Agricultural sensitivity to climate change and water resources interactions in the San Joaquin Valley California and system resilience offered by adaptation strategies
American Carbon Registry: Restoration of California Deltaic and Coastal Wetlands for Climate Change Mitigation
California Department of Food and Agriculture: Isotopic records of evapotranspiration, water balance, and depth of water uptake in California’s tree crops
University of California Innovative Development: Retracing drought impacts in California: A new approach to measure changes in food quality and productivity as caused by fluctuations in rainfall
UC MEXUS-CONACYT: Effects of soil-plant feedbacks on the response of forest ecosystems to climate variability and nitrogen deposition
Chinese Academy of Science: Climate-driven vegetation dynamics across altitudinal gradients in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China
Brazilian Council for Scientific and Technological Development: Ecological implications of large scale restoration of degraded land in the Cerrado-Amazon transition
Media Highlights
Excellence in Research Award 2018
CO2’s boost to trees may not offset its climate impact
Solving interdisciplinary puzzles at the SPA Lab
Climate change impact on forest carbon and water
Looking at climate stress on West Coast rangelands
Restoration of California Deltaic and Coastal Wetlands
UO researcher finds surprise growth in Tibetan forest
Soil carbon – key to protecting biodiversity and climate