Diseases introduced by Europeans after 1492 are now known to have caused massive population declines in the Americas, and the failure of ancient agricultural systems across huge regions, many of which depended on the regular burning of forests.  Now, researchers, led by Richard Nevle and ... [More]

China's explosive economic growth has awed the world, and is now felt in every corner of the Earth.  As a result, earth systems are being changed at unprecedented rates, while bringing more people into a modern lifestyle than ever before. While we normally perceive these changes in te... [More]

China's Yangtze Delta (also known as the Tai Lake Region) is home to some of the world's most ancient anthropogenic landscapes.  Rice was likely domesticated here 8,500 years ago, and the region's nickname "land of fish and rice" sums up it's long history of ... [More]

A couple weeks ago, I was invited by UMBC to provide a new year's message to the world, in 100 words, prefaced with "In 2009, the world should resolve to…"Here is the video version of my new year's message:  And here are the 100 words:"In 2009, the world ... [More]

At the end of August, my graduate adviser, Erle Ellis, was invited to a joint US-German conference in Berlin, Germany:  Tough Choices: Land Use under a Changing Climate. (http://www.nkgcf.org/usg08)  The NSF, which funded the US side, encouraged the "senior scientists" who were a... [More]

At last!  After nearly one year online, my paper with Navin Ramankutty introducing Anthropogenic Biomes (Anthromes), is now in print in the October issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.  Even better, it is on the cover! The paper can be viewed online (with permission) at ... [More]