Ph.D. projects
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Below are the Ph.D. projects which have been granted endorsement by the Scientific Steering Committee of GLP:
- Monitoring Land Use/Land Cover Changes and its Environmental Impacts in Karst Mountain Ecosystem: a spatial analysis integrating RS, GIS, social survey and climate data. Huang Qiuhao, Department of Resources, Environment & Geography, College of Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China. Read more...
- A Political Ecology of Postsocialist Land Use Change. Johannes Stahl, Institute for Agricultural Economics and Social Sciences, Junior Research Group on Postsocialist Land Relations, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany. For more information please see Abstract or visit Personal homepage
- Suburban forest dynamics: succession, phenology, and urbanization of a Piedmont landscape. Joe Sexton, Nicholas School of the Environment
and Earth Sciences, Duke University, Durham, USA.
Joe Sexton is creating spatiotemporal maps of the Duke Forest’s seral state over the past 20 years to study the ecological drivers of succession in Piedmont forests. Sexton is using GPS-enabled mobile GIS to locate preselected forest vegetation plots in the Durham and Korstian Divisions and to record data directly into GIS data files. These data will be used to calibrate and validate remote sensing models that allow seral states to be retrieved from a 20-year archive of satellite imagery.
- Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Transport Sector through Land Use Planning in the Asia-Pacific Region Noriko Kono, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Urban and Regional Planning. The research examines the relationship between the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission from the transport sector and land use planning patterns conspicuously seen in Asia (namely, dense, mixed use, and Non Motorized Transport-NMT and pedestrian friendly urban design). It also looks at its co-benefit of air quality control from GHG mitigation from the transport sector through land use planning, especially, aiming for developing country cities of the Asia-Pacific region. The research takes an example of a Japanese city, Yokohama. Read more...
- Combining actor and pattern-oriented approaches in land use/cover research methods for the development of a discussion-support tool. Diego Valbuena, Landscape Centre, Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands. The aim of this PhD project is to merge actor and pattern-oriented approaches for the preliminary development of a discussion-support tool by combining multi-agent systems (actors) and spatial modelling (patterns). Specifically, human decisions will be represented by using an agent typology and landscape configuration by the application of landscape indices. In this way, LUCC at a regional scale will be simulated as the cumulative result of heterogeneous land-use decisions, which are in turn influenced by their spatial context.
- Development of a high resolution global land allocation module for the IMAGE model. Kathleen Neumann, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, The Netherlands. The overall objective of the PhD project is to improve the current land allocation module of the IMAGE model to contribute to the improvement of existing land allocation models at global scale. For the development of the new land allocation modules extra attention will be given to land use intensities and urban dynamics because it is assumed that by improving knowledge of these themes our modelling abilities will be largely enhanced. Please also see: Read more...
- Multifunctionality in a spatial context: development of a discussion support tool for multifunctional land use planning. Louise Willemen, Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands.The overall objective of this PhD project is to analyze spatial aspects of landscape functions and multifunctionality in order to develop a methodology to include landscape functionalities in spatial explicit scenario simulation models. The final product will be able to visualize landscape functions dynamics in space and time, indicate locations with conflicting functions and highlight areas with a multifunctional potential. Please also see: Read more...
- Soil-vegetation-landscape dynamics: quick and slow soil landscape feedbacks in natural and used systems (KwaZulu-Natal, RSA). Arnaud Temme, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, The Netherlands. This project studies the interactions between soil, vegetation and landscape. On the long 50-ka timescale, we studied these interactions in Okhombe valley, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. We obtained insights in vegetation, erosion and sedimentation history of the area and tested these insights with landscape evolution model LAPSUS. On the shorter decennia timescale, we plan to study the same interactions, using the same model parametrization, on a larger study area: the Drakensberg Foothills. Please also see: Read more...
- Multi-agent modelling applied to understand the dynamics and management of carbon resources in West-African agro-ecosystems. Mahamadou Belem, SeqBio-IRD, Montpellier, France.The objectives of this PhD study are to: 1) Analyse carbon dynamics in West-African savannas at the plot to territory level, 2) Propose a generic multi-agent conceptual model allowing, multi-level analysis which deals efficiently with system heterogeneity and integration of social, economical, physical and biological dimensions, 3) To propose a generic multi-agent model for the analysis of carbon dynamics in West-African savannas from the plot to territory level, 4) To analyze the sensitivity of the dynamics of C resources and GHG balance to global economic and environmental policies, and local networks of decision, 5) To couple the Century general ecosystem model with the MAS model. For more information please contact Mahamadou Belem at: Mahamadou.belem(at)mpl.ird.fr
- Long-term impacts of agricultural intensification on plant functional diversity, ecosystem functioning, ecosystem services, and resilience of New Zealand rangelands. Etienne Laliberté, School of Forestry, University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Pastures and rangelands are the most extensive land uses on earth, and are expected to undergo rapid intensification to meet the forecasted doubling in global food demand by 2050. This research project explores the long-term impacts of agricultural intensification (fertilisation, irrigation, and grazing intensity) on plant functional diversity, ecosystem functioning (ANPP, BNPP, litter decomposition, and soil respiration) ecosystem services (native biodiversity conservation, forage production, and carbon sequestration), and resilience to future disturbances (plant response diversity) in New Zealand high country rangelands. To do so, we use long-term experimental plots from a rangeland improvement trial which have been over-sown with a mixture of 25 exotic pasture species and then subjected to different levels of agricultural inputs and sheep grazing intensity for over 25 years. Read more...