Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

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People / Faculty / Lisa M. Curran
 

Lisa M. Curran

Professor of Tropical Resources and Director of the Tropical Resources Institute

Research Statement

Efforts to sustainably manage natural resources create complex interdisciplinary research challenges. How can we integrate the extent and grain of ecological processes not only across spatial scales spanning leaves to landscapes, but simultaneously across temporal scales encompassing environmental and climatic variation (e.g., El Niño Southern Oscillation)? How can we incorporate the jurisdictional or managerial scales of socio-economic forces, political interests, institutions and behavior? To address these challenges, I seek to understand the spatial and temporal scales of ecological dynamics in tropical ecosystems and how the policies and practices surrounding resource use affect these ecosystems. I work with a diversity of agents involved in forest use and management to conduct such integrated studies. These research results are then used to generate science-based policy recommendations that aim for equitable and sustainable resource use and conservation.

To achieve our broad aims, we have maintained diverse collaborative international partnerships across agencies and institutions including governmental, donor, local, regional and international non-governmental organizations and universities with the private sector. Research is/has been funded by NASA, USAID, NSF, as well as several non-governmental organizations and international conservation foundations. My research program has addressed: 1) large-scale and long-term ecological studies of forest regeneration and plant-animal interactions; 2) effects of timber harvest on the structure and functioning of undisturbed and managed ecosystems; 3) forestry and protected area management policies; and 4) the socioeconomic and ecological effects of land use change in tropical landscapes. Three current inter-related field projects in Indonesian Borneo include:

  1. Effects of Land Use Change and El Niño Southern Oscillation on Dipterocarp and Peat Forest Dynamics, Carbon Emissions and Biodiversity. Our field work assesses biomass and carbon sources/sinks on various land use and forest types and validates remote-sensing products generated by our team working with IKONOS, Landsat and MODIS satellite imagery. We are constructing carbon emissions from land use change and plan to evaluate the potential for forest fire, drought and/or disruption of ecological processes. Our research has demonstrated the large-scale off-site impacts of land cover change on forest dynamics within protected areas and highlighted the importance of linking a solid understanding of the spatial-temporal scale of ecological processes with anthropogenic change.

  2. Effects of Forestry, Agribusiness and Inter-sectoral Policies, Regional Autonomy and Governance on Bornean Ecosystems. We have been monitoring forestry and agricultural policies with field practices/surveys and investigations of Indonesian logging operations (1970-present) focusing on Kalimantan forests. Our current emphasis examines the role of state enterprises, industrial plantations (oil palm and pulp and paper), illegal logging and fate of protected areas. As the timber industry collapses, industrial oil palm plantations have rapidly proliferated throughout Indonesia as a means to generate export revenue and employment as well as to provide biofuel. This research provides information on the effects of governmental policies in practice for rural village livelihoods, ecosystem dynamics and potential environmental disasters such as large-scale smoke and fires.

  3. Interactions of Commercial Logging and Oil Palm Plantations on Rural Village Livelihoods and Health in Indonesian Borneo. This research documents the interactions of state and private sector industrial concessions on rural subsistence activities including hunting, fishing and forest product extraction surrounding national parks. We are quantifying the costs/ benefits of export generating activities in the wood-based and agribusiness sectors with the costs/benefits borne by rural villages on subsistence and market-based livelihood activities, ecosystem goods and services (e.g., water, carbon and forest products), human health (e.g., respiratory ailments, vector-borne disease and nutrition) and threats of droughts and fires.