Senior Lecturer in Ecosystem Services and Global Change
University of Edinburgh
School of GeoSciences, Crew Building
Edinburgh
EH10 4AH
United Kingdom
Dr. Casey Ryan is a senior lecturer in ecosystem services and global change at the University of Edinburgh, School of GeoSciences. Broadly, he is interested in tropical land use change science and ecosystem ecology with his research mainly focused on the miombo woodlands of Southern Africa, their ecology, and the ecosystem services that they provide. Dr. Casey’s main research topics include: Miombo woodland ecology, particularly the role of fire; land use change in woodlands and savannahs, particularly in SE Asia and Africa; the carbon cycle of tropical savannas and dry forests; the leaf phenology of seasonally dry ecosystems; tree allometry and biomass estimation; reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), with a particular emphasis on African woodlands and shifting cultivation. Dr. Casey employs a mixture of methods and techniques his research, from field based studies of trees and soil, to data acquired from satellites and employs computer modelling and GIS techniques for much of his work. Current select projects include: ACES, Abrupt Changes in Ecosystem Services and Wellbeing in Mozambican Woodlands; Streamlining Monitoring for Smallholder and Community PES (SMS-PES); and the SHAMBA tool, a project aimed at developing a greenhouse gas accounting approach for Climate Smart Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa that is accessible to non-specialists and is applicable across a broad range of environmental conditions and land use interventions in partnership with many local research institutions and project developers in Mozambique, Malawi, and Zambia.
Themes
Telecoupling of land use systems, Land-atmosphere processes, Land change trade-offs for ecosystem services and biodiversity , Land management systems
A new paper in BioScience outline how social processes that are critical to restoration equity and effectiveness can be better incorporated in restoration science and policy.
The authors conclude that the narrow focus on specific ES categories strongly limits understanding of SF in shifting cultivation areas and that it is more relevant to compare SFs with other agricultural systems rather than with old-growth forests.
A new paper from the SEOSAW project, a GLP Contributing Project, provides large-scale evidence that there are alternative states in tree species composition of tropical vegetation in Africa. This result is not only important for understanding the biogeography of the continent but also, to guide large-scaled tree planting and restoration efforts planned for the region. An article in ScienceDaily provides links back from the research to debates in the GLP community.
Land-use intensification in agrarian landscapes is seen as a key strategy to simultaneously feed humanity and use ecosystems sustainably, but the conditions that support positive social-ecological outcomes remain poorly documented. A new article by several GLP Fellows and Members addresses this knowledge gap by synthesizing research that analyses how agricultural intensification affects both ecosystem services and human well-being in low- and middle-income countries.
Monday, January 29, 2024 (All day) to Tuesday, January 30, 2024 (All day)
What do the "10 Facts About Land Systems" published by the Global Land Programme mean for land system policy design and implementation? How do they influence policy goals, policy processes, and the governance scale? Join the GLP and The Royal Society in Cambridge to learn more. Advance registration required to request an invitation.
