Casey M. Ryan
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View article: Policy principles for sustainable and just land systems
Policy principles for sustainable and just land systems Open
Land systems are the nexus of many global sustainability and justice challenges. Here we present eight guiding principles (P1–8) for improved land system policies following the heuristic stages of a policy cycle. The principles are as foll…
Multimodal deep learning enables forest height mapping from patchy spaceborne LiDAR using SAR and passive optical satellite data Open
Accurate estimation of forest height plays a pivotal role in mapping carbon stocks from space. Spaceborne LiDARs give accurate spot estimates of forest canopy height, but sample only a tiny fraction of the landscape. The gaps must therefor…
View article: The global spectrum of tree crown architecture
The global spectrum of tree crown architecture Open
Trees can differ enormously in their crown architectural traits, such as the scaling relationships between tree height, crown width and stem diameter. Yet despite the importance of crown architecture in shaping the structure and function o…
View article: Precipitation–fire functional interactions control biomass stocks and carbon exchanges across the world's largest savanna
Precipitation–fire functional interactions control biomass stocks and carbon exchanges across the world's largest savanna Open
Southern African woodlands (SAW) are the world's largest savanna, covering ∼ 3 M km2, but their carbon balance and its interactions with climate and disturbance are poorly understood. Here we address three issues that hinder regional effor…
View article: Satellite remote sensing can operationalise the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology in the biome-diverse north-east of Brazil
Satellite remote sensing can operationalise the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology in the biome-diverse north-east of Brazil Open
Accurate biome delineation is difficult where biomes occupy the same climatic space, as is the case for tropical dry forest and savanna. The resulting confusion limits our ability to understand and manage impacts of global change on these …
View article: Mapping the worlds dry tropical biomes
Mapping the worlds dry tropical biomes Open
Dry tropical biomes cover 40 – 50% of the tropical regions of the world, but are both highly threatened and poorly mapped. This is challenging because savanna and dry forest are often both structurally overlapping and heterogenous. B…
Three decades of woodland cover change in Hwedza, Zimbabwe reveals similar trajectories of woodland loss in communal and resettlement areas Open
Zimbabwe has pledged to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030, which if accomplished may enhance the delivery of ecosystem services. Uncertainty over the extent of woodland cover change and the impact of land redistribution could impede pro…
UFLUX v2.0: A Process-Informed Machine Learning Framework for Efficient and Explainable Modeling of Terrestrial Carbon Uptake Open
Gross Primary Productivity (GPP), the amount of carbon plants fixed by photosynthesis, is pivotal for understanding the global carbon cycle and ecosystem functioning. Processbased models built on the knowledge of ecological processes, are …
View article: UFLUX v2.0: A Process-Informed Machine Learning Framework for Efficient and Explainable Modelling of Terrestrial Carbon Uptake
UFLUX v2.0: A Process-Informed Machine Learning Framework for Efficient and Explainable Modelling of Terrestrial Carbon Uptake Open
Gross Primary Productivity (GPP), the amount of carbon plants fixed by photosynthesis, is pivotal for understanding the global carbon cycle and ecosystem functioning. Process-based models built on the knowledge of ecological processes are …
View article: Precipitation-fire-functional interactions control biomass stocks and carbon exchanges across the world’s largest savanna
Precipitation-fire-functional interactions control biomass stocks and carbon exchanges across the world’s largest savanna Open
Southern African woodlands (SAW) are the world’s largest savanna, covering ~3 M km2, but their carbon balance, and its interactions with climate and disturbance are poorly understood. Here we address three issues that hinder regional effor…
Resilience, remoteness and war shape the land cover dynamics in one of the world's largest miombo woodlands Open
The highlands of southeast Angola are one of the world's largest intact formations of miombo woodland. Recent interest from conservation groups is increasing the possibility of a new protected area in this conflict-afflicted, remote region…
View article: Tree species diversity drives the land surface phenology of seasonally dry tropical woodlands
Tree species diversity drives the land surface phenology of seasonally dry tropical woodlands Open
Seasonal foliage display (leaf phenology) is a key determinant of ecosystem function. Variation in land surface phenology, observed via space‐borne remote sensing, can be explained at broad spatial scales by climate, but we lack understand…
View article: The African Regional Greenhouse Gases Budget (2010–2019)
The African Regional Greenhouse Gases Budget (2010–2019) Open
As part of the REgional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes Phase 2 (RECCAP2) project, we developed a comprehensive African Greenhouse gases (GHG) budget covering 2000 to 2019 (RECCAP1 and RECCAP2 time periods), and assessed uncertaintie…
View article: Explore before you restore: Incorporating complex systems thinking in ecosystem restoration
Explore before you restore: Incorporating complex systems thinking in ecosystem restoration Open
The global movement for ecosystem restoration has gained momentum in response to the Bonn Challenge (2010) and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UNDER, 2021–2030). While several science‐based guidelines exist to aid in achieving succ…
View article: Fire-precipitation interactions control biomass carbon and net biome production across the world’s largest savanna
Fire-precipitation interactions control biomass carbon and net biome production across the world’s largest savanna Open
Miombo woodlands are the world’s largest savanna, covering 2-3 M km2, and are the dominant land cover in the dry tropics of southern Africa. Here we quantify the dynamics of the miombo region carbon cycle, diagnosing stocks and fluxe…
Hundreds of millions of people in the tropics need both wild harvests and other forms of economic development for their well-being Open
Local access to “wild,” common-pool terrestrial and aquatic resources is being diminished by global resource demand and large-scale conservation interventions. Many theories suggest the well-being of wild harvesters can be supported throug…
Multimodal deep learning for mapping forest dominant height by fusing GEDI with earth observation data Open
The integration of multisource remote sensing data and deep learning models offers new possibilities for accurately mapping high spatial resolution forest height. We found that GEDI relative heights (RH) metrics exhibited strong correlatio…
View article: Forest aboveground biomass estimation using GEDI and earth observation data through attention-based deep learning
Forest aboveground biomass estimation using GEDI and earth observation data through attention-based deep learning Open
Accurate quantification of forest aboveground biomass (AGB) is critical for understanding carbon accounting in the context of climate change. In this study, we presented a novel attention-based deep learning approach for forest AGB estimat…
View article: The African Regional Greenhouse Gases Budget (2010-2019)
The African Regional Greenhouse Gases Budget (2010-2019) Open
As part of the REgional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes Phase 2 (RECCAP2) project, we developed a comprehensive African Greenhouse gases (GHG) budget for the period 2010-2019 and compared it to the budget over the 1985-2009 (RECCAP1)…