Event Details

Speaker:  Xavier Haro-Carrion, Berg Post-doctoral Fellow, Geography Department, Macalester

Tropical regions have been subject to various human interventions and have recently started to exhibit changes in response to changes in climate.  This talk will explore changes in vegetation and land-cover at local and regional scales in Ecuador.  At regional scales, long-term and seasonal changes of vegetation were evaluated using data derived from satellite images between 1982 and 2010.  Results indicate significant greening overall after the mid ‘90s, but with distinct seasonal and regional variations.  More locally, he will evaluated changes in forest cover in a highly fragmented landscape in coastal Ecuador and the ramifications of these changes for biodiversity.  Results indicate continuous deforestation in costal Ecuador between 1990 and 2015 with negative impact for most, but not all, tree species.  This research contributes to the understanding of tropical vegetation change in a rapidly changing environment

Xavier Haro-Carrión is a land-change scientist interested in evaluating changes in vegetation at different temporal and spatial scales using remote sensing techniques.  His geographic focus of expertise is Latin America, in particular Ecuador.  At regional scales, he is investigating changes in vegetation greenness in continental Ecuador between 1982-2010.  At local spatial scales, he is evaluating land-cover in coastal Ecuador and the ramifications of these changes for biodiversity.  He has a PhD in Interdisciplinary Ecology with a concentration in Geography and a M.Sc. in Botany from the University of Florida.  He is teaching introductory and advanced courses in remote sensing and courses about Latin America.

Refreshments provided.

This EnviroThursday is co-sponsored by the Environmental Studies, Geography, and Latin American Studies Departments.