Tropical forests were the primary sources of new agricultural land in the 1980s and 1990s
A new article published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences states global demand for agricultural products such as food, feed and fuel is now a major driver of cropland and pasture expansion across much of the developing world. Researchers, including Navin Ramankutty, examined pathways of agricultural expansion across major tropical forest regions. Between 1980 and 2000 more than 55 percent of new agricultural land came at the expense of intact forests, while another 28 percent came from disturbed forests. More info | View the Stanford University News Release

Our research program was featured on Télé-Québec’s television program, “Le Code Chastenay" (segment “Cartographe”). It was originally broadcast on Feb 9, 2010. A link to the video is available at:
http://lecodechastenay.telequebec.tv/ (view émission 51)
Direct link: http://video.telequebec.tv/shadowbox/?fn=244&tc=16&src=6&sec=1


Research paper, "Ellis, E. C., and N. Ramankutty, Putting people in the map: anthropogenic biomes of the world, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, in press" was covered by several news agencies:
* McGill University New Release, "Environmental researchers propose radical "human-centric" map of the world"
* Encyclopedia of Earth article, "Anthropogenic Biomes"
* Science Magazine Random Samples, "Humankind's Global Footprint"
* Wired News blog, "Mapping the Humanized World"
* Discovery Channel News feature, "Human Influence on Ecology Mapped"
* Ecological Society of America (ESA) News & Views, "Ecologists remap the biosphere to include humans"
* Anthromes Project website

Quoted in Scientific American, April 10, 2007: More Trees, Less Global Warming, Right? -- Not Exactly


Quoted in U.S. News and World Report, April 2007: Greening the World


Research paper, "Narisma, G.T., J.A. Foley, R. Licker, and N. Ramankutty. Abrupt changes in rainfall during the twentieth century. Geophysical Research Letters 34, L06710, doi:10.1029/2006GL028628, 2007" was covered by several news agencies:
* University of Wisconsin News Release, "Abrupt Climate Changes Much More Common Than Previously Believed"
* Newscientist.com
* Science's "Editor's Pick of the Week - 20 April 2007"