Professor of Global Change Science
Ph.D., Natural Resources, University of New Hampshire, 1992;
MS, Environmental Science, Indiana University, 1980;
AB Biological Sciences, Indiana University, 1977
Contact Information
101 Manly Miles Building
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
Phone: (517) 355-1778
Fax: (517) 355-0186
Email: skole@msu.edu
Courses Taught
Forests and the Global Environment (FOR 220)
Research Interests
Tropical forests, the role of forests in the global carbon cycle, global biogeochemistry, global land use and land cover change, global climate change, forest cover conversion and deforestation, international development and policy, remote sensing and GIS.
Current Projects
- The Global Tropical Forest Information Center (TRFIC), a science facility and information service supporting global change science, providing with timely data on the status of the world's tropical forests. The focus is on quantification of forest changes on a global scale, linked to climate change and the global carbon cycle.
- Global Rates of Tropical Deforestation, which is focused on measuring and quantifying human disturbance to the World's tropical forests using remote sensing, where we measure deforestation, degradation, regeneration, and selective logging globally.
- Global Observations of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics, an international effort under the auspices of the Global Terrestrial Observing System, a program under the United Nations. It is a coordinated international effort working to provide ongoing space-based and in-situ observations of forests and other vegetation cover, for the sustainable management of terrestrial resources and to obtain an accurate, reliable, quantitative understanding of the terrestrial carbon budget.
- Spatial Data and Information for Land Use and Forest Management in the Developing Tropical Countries, which focuses on activities to support forest monitoring and management for sustainable development and ecosystems services.
- The Global Observatory for Ecosystem Services, which is a project aimed at measurement and monitoring of carbon sequestration in forestry and agriculture in support of the emerging global carbon financial markets, and new modes of payments for ecosystems services.
- Famine Early Warning System, a project funded by USAID to a consortium that includes MSU focused on developing advanced famine warning systems based on remote sensing observations and geospatial information technologies. The global monitoring capabilities.
Publications
Matricardi, E. D.L. Skole, M.A. Cochrane, and W. H. Chometowski, 2006, Multi-temporal assessment of selective logging in the Brazilian Amazon using Landsat data, International Journal of Remote Sensing Preview, 3 November 2006.
Matricardi, E., D.L. Skole, M.A. Cochrane, J. Qi, and W. Chomentowski. 2005. Monitoring Selective Logging in Tropical Evergreen Forests Using Landsat: Multi-Temporal Regional Analyzes in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Earth Interactions Journal. 9, 1-24.Pedlowski, M.A., E. Matricardi, D.L. Skole, S. Cameron, W. Chomentowski, C. Fernandes, and A. Lisboa. 2005. Conservation Units: A New Deforestation Frontier in the Amazonian State of Rondônia, Brazil. Environmental Conservation. 32(2): 1- 7.
Skole, D.L. 2004. Geography as a great intellectual melting pot and the preeminent interdisciplinary environmental discipline, Annals of the Association of American Geographers 94(4):739-743.
Skole, D.L., M.A. Cochrane, E. Matricardi, W.H. Chomentowski, M. Pedlowski, D. Kimble. 2004. Pattern to process in the Amazon region: measuring forest conversion, regeneration, and degradation, In, Gutman et al. (eds.), Land Change Science: Observing, Monitoring and Understanding Trajectories of Change on the Earth's Surface, Observing, Monitoring and Understanding Trajectories of Change on the Earth's Surface, 77-95, Kluwer Academic Publishers,461pp.
Skole D.L. and M.A. Cochrane. 2004. Observations of LCLUCC in regional case studies. In, Gutman et al. (eds.), 2004. Land Change Science: Observing, Monitoring and Understanding Trajectories of Change on the Earth's Surface, Observing, Monitoring and Understanding Trajectories of Change on the Earth's Surface, 53-55, Kluwer Academic Publishers,461pp.
Cochrane, M.A., D.L. Skole, E.A.T. Matricardi, C. Barber and W. Chomentowski. 2004. Selective Logging, Forest Fragmentation and Fire Disturbance: Implications of Interaction and Synergy. In Working Forests in the Tropics: Conservation through Sustainable Management? D.J. Zarin, et al. (eds.) Columbia University Press, 416 pp.
Samek, J., Lan, DO, Silapathong, C., Navanagruha, C., Masturah, S., Gunawan, I., Crisostomo, B., Hilario, F., Hien, HM., Skole, DL., Chomentowski, W., Salas. 2004. Land use and cover change in Southeast Asia, In, Gutman et al. (eds.), 2004. Land Change Science: Observing, Monitoring and Understanding Trajectories of Change on the Earth's Surface, Observing, Monitoring and Understanding Trajectories of Change on the Earth's Surface, 31-51, Kluwer Academic Publishers,461pp.
Perz, SG and DL. Skole, 2003. Secondary forest expansion in the Brazilian Amazon and the refinement of forest transition theory, Society and Natural Resources 16:277-294..
Perz, SG and DL Skole. 2003. Social determinants of secondary forests in the Brazilian Amazon, Social Science Research 32:25-60.
DeFries RS, Houghton RA, Hansen MC, Field CB, Skole D, Townshend J. 2002. Carbon emissions from tropical deforestation and regrowth based on satellite observations for the 1980s and 1990s, Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America 99 (22): 14256-14261.
Salas WA, MJ Ducey, E Rignot, DL Skole. 2002. Assessment of JERS-1 SAR for monitoring secondary vegetation in Amazonia: I. Spatial and temporal variability in backscatter across a chrono-sequence of secondary vegetation stands in Rondonia. International Journal of Remote Sensing 23(7): 1357-1379.
Salas WA, MJ Ducey, E Rignot, DL Skole. 2002. Assessment of JERS-1 SAR for monitoring secondary vegetation in Amazonia: II. Spatial, temporal, and radiometric considerations for operational monitoring. International Journal of Remote Sensing 23(7): 1381-1399
Sanchez-Azofeifa G, RC Harriss, DL Skole. 2001. Deforestation in Costa Rica: A quantitative analysis using remote sensing imagery. Biotropica 33(3): 378-384.
Houghton, R.A., D.L. Skole, C.A. Nobre, J.L. Hackler, K.T. Lawrence and W.H. Chomentowski. 2000. Annual fluxes of carbon from deforestation and regrowth in the Brazilian Amazon, Nature, 403(6767): 301-303.