Publications
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SCIENTIFIC REPORTS - Complex relationships between soybean trade destination and tropical deforestation
Published on July 12, 2023
Using data for soybean-producing municipalities in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, between 2004 and 2017, we evaluated the relationships between forest cover change and the annual soybean trade destination. -
FRONTIERS IN FORESTS AND GLOBAL CHANGE - Toward a forest transition across the Brazilian Atlantic Forest biome
Published on June 29, 2023
Using land-use/cover (LULC) data, we assessed the loss and successive gain in forest cover during the 1987–2001 and 2001–2015 periods. -
NATIONAL SCIENCE REVIEW - Leveraging the metacoupling framework for sustainability science and global sustainable development
Published on June 8, 2023
The metacoupling framework offers a conceptual foundation and a holistic approach to integrating human–nature interactions within a place, as well as between adjacent places and between distant places worldwide. -
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS - Physical and virtual nutrient flows in global telecoupled agricultural trade networks
Published on April 26, 2023
We quantified the physical and virtual nitrogen and phosphorus flows embedded in the global agricultural trade networks from 1997 to 2016 and elaborated components of the telecoupling framework. -
GEOGRAPHY AND SUSTAINABILITY - Broader applicability of the metacoupling framework than Tobler’s first law of geography for global sustainability: A systematic review
Published on April 17, 2023
We reviewed and synthesized sustainability literature that used Tobler’s first law of geography and framework of metacoupling across seven major topics: land change, species migration, tourism, trade, agricultural development, conservation, and governance. -
AMBIO - Global gateways as telecoupled human and natural systems: The emerging case of the Bering Strait
Published on March 28, 2023
We examine how three telecoupling processes (tourism, vessel traffic, and natural resource development) impact and are impacted by the coupled human and natural system of the Bering Strait Region. -
SUSTAINABILITY - International Tourism in the Arctic under COVID-19: A Telecoupling Analysis of Iceland
Published on November 17, 2022
Analyzed the materials, energy, tourist, and information flows, as well as the causes, effects, and agents of tourism in Iceland using the framework of telecoupling (human-nature interactions over distances). -
AMBIO: Effects of global shocks on the evolution of an interconnected world
Published on August 23, 2022
Global shocks, such as pandemics, are increasing in speed and reach, and new ways are required to reduce negative impacts -
NATURE FOOD - International food trade benefits biodiversity and food security in low-income countries
Published on May 12, 2022
This study calculates food trade flows among high-hotspot, low-hotspot and non-hotspot countries, including high- and low-income ones, over 2000–2018. -
Nature News & Views - We can have biodiversity and eat too
Published on May 12, 2022
Stuart Pimm of Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment comments on Jack Liu and Min Gon Chung's Nature Food paper on the global food trade and biodiversity -
AMBIO: The metacoupled Arctic: Human–nature interactions across local to global scales as drivers of sustainability
Published on March 30, 2022
A synthesis of external influences analyzed in Arctic-coupled human and natural systems literature show the Arctic is affected by external influences, including global markets, climate change, governance, military security, and tourism. -
NATURE SUSTAINABILITY - Decoupling of SDGs followed by re-coupling as sustainable development progresses
Published on March 24, 2022
A correlational network approach and a global SDG database of 166 countries to analyze the evolution of SDG interactions along a progression of sustainable development measured by the SDG Index. -
EARTH INTERACTIONS - Complex effects of telecouplings on forest dynamics: an agent-based modeling approach
Published on January 1, 2022
Developed an agent-based model and simulated the impacts of two globally common telecouplings, nature-based tourism and labor migration, on forest dynamics of a rural CHANS, China’s Wolong Nature Reserve (Wolong). -
NATURE SUSTAINABILITY - Natural infrastructure in sustaining global urban freshwater ecosystem services
Published on October 21, 2021
Improved understand natural infrastructure's in urban water networks must underpin strategic decision-making to sustainably provide freshwater ecosystem services to global cities. -
ONE EARTH - Sustainability of the global sand system in the Anthropocene
Published on May 21, 2021
The unexamined true costs of sand – broadly, construction has spurred a group of scientists to call for a stronger focus on understanding the physical dimension of sand use and extraction. -
AMBIO - Coupled human and natural systems: The evolution and applications of an integrated framework
Published on March 16, 2021
An intived “Behind the Paper” reflection on the paper by Liu et al. 2007 Ambio, one of the “most influential papers in the past 50 years” since the first issue of Ambio, a Journal of Environment and Society, by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. -
SUSTAINABILITY -- Through the Lens of Telecoupling and Metacoupling: New Perspectives for Global Sustainability
Published on March 8, 2021
An editorial reviewing the contributions and impacts of telecoupling and metacoupling. -
FRONTIERS OF ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT - Macrosystems as metacoupled human and natural systems
Published on February 1, 2021
In other words, all that’s local is a lot more global, and the scientists say solutions can only be found through broader views and collaborations nearby and far away. -
FRONTIERS OF ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT - The evolution of macrosystems biology
Published on February 1, 2021
Analyses indicates that macrosystems biology emphasizes large scales, has deep roots in ecological disciplines, and may emerge as a new research frontier, but this last point has yet to be proven. -
SUSTAINABILITY - Sustainability Evaluation on the Grain to Green Program in the Hexi Corridor of China: A Metacoupled System Perspective
Published on February 1, 2021
Establishing a metacoupled model to quantitatively evaluate aspects of ecosystem sustainability in China, providing insight to the theory and application of sustainability science.