Bradley, Bethany
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. – Brown University
email: bbradleybbradley(at)eco.umass.edu
curriculum vitae
Personal Page
Primary Interests
I am interested in how terrestrial ecosystems respond to land use and anthropogenic climate change. I use tools including remote sensing and geospatial analysis to identify drivers of land cover change and model risk based on land use and future climate scenarios. My research is currently focused on projecting risk from non-native plant invasion under global change scenarios, largely species invading deserts of the Western U.S.
Current Projects
Plant Invasion, Global Change, and Fire Risk in the Western U.S.: This research uses time series analysis of remote sensing data to identify invasive plants based on unique phenological characteristics such as timing of growth and inter-annual variability. Current distributions are then modeled geographically to identify potential drivers of invasion, including climate and land use. Risk maps based on these drivers will inform dynamic fire models and management strategies on state and federal lands.
Collaborators: Brett Dickson, Steve Sesnie, Tom Sisk at Northern Arizona University
Projecting Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture in South Africa: The objective of this project is to assess how climate change will affect agricultural productivity in South Africa, and, in turn, how changes in agricultural productivity could threaten biodiversity conservation. We are comparing distribution modeling of agricultural crop yields with process-based crop models with a goal of integrating methodologies for more robust projections of change.
Collaborators: Lyndon Estes, David Wilcove, Michael Oppenheimer at Princeton University, Will Turner at Conservation International
Understanding how Satellite Phenology Compares to On-the-ground Measurements: Time series of remotely sensed data have long been used to study land cover trends, but what are those trends actually measuring? As part of an effort by the National Phenology Network to better link satellite and ground measurements, I am working with scientists at Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge and Jornada Experimental Range (both in New Mexico) to compare multi-temporal ASTER remote sensing data to contemporaneous field measurements during the summer growing seasons.
Collaborators: Kristin Vanderbilt, Karen Wetherill at University of New Mexico, Dawn Browning at Jornada Experimental Range, Jaime Nickeson at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Selected Publications
Bradley, B.A. and D.S. Wilcove, “When invasive plants disappear: transformative restoration possibilities in the western United States resulting from climate change”, In Press, Restoration Ecology, 2009
Marvin, D., B.A. Bradley, and D.S. Wilcove, “A Novel, Web-based, Ecosystem Mapping Tool using Expert Opinion”, Natural Areas Journal, 29(3), 281-292, 2009
Bradley, B.A., M. Oppenheimer, and D.S. Wilcove, “Climate Change and Plant Invasion: Restoration Opportunities Ahead?”, Global Change Biology, 15, 1511-1521, 2009
Bradley, B.A. and E. Fleishman, “Commentary: Can Remote Sensing Improve Species Distribution Modelling?”, Journal of Biogeography, 35, 1158-1159, 2008
Bradley, B.A., R.W. Jacob, J.F. Hermance, and J.F. Mustard, “A curve-fitting technique to derive inter-annual phenologies from time series of noisy satellite data”, Remote Sensing of Environment, 106, 137-145, 2007
Bradley, B.A., R.A. Houghton, J.F. Mustard, and S.P. Hamburg, “Invasive Grass Reduces Carbon Stocks in Shrublands of the Western U.S.”, Global Change Biology, 12(10), 1815-1822, 2006
Bradley, B.A., and J.F. Mustard, “Characterizing the Landscape Dynamics of an Invasive Plant and Risk of Invasion Using Remote Sensing”, Ecological Applications, 16(3), 1132-1147, 2006
Bradley, B.A., and J.F. Mustard, “Identifying Land Cover Variability Distinct from Land Cover Change: Cheatgrass in the Great Basin”, Remote Sensing of Environment, 94(2), 204-213, 2005
Last updated August 6, 2010 by Roxann Cormier
