Undergraduate Research & Scholarships

Mio Kitayama Sciences

Modeling the Impact of Variations in Land Use on Carbon Sequestration Service of Atlantic Forest in São Paulo State, Brazil

Rapid land use transformation worldwide in recent years raises a demand for models that simulate the impacts of different land use policies on the local ecosystems and its services for human well-being. Mio will join a team in Brazil and devise a mathematical model that estimates the impacts of local land use choices on the carbon sequestration abilities of Atlantic Forest. She will integrate the devised model into Multiscale, Integrated Models of Ecosystem Services (MIMES), which collaboratively simulates the impacts of different land use policies on ecosystem services provided by the forest. This research will contribute to the development of effective land management policies that lead to sustainable conservation of Atlantic Forest. Furthermore, identifying the benefits, requirements and limitations of the modeling methods will provide valuable references for future studies.

Profile image of Mio Kitayama
Major: Economics/Molecular Environmental Biology
Mentor: Mentor: Professor Richard Norgaard
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