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 School of Geography and the Environment

Prof Yadvinder Malhi

Yadvinder Malhi

Position:

Leader, ECI Ecosystems Research Programme
Professor of Ecosystems Science
Jackson Senior Research Fellow at Oriel College Oxford.

Contact:

e: yadvinder.malhi@ouce.ox.ac.uk t: 01865 285188
www: Personal Webpage

Member:

SoGE Climate Systems and Policy Research Cluster
SoGE Biodiversity Research Cluster
ECI Ecosystems Research Theme

Profile

As Professor of Ecosystem Science at the School of Geography and the Environment and Programme Leader of the Ecosystems Group at the Environmental Change Institute, my research interests focus on interactions between tropical ecosystems and the global atmosphere, with a particular focus on their role in global carbon, energy and water cycles, and in understanding how the ecology of natural ecosystems may be shifting in response to global atmospheric change.

I have a particular interest in the combination the diverse disciplines of ecological and forest field surveys, micrometeorological field techniques, satellite remote sensing, global atmospheric data, and vegetation-atmosphere modelling.

In 2007 I jointly co-ordinated an international conference on "Climate change and the fate of the Amazon" attended by over 100 international scientists. Listen to podcasts and view powerpoints from the conference here.

Research Interests

I lead an active and expanding Ecosystems Dynamics Lab, which currently hosts six postdoctoral researchers and thirteen DPhil researchers.

The broad scope of my research interests is the impact of global atmospheric change on the ecology, structure and composition of terrestrial ecosystems, and in particular temperate and tropical forests. This research addresses fundamental questions about ecosystem function and dynamics, whilst at the same time providing outputs of direct relevance for conservation and adaptation to climate change. A particular new focus is on the role that the international carbon markets and climate change framework can play in protecting tropical forests.

We apply a range of techniques including field physiological studies, large-scale and long-term ecological monitoring, satellite remote-sensing and GIS, ecosystem modelling, and micrometeorological techniques.

We have a particular focus on tropical forests, and an extensive ongoing research programme in Asia, Africa and particularly across the Amazon and Andes region. We also have an expanding network of research in temperate woodlands in the Upper Thames region

Some of our research group's "discoveries"...

  • Tropical rain forests can by affected by drought after only a week with little rain, and this drought has a direct effect on photosynthesis and carbon fluxes.
  • The biomass of tropical forests is increasing across the tropics and forests are accelerating in both growth and death - this discovery was based on collation of field studies and direct fieldwork
  • Tropical ecosystems (and probably another undisturbed ecosystems) are shifting in composition (e.g. in liana frequency), probably in response to rising atmospheric CO 2 . These are the first such measurements in undisturbed systems.
  • To measure the daytime turbulent transfer of water above a forest it is necessary to consider transport at time scales of up to four hours, much longer time scales than those usually considered.

What can the world's forests teach us about climate change?

Tropical forests currently absorb around ten percent of our carbon dioxide emissions, acting as a moderate break on climate change. The concern is that at some point this break may turn into an accelerator. Professor Yadvinder Malhi explains why it is vital that we understand the mechanisms of our forests. Watch webcast.

Current active grants

  • RAINFOR: Monitoring forest carbon cycling across the Amazon forest. Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, £750,000 as a part of £2.3 million consortium , Feb 2008-Jan 2012
  • AMAZONICA: Amazon Integrated Carbon Analysis, NERC, £220,000 as part of £2 million consortium grant, Jun 2008-Jun 2012
  • Modelling cloud forest-climate interactions in the tropical Andes, Microsoft Research, £180,000, Feb 2008-Jan 2010
  • A climate change and carbon observatory in woodlands of the Upper Thames Area, Earthwatch/HSBC Bank, £200,000, Jan 2008 – Dec 2011
  • A detailed assessment of carbon dynamics along a tropical forest altitudinal transect, £600,000, NERC, Principal Investigator, July 2006 – June 2009
  • Tropical biomes in transition, £140,000 in consortium proposal of £1.5 million, NERC, co-investigator, Jan 2006 – Dec 2010
  • Conservation implications of climate change and fire in the eastern Andes: inpacts on plant distributions and montane ecosystems, $250,000 within joint grant of $800,000, 2006-2008, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
  • Assessing the impacts of the recent Amazon drought, 2005, NERC Urgency Grant, £28,000 in a joint proposal of £150,000.
  • Quantifying the Earth’s carbon cycle, £66,000 within a consortium grant of £1,000,000, 2006-2007, the QUEST programme (NERC), 2004-2008
  • Accelerated tree growth in Amazonia: ecological changes and environmental drivers, £220,000, NERC, Co-investigator, 2004-2007
  • Why do different Amazonian forests grow at different rates? £260,000, NERC, Principal Investigator, 2004-2007

Recently expired grants

  • A project for the advancement of networked science in Amazonia, EU Sixth Framework ENRICH programme, Principal Investigator, 400,000 euros, 2004-2007
  • Surface-atmosphere exchange in complex terrain, £257,000, NERC, Co-Investigator, 2004-2007
  • What drives the seasonality of tropical forest photosynthesis?, £30,000, NERC, Principal Investigator, 2003-2004
  • The response of the tropical forest carbon cycle to El Niño, 2002-2003, NERC, £30,000
  • An intensive study of the carbon dynamics and ecophysiology of mangrove forest, 2002-2003, NERC, Principal Investigator, £28,180.
  • Changing tropical forest dynamics: a critical evaluation of physical, chemical and biological drivers, £140,545, 2000-2003, NERC, Joint Principal Investigator (with Oliver Phillips, University of Leeds).

Recent Publications

A full list of Yadvinder's publications are available on his website.

Recent Publications

2013
  • Coe, M.T., Marthews, T.R., Heil Costa, M., Galbraith, D.R., Greenglass, N.L., Imbuzeiro, H.M.A., Levine, N.M., Malhi, Y., Moorcroft, P.R., Nobre Muza, M., Powell, T.L., Saleska, S.R., Solorzano, L.A. and Wang, J. (2013) Deforestation and climate feedbacks threaten the ecological integrity of south–southeastern Amazonia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 368(1619).
  • Huntingford, C., Zelazowski, P., Galbraith, D., Mercado, L.M., Sitch, S., Fisher, R., Lomas, M., Walker, A.P., Jones, C.D., Booth, B.B.B., Malhi, Y., Heming, D., Kay, G., Good, P., Lewis, S.L., Phillips, O.L., Atkin, O.K., Lloyd, J., Gloor, E., Zaragoza-Castells, J., Meir, P., Betts, R., Harris, P.P., Nobre, C., Marengo, J. and Cox, P.M. (2013) Simulated resilience of tropical rainforests to CO2-induced climate change. Nature Geoscience.
  • Malhi, Y. and Marthews, T.R. (2013) Tropical forests: carbon, climate and biodiversity. In, Lyster, R., MacKenzie, C. and McDermott, C. (eds.) Law, Tropical Forests and Carbon: The Case of REDD+. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  • Saatchi, S., Asefi-Najafabady, S., Malhi, Y., Aragao, L.E.O.C., Anderson, L.O., Myneni, R.B. and Nemani, R. (2013) Persistent effects of a severe drought on Amazonian forest canopy. PNAS.
2012
2011
2010
2009
  • Anderson, L.O., Malhi, Y., Ladle, R.J., Aragao, L., Shimabukuro, Y., Phillips, O.L., Baker, T., Costa, A.C.L., Espejo, J.S., Higuchi, N., Laurance, W.F., Lopez-Gonzalez, G., Monteagudo, A., Nunez-Vargas, P., Peacock, J., Quesada, C.A. and Almeida, S. (2009) Influence of landscape heterogeneity on spatial patterns of wood productivity, wood specific density and above ground biomass in Amazonia. Biogeosciences, 6: 1883-1902.
  • Aragao, L., Malhi, Y., Metcalfe, D.B., Silva-Espejo, J.E., Jimenez, E., Navarrete, D., Almeida, S., Costa, A.C.L., Salinas, N. and Phillips, O.L. (2009) Above-and below-ground net primary productivity across ten Amazonian forests on contrasting soils. Biogeosciences, 6: 2759-2778.
  • Baker, T.R., Phillips, O.L., Laurance, W.F., Pitman, N.C.A., Almeida, S., Arroyo, L., DiFiore, A., Erwin, T., Higuchi, N., Killeen, T.J., Laurance, S.G., Nascimento, H., Monteagudo, A., Neill, D.A., Silva, J.N.M., Malhi, Y., Gonzalez, G.L., Peacock, J., Quesada, C.A., Lewis, S.L. and Lloyd, J. (2009) Do species traits determine patterns of wood production in Amazonian forests? Biogeosciences, 6: 297-307.
  • Butt, N., Campbell, G., Malhi, Y., Morecroft, M., Fenn, K. and Thomas, M. (2009) Initial Results from Establishment of a Long-term Broadleaf Monitoring Plot at Wytham Woods, Oxford, UK. University of Oxford
  • Butt, N., New, M., Lizcano, G. and Malhi, Y. (2009) Spatial patterns and recent trends in cloud fraction and cloud-related diffuse radiation in Amazonia. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 114(D21104).
  • Fisher, J.B., Malhi, Y., Bonal, D., Da Rocha, H.R., De Araujo, A.C., Gamo, M., Goulden, M.L., Hirano, T., Huete, A.R., Kondo, H., Kumagai, T., Loescher, H.W., Miller, S., Nobre, A.D., Nouvellon, Y., Oberbauer, S.F., Panuthai, S., Roupsard, O., Saleska, S., Tanaka, K., Tanaka, N., Tu, K.P. and Von Randow, C. (2009) The land-atmosphere water flux in the tropics. Global Change Biology, 15(11): 2694-2714.
  • Fyllas, N.M., Patino, S., Baker, T.R., Nardoto, G.B., Martinelli, L.A., Quesada, C.A., Paiva, R., Schwarz, M., Horna, V., Mercado, L.M., Santos, A., Arroyo, L., Jimenez, E.M., Luizao, F.J., Neill, D.A., Silva, N., Prieto, A., Rudas, A., Silviera, M., Vieira, I.C.G., Lopez-Gonzalez, G., Malhi, Y., Phillips, O.L. and Lloyd, J. (2009) Basin-wide variations in foliar properties of Amazonian forest: phylogeny, soils and climate. Biogeosciences, 6: 3707-3769.
  • Gloor, M., Phillips, O.L., Lloyd, J.J., Lewis, S.L., Malhi, Y., Baker, T.R., López-Gonzalez, G., Peacock, J., Almeida, S., Alves de Oliveira, A.C., Alvarez, E., Amaral, I., Arroyo, L., Aymard, G., Bank, O., Blanc, L., Bonal, D., Brando, P., Chao, K-J., Chave, J., Dávila, N., Erwin, T., Silva, J., di Fiore, A., Feldpausch, T.R., Freitas, A., Herrera, R., Higuchi, N., Honorio, E., Jiménez, E., Killeen, T., Laurance, W., Mendoza, C., Monteagudo, A., Andrade, A., Neil, D., Nepstad, D., Núñez Vargas, P., Peñuela, M.C., Peña Cruz, A., Prieto, A., Pitman, N., Quesada, C., Salomão, R., Silveira, M., Schwarz, M., Stropp, J., Ramírez, F., Ramírez, H., Rudas, A., Ter Steege, H., Silva, N., Torres, A., Terborgh, J., Vásquez, R. and Van der Heijden, G. (2009) Does the disturbance hypothesis explain the biomass increase in basin-wide Amazon forest plot data? Global Change Biology, 15(10): 2418-2430.
  • Lewis, S.L., Lopez-Gonzalez, G., Sonke, B., Affum-Baffoe, K., Baker, T.R., Ojo, L.O., Phillips, O.L., Reitsma, J.M., White, L., Comiskey, J.A., Djuikouo, M.N., Ewango, C.E.N., Feldpausch, T.R., Hamilton, A.C., Gloor, M., Hart, T., Hladik, A., Lloyd, J., Lovett, J.C., Makana, J.R., Malhi, Y., Mbago, F.M., Ndangalasi, H.J., Peacock, J., Peh, K.S.H., Sheil, D., Sunderland, T., Swaine, M.D., Taplin, J., Taylor, D., Thomas, S.C., Votere, R. and Woll, H. (2009) Increasing carbon storage in intact African forests. Nature, 457: 1003-1006.
  • Malhado, A.C.M., Malhi, Y., Whittaker, R.J., Ladle, R.J., ter Steege, H., Phillips, O.L., Butt, N., Aragao, L., Quesada, C.A., Araujo-Murakami, A., Arroyo, L., Peacock, J., López-González, G.T., Baker, R., Anderson, L.O., Almeida, S., Higuchi, N., Killeen, T.J., Monteagudo, A., Neill, D., Pitman, N., Prieto, A., Salomão, R.P., Vásquez-Martínez, R. and Laurance, W.F. (2009) Spatial trends in leaf size of Amazonian rainforest trees. Biogeosciences, 6: 1563-1576.
  • Malhado, A.C.M., Whittaker, R.J., Malhi, Y., Ladle, R.J., ter Steege, H., Butt, N., Aragao, L., Quesada, C.A., Murakami-Araujo, A., Phillips, O.L., Peacock, J., López-González, G., Baker, T.R., Anderson, L.O., Arroyo, L., Almeida, S., Higuchi, N., Killeen, T.J., Monteagudo, A., Neill, D.A., Pitman, N.C.A., Prieto, A., Salamão, R.P., Vásquez-Martínez, R., Laurance, W.F. and Ramírez, A.H. (2009) Spatial distribution and functional significance of leaf lamina shape in Amazonian forest trees. Biogeosciences, 6: 1577-1590.
  • Malhi, Y., Aragao, L., Galbraith, D., Huntingford, C., Fisher, R., Zelazowski, P., Sitch, S., McSweeney, C. and Meir, P. (2009) Exploring the likelihood and mechanism of a climate-change-induced dieback of the Amazon rainforest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(49): 20610-20615.
  • Malhi, Y., Aragao, L., Metcalfe, D.B., Paiva, R., Quesada, C.A., Almeida, S., Anderson, L., Brando, P., Chambers, J.Q., da Costa, A.C.L., Hutyra, L.R., Oliveira, P., Patino, S., Pyle, E.H., Robertson, A.L. and Teixeira, L.M. (2009) Comprehensive assessment of carbon productivity, allocation and storage in three Amazonian forests. Global Change Biology, 15(5): 1255-1274.
  • Malhi, Y., Saatchi, S., Girardin, C.A.J. and Aragao, L. (2009) The production, storage and flow of carbon in Amazonian forests. In, Keller, M., Bustamante, M., Gash, J. and P. Silva Dias (eds.) Amazonia and Global Change. American Geophysical Union. 576 pp. ISBN: 978-0-87590-476-4. Geophysical Monograph Series, Vol. 186.
  • Metcalfe, D.B., Meir, P., Aragao, L.E.O.C., da Costa, A.C.L., Braga, A.P., Goncalves, P.H.L., Silva, J.D., de Almeida, S.S., Dawson, L.A., Malhi, Y. and Williams, M. (2009) The effects of water availability on root growth and morphology in an Amazon rainforest. Plant and Soil, 311(1-2): 189-199.
  • Patiño, S., Lloyd, J., Paiva, R., Baker, T.R., Quesada, C.A., Mercado, L.M., Schmerler, J., Schwarz, M., Santos, A.J.B., Aguilar, A., Czimczik, C.I., Gallo, J., Horna, V., Hoyos, E.J., Jimenez, E.M., Palomino, W., Peacock, J., Pena-Cruz, A., Sarmiento, C., Sota, A., Turriago, J.D., Villanueva, B., Vitzthum, P., Alvarez, E., Arroyo, L., Baraloto, C., Bonal, D., Chave, J., Costa, A.C.L., Herrera, R., Higuchi, N., Killeen, T., Leal, E., Luizao, F., Meir, P., Monteagudo, A., Neil, D., Nunez-Vargas, P., Penuela, M.C., Pitman, N., Priante, N., Prieto, A., Panfil, S.N., Rudas, A., Salomao, R., Silva, N., Silveira, M., de Almeida, S.S., Torres-Lezama, A., Vasquez-Martinez, R., Vieira, I., Malhi, Y. and Phillips, O.L. (2009) Branch xylem density variations across the Amazon Basin. Biogeosciences, 6: 545-568.
  • Phillips, O.L., Aragao, L., Lewis, S.L., Fisher, J.B., Lloyd, J., López-González, G., Malhi, Y., Monteagudo, A., Peacock, J., Quesada, C.A., van der Heijden, G., Almeida, S., Amaral, I., Arroyo, L., Aymard, G., Baker, T.R., Bánki, O., Blanc, L., Bonal, D., Brando, P., Chave, J., Alves de Oliveira, A.C., Dávila Cardozo, N., Czimczik, C.I., Feldpausch, T.R., Freitas, M.A., Gloor, E., Higuchi, N., Jiménez, E., Lloyd, G., Meir, P., Mendoza, C., Morel, A., Neill, D.A., Nepstad, D., Patiño, S., Peñuela, M.C., Prieto, A., Ramírez, F., Schwarz, M., Silva, J., Silveira, M., Thomas, A.S., ter Steege, H., Stropp, J., Vásquez, R., Zelazowski, P., Dávila, E.A., Andelman, S., Andrade, A., Chao, K-J., Erwin, T., Di Fiore, A., Honorio, C.E., Keeling, H., Killeen, T.J., Laurance, W.F., Cruz, A.P., Pitman, N.C.A., Núñez Vargas, P., Ramírez-Angulo, H., Rudas, A., Salamão, R., Silva, N., Terborgh, J. and Torres-Lezama, A. (2009) Drought sensitivity of the Amazon rainforest. Science, 323(5919 ): 1344-1347.
  • Vinya, R., Malhi, Y. and Brown, N. (2009) Xylem vulnerability to cavitation for ten miombo canopy tree species with varying habitat preference. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part A, Molecular and Integrative Physiology, 153(2, Supplem): 213-213.
  • Zimmermann, M., Meir, P., Bird, M.I., Malhi, Y. and Ccahuana, A.J.Q. (2009) Climate dependence of heterotrophic soil respiration from a soil-translocation experiment along a 3000m tropical forest altitudinal gradient. European Journal of Soil Science, 60(6): 895-906.
  • Zimmermann, M., Meir, P., Bird, M.I., Malhi, Y. and Ccahuana, A.J.Q. (2009) Litter contribution to diurnal and annual soil respiration in a tropical montane cloud forest. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 41(6): 1338-1340.
2008
  • Aragao, L.E.O.C., Malhi, Y., Barbier, N., Lima, A., Shimabukuro, Y., Anderson, L. and Saatchi, S. (2008) Interactions between rainfall, deforestation and fires during recent years in the Brazilian Amazonia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 363(1498): 1779-1786.
  • Betts, R.A., Malhi, Y. and Roberts, J.T. (2008) The future of the Amazon: new perspectives from climate, ecosystem and social sciences. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 363(1498): 1729-1735.
  • Butt, N., Malhi, Y., Phillips, O.L. and New, M. (2008) Floristic and functional affiliations of woody plants with climate in western Amazonia. Journal of Biogeography, 35(5): 939-950.
  • Huntingford, C., Fisher, R.A., Mercado, L., Booth, B.B.B., Sitch, S., Harris, P.P., Cox, P.M., Jones, C.D., Betts, R.A. and Malhi, Y. (2008) Towards quantifying uncertainty in predictions of Amazon dieback. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 363(1498): 1857-1864.
  • Malhi, Y. and Roman Cuesta, R.M. (2008) Analysis of lacunarity and scales of spatial homogeneity in IKONOS images of Amazonian tropical forest canopies. Remote Sensing of Environment, 112(5): 2074-2087.
  • Malhi, Y., Roberts, J.T. and Betts, R.A. (2008) Climate change and the fate of the Amazon. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B: Biological Sciences, 363(1498): 1727-1932. Thematic Issue.
  • Malhi, Y., Roberts, J.T., Betts, R.A., Killeen, T.J., Li, W. and Nobre, C.A. (2008) Climate change, deforestation and the fate of the Amazon. Science, 319(5860): 169-172.
  • Malhi, Y., Saatchi, S., Girardin, C.A.J. and Aragao, L.E.O.C. (2008) Carbon Storage and Flow in Amazonian Forests. Proceedings of the Large-Scale Atmosphere Biosphere.
  • Metcalfe, D., Meir, P., Aragao, L.E.O.C., Da Costa, A., Almeida, S., Braga, A., Goncalves, P., Athaydes, J., Malhi, Y. and Williams, M. (2008) Sample sizes for estimating key ecosystem characteristics in a tropical terra firme rainforest. Forest Ecology and Management, 255(3-4): 558-566.
2007
  • Aragao, L., Malhi, Y., Roman Cuesta, R.M., Saatchi, S., Anderson, L.O. and Shimabukuro, Y.E. (2007) Spatial patterns and fire response of recent Amazonian droughts. Geophysical Research Letters, 34(5).
  • Fisher, R.A., Williams, M., da Costa, A., Malhi, Y., Da Costa, R.F., Almeida, S. and Meir, P. (2007) The response of an Eastern Amazonian rain forest to drought stress: results and modelling analyses from a throughfall exclusion experiment. Global Change Biology, 13(11): 2361-2378.
  • Luyssaert, S., Inglima, I., Jung, M., Richardson, A.D., Reichstein, M., Papale, D., Piao, S.L., Shulze, E.D., Wingate, L., Matteucci, G. and Malhi, Y. (2007) CO2 balance of boreal, temperate and tropical forests derived from a global database. Global Change Biology, 13(12): 2509-2537.
  • Malhi, Y. (2007) Carbon in the Atmosphere and Terrestrial Biosphere in the Early Anthropocene. Advances in earth science: from earthquakes to global warming, 2.
  • Metcalfe, D.B., Meir, P., Aragao, L.E.O.C., Malhi, Y., da Costa, A.C.L., Braga, A., Goncalves, P.H.L., de Athaydes, J., de Almeida, S.S. and Williams, M. (2007) Factors controlling spatio-temporal variation in carbon dioxide efflux from surface litter, roots and soil organic matter at four rain forest sites in the eastern Amazon. . pp. 9.
  • Metcalfe, D.B., Williams, M., Aragao, L., Da Costa, A.C.L., De Almeida, S.S., Braga, A.P., Goncalves, P.H.L., De Athaydes, J., Junior, S. and Malhi, Y. (2007) A method for extracting plant roots from soil which facilitates rapid sample processing without compromising measurement accuracy. New Phytologist, 174(3): 697-703.
  • Parmentier, I., Malhi, Y., Senterre, B., Whittaker, R.J., Alonso, A., Balinga, M.P.B., Bakayoko, A., Bongers, F., Chatelain, C. and Comiskey, J.A. (2007) The odd man out? Might climate explain the lower tree $alpha$-diversity of African rain forests relative to Amazonian rain forests? Journal of Ecology, 95(5): 1058-1071.
2005
  • No publications listed.