Research Interests
I am interested in how humans interact with their environment and how these modifications change ecosystems and have legacy effects through time. I use a multidisciplinary approach by combining paleoenvironmental, archaeological, anthropological, historical, and remote sensing data to examine anthropogenic influences on ecosystems and landscapes. I primarily work in lake ecosystems, wetlands, and national parks in arctic, temperate and tropical regions. I am also interested in how scientific and other knowledge sources interact with societal values and rules toward ecosystem and public land management decisions and policy formulation.
Publications
Current projects
- Palaeoenvironmental and archaeological synthesis of East Africa
- Historical patterns of fire in Africa - the Global Charcoal Database
- Human-environment interactions in East Africa
- Serengeti Experimental Fire project - Leverhulme Fire Network through Colin Beale (U of York, Biology Dept)
- The Holocene evolution of forest fire controls in interior British Columbia, Canada
- Long-term perspectives on bark beetle outbreaks in the forests of western North America
- Global trends in fire activity – PAGES Global Paleofire Working Group
- Terrestrial-aquatic interactions at small montane watersheds: the role of wildfire on freshwater trophic cascades
- Controls of High Arctic biogeochemical cycling of mercury
- Participant in Oceans2k (PAGES working group)
Curriculum vitae
- Postdoc in the Geoecology Group, Environmental Sciences, University of Basel
- 2019-2020: exchange visit to The Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) through the World Bank Africa Centers of Excellence (ACEII) programme
- SIDA funded 'African Resilience to Climate Change' project focused on northwestern Tanzania (2017-2021)
- NERC-Arup Global Research Challenge Innovation Strategic Partnerships, Environment Dept, U. of York
- Marie Curie Experienced Researcher, University of York Institute for Tropical Ecosystems
- 2013 PhD Earth Sciences, Carleton University, Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Centre
- 2008 MSc Geography, University of Ottawa Laboratory for Paleoclimatology and Climatology
- 2006 BA Geography with History, University of Ottawa
Dr. Colin Courtney-Mustaphi