Mitchell Pavao-Zuckerman

I am an Assistant Professor with Environmental Science and Technology at the University of Maryland. I am a broadly trained ecosystem ecologist, and I study ecological structures and processes in human dominated landscapes and ecosystems experiencing global change. To address how ecosystems respond to environmental change, I often work in interdisciplinary teams, at the intersection of ecology, hydrology, social sciences, and humanities. I approach these studies through several lenses, including, soil ecology, biogeochemistry, ecosystem services, and socio-ecological systems. I am a co-PI of a Coupled Human-Natural Systems project looking at the resilience of riparian socio-ecological systems in Arizona and Sonora, MX, and scientist on the Biosphere 2 Landscape Evolution Observatory, which is using a series of large macrocosms to study ecohydrology. Other research in my lab looks at the function of green infrastructure in arid urban ecosystems, the responses of soils to urbanization and woody plant encroachment, and the utility of ecosystem services to study and manage systems undergoing environmental, social, and institutional changes. This work often has the goal of informing management, design, decision making, and environmental education. I am a member of the Pima County Low Impact Design Advisory Committee.