Lawrence, Deborah
Primary Appointment
Environmental Sciences
Contact Information
P.O. Box 400123
Clark Hall, 216
Telephone: (434) 924-0581
Fax: 434-982-2137
Email: lawrence@virginia.edu
Research Disciplines
Environmental Sciences
Research Interests
Nutrient cycling in primary and secondary tropical rainforests; relating biodiversity and ecosystem function; ecosystem sustainability
Research Description
Deborah Lawrence, Ph.D., is a Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia. Her research focuses on the links between tropical deforestation and climate change. She has spent the past twenty-five years doing field-based research in Indonesia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Cameroon. Most recently, she has been using global climate models to explore the cumulative effect of tropical land use decisions, exploring the climate impact of land allocation among food crops, biofuels and forests across the globe. Professor Lawrence and her students conduct interdisciplinary research with partners in hydrology, atmospheric science, economics, anthropology, ethics, engineering, and law to understand the drivers and consequences of land use change.