G Philip Robertson
Biographic Data
| ID | 3706509 |
|---|---|
| NAME | G Philip Robertson |
| GIVEN NAMES | G Philip |
| FAMILY NAME | Robertson |
| SIGNATURE | ROBERTSON G P |
| AFFILIATIONS | Michigan State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9771-9895 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 15 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Land-based resources for engineered carbon dioxide removal in the United States exceed the expected needs
Overlooked cooling effects of albedo in terrestrial ecosystems
Radiative forcing (RF) resulting from changes in surface albedo is increasingly recognized as a significant driver of global climate change but has not been adequately estimated, including by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment reports, compared with other warming agents. Here, we first present the physical foundation for modeling albedo-induced RF and the consequent global warming impact (GWI Δ α ). We then highlight the …
Cropland abandonment between 1986 and 2018 across the United States: Spatiotemporal patterns and current land uses
Knowing where and when croplands have been abandoned or otherwise removed from cultivation is fundamental to evaluating future uses of these areas, e.g. as sites for ecological restoration, recultivation, bioenergy production, or other uses. However, large uncertainties remain about the location and time of cropland abandonment and how this process and the availability of associated lands vary spatially and temporally across the United States. He…
Available land for cellulosic biofuel production: A supply chain centered comparison
The land that is potentially available to produce dedicated cellulosic bioenergy crops, often referred to as ‘marginal’ land, depends heavily on the underlying assumptions used to classify and identify it. In this study we compare three definitions and types of marginal land to identify the interactions between the bioenergy landscape and the logistics networks needed for the biofuel supply chain. Typical studies of the scale, cost, and greenhous…
Albedo of crops as a nature-based climate solution to global warming
Surface albedo can affect the energy budget and subsequently cause localized warming or cooling of the climate. When we convert a substantial portion of lands to agriculture, land surface properties are consequently altered, including albedo. Through crop selection and management, one can increase crop albedo to obtain higher levels of localized cooling effects to mitigate global warming. Still, there is little understanding about how distinctive…
Building ties at multi-stakeholder engagement events to facilitate social learning about contentious issues in natural resource management
Albedo-induced global warming impact of Conservation Reserve Program grasslands converted to annual and perennial bioenergy crops
Climate benefit assessments of bioenergy crops often focus on biogeochemical impacts, paying little if any attention to biogeophysical impacts. However, land conversions required for large-scale bioenergy crop production are substantial and may directly affect the climate by altering surface energy balance. In the US, such land conversions are likely to be met in part by converting Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grassland to bioenergy crops. …
Long-Term Evidence Shows that Crop-Rotation Diversification Increases Agricultural Resilience to Adverse Growing Conditions in North America
Diversifying cropping systems improves environmental health and has the potential to reduce risk from climate-change-related threats, but empirical evidence remains sparse. In this study, we found that maize yields were higher during adverse weather, including droughts, when maize was grown as part of a more diverse rotation. Rotation diversification also increased maize yields over time and under better growing conditions. Policies that support …
Machine learning improves predictions of agricultural nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions from intensively managed cropping systems
The potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N _2 O) is accumulating in the atmosphere at unprecedented rates largely due to agricultural intensification, and cultivated soils contribute ∼60% of the agricultural flux. Empirical models of N _2 O fluxes for intensively managed cropping systems are confounded by highly variable fluxes and limited geographic coverage; process-based biogeochemical models are rarely able to predict daily to monthly emissio…
Carbon debt of field-scale conservation reserve program grasslands converted to annual and perennial bioenergy crops
Over 5 million ha of US Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasslands have been converted to annual crops since 2000, driven mainly by demand for corn grain ethanol. Much of the soil carbon sequestered under CRP is lost upon conversion, creating a 'carbon debt' that is presumed to be repaid by future greenhouse gas (GHG) savings from ethanol's substitution for petroleum. Model simulations, extrapolations, and national statistics rather than direc…
Evaluating strategies for sustainable intensification of US agriculture through the Long-Term Agroecosystem Research network
Sustainable intensification is an emerging model for agriculture designed to reconcile accelerating global demand for agricultural products with long-term environmental stewardship. Defined here as increasing agricultural production while maintaining or improving environmental quality, sustainable intensification hinges upon decision-making by agricultural producers, consumers, and policy-makers. The Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) networ…
Climate-smart soils
Nitrogen fertilization challenges the climate benefit of cellulosic biofuels
Cellulosic biofuels are intended to improve future energy and climate security. Nitrogen (N) fertilizer is commonly recommended to stimulate yields but can increase losses of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N 2 O) and other forms of reactive N, including nitrate. We measured soil N 2 O emissions and nitrate leaching along a switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) high resolution N-fertilizer gradient for three years post-establishment. Results revealed …
Comparative water use by maize, perennial crops, restored prairie, and poplar trees in the US Midwest
Water use by plant communities across years of varying water availability indicates how terrestrial water balances will respond to climate change and variability as well as to land cover change. Perennial biofuel crops, likely grown mainly on marginal lands of limited water availability, provide an example of a potentially extensive future land cover conversion. We measured growing-season evapotranspiration (ET) based on daily changes in soil pro…
A Sustainable Agriculture
The defining challenge of sustainable agriculture is the production of food and other agricultural products at an environmental cost that does not jeopardize the food security and general welfare of future generations. Feeding another three billion people in the face of climate change, biodiversity loss, and an environment already saturated with excess nitrogen and other reactive pollutants requires new approaches and new tools in the design and …
An integrated conceptual framework for long‐term social–ecological research
The global reach of human activities affects all natural ecosystems, so that the environment is best viewed as a social–ecological system. Consequently, a more integrative approach to environmental science, one that bridges the biophysical and social domains, is sorely needed. Although models and frameworks for social–ecological systems exist, few are explicitly designed to guide a long‐term interdisciplinary research program. Here, we present an…
The effect of decoupling on marginal agricultural systems: Implications for farm incomes, land use and upland ecology
Bioenergy Sustainability at the Regional Scale
The establishment of bioenergy crops will affect ecological processes and their interactions and thus has an influence on ecosystem services provided by the lands on which these crops are grown. The regional-scale effects of bioenergy choices on ecosystem services need special attention because they often have been neglected yet can affect the ecological, social, and economic aspects of sustainability. A regional-scale perspective provides the op…
Nutrient Imbalances in Agricultural Development
Nutrient additions to intensive agricultural systems range from inadequate to excessive—and both extremes have substantial human and environmental costs.
Ecosystem services and agriculture: Cultivating agricultural ecosystems for diverse benefits
Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Tropical and Temperate Agriculture: The need for a Full-Cost accounting of Global Warming Potentials
The effect of decoupling on marginal agricultural systems: Implications for farm incomes, land use and upland ecology
A Sustainable Agriculture
The defining challenge of sustainable agriculture is the production of food and other agricultural products at an environmental cost that does not jeopardize the food security and general welfare of future generations. Feeding another three billion people in the face of climate change, biodiversity loss, and an environment already saturated with excess nitrogen and other reactive pollutants requires new approaches and new tools in the design and …
Bioenergy Sustainability at the Regional Scale
The establishment of bioenergy crops will affect ecological processes and their interactions and thus has an influence on ecosystem services provided by the lands on which these crops are grown. The regional-scale effects of bioenergy choices on ecosystem services need special attention because they often have been neglected yet can affect the ecological, social, and economic aspects of sustainability. A regional-scale perspective provides the op…
Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Tropical and Temperate Agriculture: The need for a Full-Cost accounting of Global Warming Potentials
Ecosystem services and agriculture: Cultivating agricultural ecosystems for diverse benefits
Nutrient Imbalances in Agricultural Development
Nutrient additions to intensive agricultural systems range from inadequate to excessive—and both extremes have substantial human and environmental costs.
The effect of decoupling on marginal agricultural systems: Implications for farm incomes, land use and upland ecology
Bioenergy Sustainability at the Regional Scale
The establishment of bioenergy crops will affect ecological processes and their interactions and thus has an influence on ecosystem services provided by the lands on which these crops are grown. The regional-scale effects of bioenergy choices on ecosystem services need special attention because they often have been neglected yet can affect the ecological, social, and economic aspects of sustainability. A regional-scale perspective provides the op…
An integrated conceptual framework for long‐term social–ecological research
The global reach of human activities affects all natural ecosystems, so that the environment is best viewed as a social–ecological system. Consequently, a more integrative approach to environmental science, one that bridges the biophysical and social domains, is sorely needed. Although models and frameworks for social–ecological systems exist, few are explicitly designed to guide a long‐term interdisciplinary research program. Here, we present an…
Comparative water use by maize, perennial crops, restored prairie, and poplar trees in the US Midwest
Water use by plant communities across years of varying water availability indicates how terrestrial water balances will respond to climate change and variability as well as to land cover change. Perennial biofuel crops, likely grown mainly on marginal lands of limited water availability, provide an example of a potentially extensive future land cover conversion. We measured growing-season evapotranspiration (ET) based on daily changes in soil pro…
A Sustainable Agriculture
The defining challenge of sustainable agriculture is the production of food and other agricultural products at an environmental cost that does not jeopardize the food security and general welfare of future generations. Feeding another three billion people in the face of climate change, biodiversity loss, and an environment already saturated with excess nitrogen and other reactive pollutants requires new approaches and new tools in the design and …
Climate-smart soils
Nitrogen fertilization challenges the climate benefit of cellulosic biofuels
Cellulosic biofuels are intended to improve future energy and climate security. Nitrogen (N) fertilizer is commonly recommended to stimulate yields but can increase losses of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N 2 O) and other forms of reactive N, including nitrate. We measured soil N 2 O emissions and nitrate leaching along a switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) high resolution N-fertilizer gradient for three years post-establishment. Results revealed …
Evaluating strategies for sustainable intensification of US agriculture through the Long-Term Agroecosystem Research network
Sustainable intensification is an emerging model for agriculture designed to reconcile accelerating global demand for agricultural products with long-term environmental stewardship. Defined here as increasing agricultural production while maintaining or improving environmental quality, sustainable intensification hinges upon decision-making by agricultural producers, consumers, and policy-makers. The Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) networ…
Carbon debt of field-scale conservation reserve program grasslands converted to annual and perennial bioenergy crops
Over 5 million ha of US Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasslands have been converted to annual crops since 2000, driven mainly by demand for corn grain ethanol. Much of the soil carbon sequestered under CRP is lost upon conversion, creating a 'carbon debt' that is presumed to be repaid by future greenhouse gas (GHG) savings from ethanol's substitution for petroleum. Model simulations, extrapolations, and national statistics rather than direc…
Long-Term Evidence Shows that Crop-Rotation Diversification Increases Agricultural Resilience to Adverse Growing Conditions in North America
Diversifying cropping systems improves environmental health and has the potential to reduce risk from climate-change-related threats, but empirical evidence remains sparse. In this study, we found that maize yields were higher during adverse weather, including droughts, when maize was grown as part of a more diverse rotation. Rotation diversification also increased maize yields over time and under better growing conditions. Policies that support …
Machine learning improves predictions of agricultural nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions from intensively managed cropping systems
The potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N _2 O) is accumulating in the atmosphere at unprecedented rates largely due to agricultural intensification, and cultivated soils contribute ∼60% of the agricultural flux. Empirical models of N _2 O fluxes for intensively managed cropping systems are confounded by highly variable fluxes and limited geographic coverage; process-based biogeochemical models are rarely able to predict daily to monthly emissio…
Albedo-induced global warming impact of Conservation Reserve Program grasslands converted to annual and perennial bioenergy crops
Climate benefit assessments of bioenergy crops often focus on biogeochemical impacts, paying little if any attention to biogeophysical impacts. However, land conversions required for large-scale bioenergy crop production are substantial and may directly affect the climate by altering surface energy balance. In the US, such land conversions are likely to be met in part by converting Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grassland to bioenergy crops. …
Overlooked cooling effects of albedo in terrestrial ecosystems
Radiative forcing (RF) resulting from changes in surface albedo is increasingly recognized as a significant driver of global climate change but has not been adequately estimated, including by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment reports, compared with other warming agents. Here, we first present the physical foundation for modeling albedo-induced RF and the consequent global warming impact (GWI Δ α ). We then highlight the …
Cropland abandonment between 1986 and 2018 across the United States: Spatiotemporal patterns and current land uses
Knowing where and when croplands have been abandoned or otherwise removed from cultivation is fundamental to evaluating future uses of these areas, e.g. as sites for ecological restoration, recultivation, bioenergy production, or other uses. However, large uncertainties remain about the location and time of cropland abandonment and how this process and the availability of associated lands vary spatially and temporally across the United States. He…
Available land for cellulosic biofuel production: A supply chain centered comparison
The land that is potentially available to produce dedicated cellulosic bioenergy crops, often referred to as ‘marginal’ land, depends heavily on the underlying assumptions used to classify and identify it. In this study we compare three definitions and types of marginal land to identify the interactions between the bioenergy landscape and the logistics networks needed for the biofuel supply chain. Typical studies of the scale, cost, and greenhous…
Albedo of crops as a nature-based climate solution to global warming
Surface albedo can affect the energy budget and subsequently cause localized warming or cooling of the climate. When we convert a substantial portion of lands to agriculture, land surface properties are consequently altered, including albedo. Through crop selection and management, one can increase crop albedo to obtain higher levels of localized cooling effects to mitigate global warming. Still, there is little understanding about how distinctive…
Building ties at multi-stakeholder engagement events to facilitate social learning about contentious issues in natural resource management
Land-based resources for engineered carbon dioxide removal in the United States exceed the expected needs
Environmental Science (17 works) · Ecology (16 works) · Agriculture (10 works) · Business (10 works) · Economics (10 works) · Environmental resource management (10 works) · Natural resource economics (9 works) · Biology (8 works) · Bioenergy crop production and management (7 works) · Ecosystem (7 works)