Graham K MacDonald

Biographic Data

ID6019755
NAMEGraham K MacDonald
GIVEN NAMESGraham K
FAMILY NAMEMacDonald
SIGNATUREMACDONALD G K
AFFILIATIONSMcGill University
ORCID0000-0002-7120-1366
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS28
TOTAL CITATIONS57
AUTHOR COUNT28
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2010
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2025
H-INDEX5

  • Can N 2 O net —a Canadian nitrous oxide collaboration network to meet greenhouse gas emission reduction targets

    Open AccessErin J Daly, David L Burton et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2025

    The application of nitrogen (N) fertilizer to agricultural soils results in the emission of nitrous oxide (N 2 O), accounting for ∼40% of Canada’s and 10% of global agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing these emissions through N fertilizer best management practices (BMPs) is critical to achieve the fertilizer-related emission reduction target of 30% below 2020 levels by 2030 set by the Canadian government. However, progress is hindered …

  • Low-hanging fruit? Identifying opportunities to enhance crop diversity in the United States

    Open AccessCamille Bouvet-Boisclair, Graham K MacDonaldARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2025

    The benefits of crop diversification for key agro-environmental outcomes are well-established, yet the pathways to realizing this diversification at larger scales remain murky. We propose a framework to evaluate possible spatial and temporal crop arrangements that meet specific crop diversity targets by drawing on empirical data across millions of individual crop fields and their recent cropping histories in the US (2015–2022). Specifically, we d…

  • Measuring the use of energy poverty coping strategies and the heat‐or‐eat trade‐off in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia

    Open AccessLaurianne Debanné, Mylène Riva et al.ARTICLECanadian Geographies /…2025Cited by: 1References: 44

    In Bridgewater, a small town in Nova Scotia, around 40% of households face energy poverty. Little research has examined energy poverty in Canada and how it affects the well‐being of households. The aim of this study was to identify the ways households cope with energy poverty across socio‐economic characteristics, paying particular attention to the heat‐or‐eat trade‐off. Data were collected using a community‐based survey on housing, energy use an…

  • Disparities in nitrogen and phosphorus management across time and space

    Open AccessTan Zou, Eric A Davidson et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2024

    Efficient management of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) is imperative for sustainable agriculture, resource conservation, and reducing environmental pollution. Despite progress in on-farm practices and urban wastewater treatment in the Chesapeake Bay (CB) watershed, limited attention has been given to nutrient transport, use, and handling between farms and urban environments. This study uses the hierarchical CAFE (Cropping system, Animal-crop sys…

  • Identifying leverage points for sustainable nutrient policy integration in Canada

    Open AccessSibeal McCourt, David Kanter et al.ARTICLEAMBIO2024References: 36

  • Untangling the role of social relationships for overcoming challenges in local food systems

    Open AccessKerstin Schreiber, Bernard Soubry et al.ARTICLEAgriculture and Human Values2022Cited by: 3References: 14

  • Diverse adaptation strategies helped local food producers cope with initial challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic

    Open AccessKerstin Schreiber, Bernard Soubry et al.ARTICLEJournal of Rural Studies2022Cited by: 5References: 3

  • Provincial nitrogen footprints highlight variability in drivers of reactive nitrogen emissions in Canada

    Open AccessSibeal McCourt, Graham K MacDonaldARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2021

    Nitrogen (N) footprints are one method to quantify consumer driven reactive nitrogen (Nr) emissions. Canada is a highly urbanized yet economically natural resource-dependent country, providing an illustrative case study to examine attribution of Nr emissions to per capita consumption, either domestically or abroad. Yet, considered only at the national scale, N footprints may obscure absolute and relative contributions of local drivers to Nr emiss…

  • Food system resilience to phosphorus shortages on a telecoupled planet

    Open AccessPietro Barbieri, Graham K MacDonald et al.ARTICLENature Sustainability2021Cited by: 2References: 9

  • The U.S. consumer phosphorus footprint

    Open AccessGeneviève S Metson, Graham K MacDonald et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2020

    Phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) are essential nutrients for food production but their excess use in agriculture can have major social costs, particularly related to water quality degradation. Nutrient footprint approaches estimate N and P release to the environment through food production and waste management and enable linking these emissions to particular consumption patterns. Following an established method for quantifying a consumer-oriented …

  • Geographic versus institutional drivers of nitrogen footprints

    Open AccessGraham K MacDonald, Julie Talbot et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2020

    Excess reactive nitrogen (N) is linked to a myriad of environmental problems that carry large social costs. Nitrogen footprint tools can help institutions understand how their direct and indirect activities are associated with N release to the environment through energy use, food, and transportation. However, little is known about how geographic context shapes the environmental footprints of institutions. Defining the system boundaries over which…

  • Growing pains

    Open AccessMonica Allaby, Graham K MacDonald et al.ARTICLEAgriculture and Human Values2020Cited by: 2References: 17

  • Social-ecological and technological factors moderate the value of urban nature

    Open AccessBonnie Keeler, Perrine Hamel et al.ARTICLENature Sustainability2019Cited by: 21References: 23

  • Rural-urban connectivity and agricultural land management across the Global South

    Open AccessFanny Boudet, Graham K MacDonald et al.ARTICLEGlobal Environmental Change2019Cited by: 5References: 3

  • The Global Food‐Energy‐Water Nexus

    Open AccessPaolo D’odorico, Keith F Davis et al.ARTICLEReviews of Geophysics2018

    Water availability is a major factor constraining humanity's ability to meet the future food and energy needs of a growing and increasingly affluent human population. Water plays an important role in the production of energy, including renewable energy sources and the extraction of unconventional fossil fuels that are expected to become important players in future energy security. The emergent competition for water between the food and energy sys…

  • Food, trade, and the environment

    Open AccessDavid A Seekell, Paolo D’odorico et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2018

  • Leveraging total factor productivity growth for sustainable and resilient farming

    Open AccessOliver T Coomes, Bradford L Barham et al.ARTICLENature Sustainability2018Cited by: 5References: 9

  • Progress towards sustainable intensification in China challenged by land-use change

    Open AccessLijun Zuo, Zengxiang Zhang et al.ARTICLENature Sustainability2018Cited by: 13References: 2

  • Reply to Comment on ‘An index-based framework for assessing patterns and trends in river fragmentation and flow regulation by global dams at multiple scales’

    Open AccessGünther Grill, Bernhard Lehner et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2017

  • Pathways to sustainable intensification through crop water management

    Open AccessGraham K MacDonald, Paolo D’odorico et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2016

    How much could farm water management interventions increase global crop production? This is the central question posed in a global modelling study by Jägermeyr et al (2016 Environ. Res. Lett. 11 025002 ). They define the biophysical realm of possibility for future gains in crop production related to agricultural water practices—enhancing water availability to crops and expanding irrigation by reducing non-productive water consumption. The finding…

  • Rethinking Agricultural Trade Relationships in an Era of Globalization

    Graham K MacDonald, Kate A Brauman et al.ARTICLEBioScience2015

    Agricultural trade plays an important role in global food security and resource sustainability. Global food commodities trade is worth more than US$520 billion per year, could feed approximately two billion people, uses about 13% of worldwide cropland and pasture, and has geographically concentrated irrigation water demands. However, researchers rarely compare these monetary, nutritional, and resource metrics, which limits our ability to holistic…

  • Climate variation explains a third of global crop yield variability

    Open AccessD K Ray, James S Gerber et al.ARTICLENature Communications2015

    Many studies have examined the role of mean climate change in agriculture, but an understanding of the influence of inter-annual climate variations on crop yields in different regions remains elusive. We use detailed crop statistics time series for ~13,500 political units to examine how recent climate variability led to variations in maize, rice, wheat and soybean crop yields worldwide. While some areas show no significant influence of climate va…

  • An index-based framework for assessing patterns and trends in river fragmentation and flow regulation by global dams at multiple scales

    Open AccessGünther Grill, Bernhard Lehner et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2015

    The global number of dam constructions has increased dramatically over the past six decades and is forecast to continue to rise, particularly in less industrialized regions. Identifying development pathways that can deliver the benefits of new infrastructure while also maintaining healthy and productive river systems is a great challenge that requires understanding the multifaceted impacts of dams at a range of scales. New approaches and advanced…

  • Leverage points for improving global food security and the environment

    Open AccessPaul West, Paul C West et al.ARTICLEScience2014

    How to optimize global food production Keeping societies stable and managing Earth's resources sustainably depend on doing a good, steady job producing and distributing food. West et al. asked what combinations of crops and regions offer the best chance of progress. Their analysis focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, nutrient pollution, water use, and food waste. They identify regions that are likely to yield the best balance between app…

  • A tradeoff frontier for global nitrogen use and cereal production

    Open AccessNathaniel D Mueller, Paul West et al.ARTICLEEnvironmental Research Letters2014

    Nitrogen fertilizer use across the world’s croplands enables high-yielding agricultural production, but does so at considerable environmental cost. Imbalances between nitrogen applied and nitrogen used by crops contributes to excess nitrogen in the environment, with negative consequences for water quality, air quality, and climate change. Here we utilize crop input-yield models to investigate how to minimize nitrogen application while achieving c…