Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Advisory Board: University of Iowa appoints noted geographer to board

Back to Leopold Letter Spring 2010

George Malanson has studied biodiversity and land use in the rain forests of Ecuador, the rice fields of northeastern Thailand and the alpine tundra of the Rocky Mountains. And he would like nothing better than to help put a little biodiversity back into his home landscape.

Malanson is the newest member of the Leopold Center Advisory Board, joining biology associate professor Erin Irish to represent the University of Iowa on the board.

He holds the Coleman-Miller Professorship, the highest honor in the University of Iowa’s Department of Geography. In addition to teaching a variety of undergraduate and graduate classes, Malanson conducts research that integrates landscape ecology, climate change and geography. His 1993 book, Riparian Landscapes (Cambridge University Press), largely based on research in Iowa, is a standard textbook in landscape ecology programs and among professionals.

“My research has had a continuing focus on biodiversity,” he said. “Given that most of my work has been elsewhere, I look forward to making a local contribution by lending a larger geographical perspective to the work of the Leopold Center.”

Of particular interest is a project in southern Illinois, which looked at carbon sequestration and alternative land uses. “The aim was to contribute to a model of choices of land use that would be sensitive to carbon policy as well as to commodity prices,” he explained. “The price of carbon on the Chicago exchange is going to have to move hugely to change land use.”

Malanson also has studied the dynamics of land use change in northeastern Thailand where mechanization has altered the land, culture and farming practices. Twenty years ago, farmers would have planted and harvested rice by hand, which has given way to nearly 100 percent mechanization within the past 10 years. At the same time, he said, the choice of cultivar has narrowed so that everyone prefers to plant one variety of rice.

Malanson has worked on a number of research grants with the National Science Foundation, NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. He is a co-author of a book that documents climate change in Glacier National Park, The Changing Alpine Treeline (2009 Elsevier Science). He is currently on the editorial board of three technical journals.

Malanson’s ties to Iowa also are strong, His wife, Mary McCoy Malanson, owns a 60-acre Marion County farm that is part of the land that has been in her family about 130 years. Although the land is now rented and in CRP, Malanson said he believes that sustainability is a worthy goal for Iowa landowners of all levels of involvement.

 

Back to Leopold Letter Spring 2010