Anand’s research improves the management of mosaic landscapes, where agricultural areas and natural areas combine into one mixed landscape. The team developed models to examine social-ecological dynamics and created innovative profit-mapping technology to make data-informed land use decisions that promote both agriculture and conservation.
Meeting the growing demand for food while maintaining essential ecosystem services is one of the biggest challenges in agricultural landscapes. Agriculture, along with other land uses, often leads to deforestation and habitat loss, transforming natural areas into mosaic landscapes—a patchwork of lands dedicated to different uses. While the interconnectedness of mosaic landscapes could help balance competing land-use priorities, current management strategies largely treat agricultural and natural ecosystems separately. This approach overlooks the interactions between humans, agricultural practices, and neighboring natural ecosystems, missing opportunities for management that would benefit all areas. To effectively manage these landscapes, we need an integrated approach that considers agricultural and natural areas as interconnected parts of a single landscape. More research is required to explore the ecological, economic, and social interactions within these systems to develop sustainable solutions.
Dr. Madhur Anand led a groundbreaking research project to promote sustainable farming practices and improve sustainability in diverse landscapes. Her work combined practical and theoretical contributions through various methods, including field studies, analysis of agricultural data, and innovative modeling and software development. The project focused on three main goals: developing new indicators for ecosystem services in farming systems, modeling trade-offs between land use, diet, and biodiversity, and creating social network and mathematical models for agroecological systems. This project used systems modeling to better understand the impacts and trade-offs between farming and ecosystem services. By addressing these goals, the project aims to inform policymaking and create long-term solutions that benefit both agriculture and ecosystem health.
Dr. Anand’s research has made several important contributions to managing agricultural mosaic landscapes, including developing models to help with conservation efforts. The team created ecosystem service models and tools like profit mapping, which combines yield, economic, and geospatial data to optimize land use decisions. This tool helps identify poorly performing farmland and supports converting it to natural areas, benefiting both farmers and ecosystems. Additionally, by connecting social dynamics and decision-making with ecological processes, the team developed mathematical models that explore the interactions between human and natural systems, showing how adopting sustainable practices can improve ecosystem services at multiple scales. The research also emphasized optimizing land use across entire landscapes, not just individual plots, to improve connectivity between natural habitats. This connectivity enhances biodiversity and ecosystem services on a larger scale. Anand’s modeling frameworks were applied to case studies of grassland mosaic landscapes worldwide, demonstrating their effectiveness in analyzing the impact of management practices on biodiversity, ecosystem services, and plant diversity.
This research used models that combine human and environmental systems, focusing on local optimization methods to guide land-use decisions that balance human needs with biodiversity conservation in mosaic ecosystems. Anand’s analysis shows that even small increases in natural area coverage can improve biodiversity and ecosystem services in farming landscapes, especially when efforts to create natural areas are designed to enhance connectivity and integration on a larger scale. By placing human agricultural systems within their broader ecological context, Anand’s research examines the complex interactions among economic, social, and environmental factors. This approach can influence land-use policy in mosaic landscapes through an integrated land management perspective, while promoting more sustainable agriculture by developing precision technologies that can be adopted. For landowners and policymakers, the research provides valuable insights into the effects of land-use decisions, encouraging the adoption of more sustainable agricultural practices and policies.
| Araujo Frangipani, M., Cristina Müller, S., & Anand, M. (2021). Frost hinders the establishment of trees in highland grasslands in the Atlantic Forest ecotone region of southern Brazil. Journal of Vegetation Science, 32(4), e13053. https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.13053
Bury, T. M., Bauch, C. T., & Anand, M. (2019). Charting pathways to climate change mitigation in a coupled socio-climate model. PLOS Computational Biology, 15(6), e1007000. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007000 Capmourteres, V., Shaw, S., Miedema, L., & Anand, M. (2019). A complex systems framework for the sustainability doughnut. People and Nature, 1(4), 497–506. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10048 Fair, K. R., Anand, M., & Bauch, C. T. (2020). Spatial structure in protected forest‐grassland mosaics: Exploring futures under climate change. Global Change Biology, 26(11), 6097–6115. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15288 Farahbakhsh, I., Bauch, C. T., & Anand, M. (2021). Best response dynamics improve sustainability and equity outcomes in common-pool resources problems, compared to imitation dynamics. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 509, 110476. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2020.110476 Kattge, J., Bönisch, G., Díaz, S., Lavorel, S., Prentice, I. C., Leadley, P., Tautenhahn, S., Werner, G. D. A., Aakala, T., Abedi, M., Acosta, A. T. R., Adamidis, G. C., Adamson, K., Aiba, M., Albert, C. H., Alcántara, J. M., Alcázar C, C., Aleixo, I., Ali, H., … Wirth, C. (2020). TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access. Global Change Biology, 26(1), 119–188. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14904 Miedema Brown, L., & Anand, M. (2022). Plant functional traits as measures of ecosystem service provision. Ecosphere, 13(2), e3930. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3930 Miedema, L. J., Capmourteres, V., & Anand, M. (2019). Impact of land composition and configuration on the functional trait assembly of forest communities in southern Ontario. Ecosphere, 10(3), e02633. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2633 Nowack, S., Bauch, C. T., & Anand, M. (2019). A local optimization framework for addressing conservation conflicts in mosaic ecosystems. PLOS ONE, 14(5), e0217812. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217812 Pal, S., Bauch, C. T., & Anand, M. (2020). Coupled social-land dynamics and the future of sustainable consumption. Evolutionary Biology. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.09.18.304113 Rosenfield, M. F., Miedema Brown, L., & Anand, M. (2022a). Increasing cover of natural areas at smaller scales can improve the provision of biodiversity and ecosystem services in agroecological mosaic landscapes. Journal of Environmental Management, 303, 114248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.114248 Rosenfield, M. F., Miedema Brown, L., & Anand, M. (2022b). Increasing cover of natural areas at smaller scales can improve the provision of biodiversity and ecosystem services in agroecological mosaic landscapes. Journal of Environmental Management, 303, 114248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.114248 |
Dr. Virginia Capmourteres, Dr. Erin Nelson, Dr. Chris Bauch, Dr. Adam Martin, Dr. Marney Isaac, Dr. Aaron Berg, Dr. Clarence Swanton, Dr. Khurram Nadeem, Dr. Timothy Lenton, Dr. R.I. Sujith, Dr. Marten Scheffer, Dr. Rozita Dara
Jessica Guezen, Liane Miedema Brown, Mathew Stoodley, Vanessa Fonseca, Emily Al-Harazi, Saptarshi Pal, Kathryn Fair, Marcello Frangipani, Dr. Milena Rosenfield
Christian Farmer Federation of Ontario, Credit Valley Conservation Authority, Toronto Region Conservation Authority, Woodrill Ltd., Niagara College Crop Portal
