Ph.D. at Cornell University, Erle Ellis is Professor of Geography and Environmental Systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Erle is Director of the Laboratory for Anthropogenic Landscape Ecology. His research focus is on Anthropocene, Landscape Ecology, Global Change & Sustainable Ecosystem Management.

Erle investigates the ecology of anthropogenic landscapes and their changes at local to global scales. Current work in his laboratory has three main foci: the global ecology and history of human landscapes (anthropogenic biomes), tools for global synthesis of local knowledge of landscape change (GLOBE), and inexpensive tools for measuring and managing ecological change across anthropogenic landscapes (Ecosynth, Anthropogenic Ecotope Mapping). All of these resume into Erle’s main goal: informing sustainable stewardship of the biosphere in the Anthropocene. Erle is currently a member of the Anthropocene Working Group, the Scientific Steering Committee of the Global Land Project, and Senior Fellow of the Breakthrough Institute.

Erle C. Ellis