Natasha MacBean
Assistant Professor
Jointly Appointed with the Department of Biology
Contact Information
Office: Room 2412, SSCLab: Room 2404, SSC
Tel: 519 661-2111, 85008
E-mail: nmacbean@uwo.ca
Research Website
Google Scholar
Research Areas
Carbon and biogeochemical cycles, vegetation dynamics, climate and environmental change, land surface modelling, environmental remote sensing, model-data fusion/data assimilation
Research Interests
Dr. MacBean’s research focuses on understanding climate-carbon-vegetation interactions in response to climate change, rising CO2, and land use and land cover change. She use two main approaches: 1) developing, testing, and optimizing process-based terrestrial biosphere models; and 2) spatiotemporal data analysis to interpret field and satellite observations. Her work spans scales from ecosystems to the globe, from boreal to tropical forests, and from temperate to semi-arid grasslands. At Western Dr MacBean leads the C3E Lab: Carbon Cycle, Climate, and Ecosystems.
Teaching
GEO 3353/ 9105 – Environmental modelling
BIO 3425 – Global Change Biology
Supervised Graduate Students and Theses Titles
PhD Students
- M. Joshi (Current) Modelling Forest Management Impacts on Carbon Sequestration
- R. Pervin (Current, Indiana University) Mapping and Modelling Dryland Vegetation and Carbon Cycle Patterns and Processes
Publications
Refereed Journals
Peer-reviewed journal articles (Student (†) and Postdoc (‡) trainees from my lab underlined)
Steiner, B., Scott, R.L., Hu, J., MacBean, N., Richardson, A., and Moore, D.J.P. (2024) Using Phenology to Unravel Differential Soil Water Use and Productivity in a Semiarid Savanna, Ecosphere, 15, e4762
Massoud, E.C., Hoffman, F., Shi, Z., Tang, J., Alhajjar, E., Barnes, M.L., Braghiere, R.K., Cardon, Z., Collier, N., Crompton, O., Dennedy-Frank, P.J., Gautam, S., Gonzalez-Meler, M.A., Green, J.K., Koven, C., Levine, P., MacBean, N., Mao, J., Tran Mills, R., Mishra, U., Mudunuru, M., Renchon, A.A., Scott, S., Siirila-Woodburn, E.R., Sprenger, M., Tague, C., Wang, Y., Xu, C., and Zarakasz, C. (2023) Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence for Predictions in Ecohydrology, Artificial Intelligence for the Earth Systems, 2 (4), e230005
Scott, R.L., Johnston, M.R., Knowles, J.F., MacBean, N., ‡Mahmud, K., Roby, M., and Dannenberg, M. (2023), Interannual variability of spring and summer monsoon growing season carbon exchange at a semiarid savanna over nearly two decades, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 339, 109584
Bacour, C., MacBean, N., Chevallier, F., Léonard, S., Koffi, E., and Peylin, P. (2023), Assimilation of multiple datasets results in large differences in regional- to global-scale NEE and GPP budgets simulated by a terrestrial biosphere model, Biogeosciences, 20, 1089-1111
Wang, L., Jiao, W., MacBean, N., Ruilli, M.C., Manzoni, S., Vico, G., and D'Odorio, P. (2022), Dryland productivity under a changing climate: global trends, key drivers, and uncertainties, Nature Climate Change, 12, 981-994
Kumar, S., Kolassa, J., Reichle, R., Crow, W., de Lannoy, G., de Rosnay, P., MacBean, N., Girotto, M., Fox, A., Quaife, T., Draper, C., Forman, B., Balsamao, G., Steele-Dunne, S., Albergel, C., Bonan, B., Calvet, J.-C., Dong, J., Liddy, H., and Ruston, B. (2022), An Agenda for Land Data Assimilation Priorities: Realizing the Promise of Terrestrial Water, Energy, and Vegetation Observations From Space, Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 14, e2022MS003259
†Pervin, R., Robeson, S., and MacBean, N. (2022), Fusion of airborne hyperspectral and LiDAR canopy-height data for estimating fractional cover of tall woody plants, herbaceous vegetation, and other soil cover types in a semi-arid savanna ecosystem, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 43, 3890-3926
Fox, A., Huo, X., Hoar, T., Dashti, H., Smith, W.K., MacBean, N., Anderson, J.A., Roby, M.C., and Moore, D.J.P. (2022), Assimilation of Global Satellite Leaf Area Estimates Reduces Modeled Global Carbon Uptake and Energy Loss by Terrestrial Ecosystems, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 127, e2022JG006830
MacBean, N., Bacour, C., Raoult, N., Bastrikov, V., Koffi, E.N., Kuppel, S., Maignan, F., Ottlé, C., Peaucelle, M., Santaren, D., and Peylin, P. (2022), Quantifying and Reducing Uncertainty in Global Carbon Cycle Predictions: Lessons and Perspectives From 15 Years of Data Assimilation Studies with the ORCHIDEE Terrestrial Biosphere Model, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 36, e2021GB007177
Novick, K., Ficklin, D.L., Baldocchi, D., Davis, K.J., Ghezzehei, T., Konings, A.G., MacBean, N., Raoult, N., Scott, R.L., Shi, Y., Sulman, B.N., and Wood, J.D. (2022), Confronting the Water Potential Information Gap, Nature Geosciences, 15, 158-164
Barnes, M.L., Farella, M.M., Scott, R.L., Moore, D.J.P., Ponce-Campos, G.E., Biederman, J.A., MacBean, N., Litvak, M.E., and Breshears, D.D. (2021), Improved dryland carbon flux predictions with explicit consideration of water-carbon coupling, Communications: Earth & Environment, 2, 248
‡Mahmud, K., Biederman, J.A., Scott, R.L., Litvak, M.E., Kolb, T., Meyers, T., Krishnan, P., Bastrikov, V., and MacBean, N. (2021), Optimizing Carbon Cycle Parameters Drastically Improves Terrestrial Biosphere Model Underestimates of Dryland Mean Net CO2 Flux and its Inter‐Annual Variability, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 126, e2021JG006400
MacBean, N., Scott, R.L., Biederman, J.A., Peylin, P., Kolb, T., Litvak, M.E., Krishnan, P., Meyers, T., Arora, V., Bastrikov, V., Goll, D., Lombardozzi, D.L., Nabel, J., Pongratz, J., Sitch, S., Walker, A.P., Zaehle, S., and Moore, D.J.P. (2021), Dynamic Global Vegetation Models Underestimate Net CO2 Flux Mean and Inter-Annual Variability in Semiarid Ecosystems, Environmental Research Letters, 16, 094023
MacBean, N., Scott, R.L., Biederman, J.A., Ottlé, C., Vuichard, N., Ducharne, A., Kolb, T., Dore, S., Litvak, M.E., and Moore, D.J.P. (2020), Testing water fluxes and storage from two hydrology configurations within the ORCHIDEE land surface model across US semi-arid sites, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 24, 5203-5230
Walker, A. P., De Kauwe, M.G., Bastos, A., Belmecheri., S., Georgiou, K., Keeling, R., McMahon, S., Medlyn, B.E., Moore, D.J.P., Norby, R.J., Zaehle, S., Anderson-Teixeira, K.J., Battipaglia, G., Brienen, R.J.W., Cabugao, K., Cailleret, M., Campbell, E., Canadell, J., Ciais, P., Craig, M.E., Ellsworth, D., Farquhar, G., Fatichi, S., Fisher, J., Frank, D., Graven, H., Gu, L., Haverd, V., Heilman, K., Heimann, M., Hungate, B.A., Iversen, C.M., Joos, F., Jiang, M., Keenan, T.F., Knauer, J., Smith, W.K., Körner, C., Leshyk, V.O., Leuzinger, S., Liu, Y., MacBean, N., Malhi, Y., McVicar, T., Penuelas, J., Pongratz, J., Shafer Powell, A., Riutta, T., Sabot, M.E.B., Schleucher, J., Sitch, S., Sulman, B., Taylor, B., Terrer, C., Torn, M., Treseder, K., Trugman, A.T., Trumbore, S., van Mantgem, P.J., Voelker, S.L., Whelan, M., and Ziudema, P. (2020), Integrating evidence for a terrestrial carbon sink caused by increasing atmospheric CO2, New Phytologist, 229, 2413–2445
Parazoo, N., Magney, T., Norton, A., Raczka, R., Bacour, C., Maignan, F., Baker, I., Zhang, Y., Qiu, B., Shi, M., MacBean, N., Bowling, D., Burns, S., Blanken, P., Stutz, J., Grossman, K., and Frankenberg, C. (2020), Wide Discrepancies in the Magnitude and Direction of Modelled SIF in Response to Light Conditions, Biogeosciences, 17, 3733-3755
Smith, W.K., Fox, A., MacBean, N., Moore, D.J.P., and Parazoo, N. (2020) Constraining estimates of terrestrial carbon uptake: New opportunities using long-term satellite observations and data assimilation, New Phytologist, 225, 105-112. (Invited Tansley Insight)
Smith, W.K., Dannenberg, M., Yan, D., Herrmann, S., Barnes, M.L., Barron-Gafford, G.A., Biederman, J.A., Ferrenberg, S., Fox, A.M., Hudson, A.R., Knowles, J.F., MacBean, N., Moore, D.J.P., Nagler, P.L., Reed, S.C., Rutherford W.A., Scott, R.L., Wang, X., and Yang, J. (2019), Remote sensing of dryland ecosystem structure and function: Progress, challenges and opportunities, Remote Sensing of Environment, 233, 111401
Bacour, C., Maignan, F., Peylin, P., MacBean, N., Bastrikov, V., Joiner, J., Köhler, P., Guanter, L., and Frankenberg, C. (2019), Differences between OCO2 and GOME2 SIF products from a model-data fusion perspective, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 124, 3143–3157
Bacour, C., Maignan, F., MacBean, N., Porcar-Castell, A., Flexas, J., Frankenberg, C., Peylin, P., Chevallier, F., and Vuichard, N. (2019), Improving estimates of Gross Primary Productivity by assimilating solar-induced fluorescence satellite retrievals in a terrestrial biosphere model using a mechanistic SIF model, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 124, 3281–3306
Duncanson, L., Armston, J., Disney, M., Avitabile, V., Barbier, N., Calders, K., Carter, S., Chave, J., Herold, M., Crowther, T., Falkowski, M., Kellner, J., Labrière, N., Lucas, R., MacBean, N., McRoberts, R.E., Meyer, V., Næsset, E., Nickeson, J.E., Paul, K.I., Phillips, O.L., Réjou-Méchain, M., Román, M., Roxburgh, S., Saatchi, S., Schepashenko, D., Scipal, K., Siqueira, P.R., Williams, M., and Whitehurst, A. (2019), The Importance of Consistent Global Forest Aboveground Biomass Product Validation, Surveys in Geophysics, 40, 979-999
Exbrayat, J.-F., Bloom, A.A., Carvalhais, N., Fischer, R., Huth, A., MacBean, N., and Williams, M. (2019), Understanding the land carbon cycle with space data: current status and prospects, Surveys in Geophysics, 40, 735-755
Book Chapters, Conference Proceedings, and Other Published Works
Griffies, S. M., Fan, J., MacBean, N., and Schneider, T. (2023) Aims and Scope of JAMES, Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 15 (4), e2023MS003741
MacBean, N., Liddy, H., Quaife, T., Kolassa, J., and Fox, A. (2022), Building a land data assimilation community to tackle technical challenges in quantifying and reducing uncertainty in land model predictions, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (Meeting Summary), 103, E733-E740
Bastos, A., Naipal, V. Ahlström, A., MacBean, N., Smith, W.K., and Poulter, B. (2022), Semiarid Ecosystems. In B. Poulter, J. Canadell, D. Hayes, and R. Thompson (Eds.), Balancing Greenhouse Gas Budgets: Accounting for Natural and Anthropogenic Flows of CO2 and other Trace Gases, pp. 311-335. Elsevier
Duncanson, L., Armston, J., Disney, M., Avitabile, V., Barbier, N., Calders, K., Carter, S., Chave, J., Herold, M., MacBean, N., et al. (2021), Aboveground Woody Biomass Product Validation Good Practices Protocol. Version 1.0. In L. Duncanson, M. Disney, J. Armston, J. Nickeson, D. Minor, and F. Camacho (Eds.), Good Practices for Satellite Derived Land Product Validation, (p. 236): Land Product Validation Subgroup (WGCV/CEOS), doi:10.5067/doc/ceoswgcv/lpv/agb.001
Mohammed, G.H., Colombo, R., Moreno, J., van der Tol, C., Rascher, R., Alonso, L., Cogliati, S., Damm, A., Fawcett, D., Gomez-Dans, J., Henry, C., Lewis, P., MacBean, N., Magnani, F., Malaprade, J., Matveeva, M., Olejníčková, J., Pernokis, D., Pinto, F., Raddi, S., Rajh Vilfan, N., Rivera, J.P., Rossini, M., Sabater, N., Schickling, A., Tenjo, C., Verhoef, W., Verrelst, J., Vicent Servera, J., and Drusch, M. (2016) 2014 FLEX/Sentinel-3 Tandem Mission FLEX Bridge Study – Final Report, https://www.pmtech.ca/FLEX/FB_PAGE.htm