Eugenio Arima
Professor — Ph.D., Michigan State University
Assistant Professor
Contact
- E-mail: arima@austin.utexas.edu
- Phone: 512-471-0714
- Office: CLA 3.416
- Office Hours: TU and TH 3:00-4:00 p.m. or by appointment
Biography
Dr. Arima received his bachelor degree in agricultural sciences from the University of Brasilia, Brazil, his masters in agricultural economics from PennState University and PhD in geography from Michigan State University.
Dr Arima research interest lies under the broad theme of land cover and land use change (LUCC). He is particularly interested in modeling how LUCC manifests spatially using a combination of quantitative tools such as econometrics, geographic information systems, computer simulations, and remote sensing. He uses behavioral models (e.g. microeconomic models) to describe the motivations that drive humans to act upon and transform landscapes. He recognizes though the limits of quantitative methods and theory. Hence he spends a considerable amount of time conducting field work and interviewing colonists, farmers, loggers and politicians in the Amazon basin during summer breaks. This has provided him with insights into the influence of political economy on environmental change processes and to the importance of understanding the role of multiple agents and their social-political relations in transforming landscapes. Dr. Arima strongly supports multidisciplinary work and collaborates extensively with economists, sociologists, biologists and ecologists. Currently, he is part of two collaborative researches. The first, supported by NASA, investigates the role of climate change, land use, and mitigation efforts in shifting fire regimes in the United States, Australia, and the Brazilian Amazon. The second project supported by NSF examines forest fragmentation processes that result from roads built by private agents such as loggers, colonists, and miners.
Selected Publications
Arima, E. Y., P. Richards, R. T. Walker M. Caldas. 2011. Statistical confirmation of indirect land use change in the Brazilian Amazon. Environmental Research Letters 6 (2011) 024010 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/6/2/024010.
Walker, R., C. Simmons, S. Aldrich, S. Perz, E. Arima, M. Caldas. 2011. The Amazonian theater of cruelty. Association of American Geographers 101(5): 1156-1170.
Walker, R., N. Moore, E. Arima, S. Perz, C. Simmons, M. Caldas, D. Vergara, C. Bohrer. 2009. Protecting the Amazon with Protected Areas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106(26): 10582-10586.
Arima, E. Y., Walker, R. T., Sales, M., Souza Jr., Perz, S. G. 2008. The fragmentation of space in the Amazon basin: emergent road networks. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 74(6): 699-709.
Arima, E., C. S. Simmons, R. Walker, and M. A. Cochrane. 2007. Fire in the Brazilian Amazon: a spatially explicit model for policy impact analysis. Journal of Regional Sciences 47 (3):541-567.
Moore, N., E. Arima, R. Walker, and R. R. Silva. 2007. Uncertainty and the changing hydroclimatology of the Amazon. Geophysical Research Letters 34 (L14707):doi:10.1029/2007GL030157.
