Paolo D'Odorico

Education

Ph.D. in Hydraulic Engineering, University of Padua, Padova (Italy), 1998

B.S./M.S. in Civil Hydraulic Engineering , University of Padua, Padova (Italy), 1994

Research Description

My research focuses on the role of hydrological processes in the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Through the analysis of the soil water balance I have highlighted important nonlinearities in the coupling between soil moisture dynamics and plant water stress, biogeochemical cycling, land-atmosphere interactions, plant community composition, and soil susceptibility to wind erosion. Using field observations and process-based models, I am investigating new mechanisms of desertification and factors contributing to the resilience of the desert margins. Our group's work has highlighted the role played by positive feedbacks with the physical environment on the resilience of savannas, dry tropical forests, desert shurblands, freshwater wetlands, mangrove swamps, and seagrass meadows. Our work has also shown how environmental noise may increase the complexity of ecosystem dynamics by inducing new states, bifurcations, or pattern formation.

I am currently investigating the globalization of water through virtual water trade and international land investments, and its impact on water equity, societal resilience, environmental stewardship, and food security. Our group is exploring the nexus among water, food, and energy security, and identifying the legal, and biophysical mechanisms of water appropriation and grabbing. We are identifying global patterns of land and water tenure, and linkages between sustainability and justice in the context of the fulfillment of human rights and the rights of nature.

Selected Publications

Books

• Runyan, C.W. and P. D’Odorico. Global Deforestation, Cambridge University Press, New York, 248 pp., 2016.
• Hornberger, G. M., P. L. Wiberg, J. Raffensberger, and P. D’Odorico. Elements of Physical Hydrology, 2nd ed., Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins Press, 2014.
• L. Ridolfi, P. D’Odorico, and F. Laio, Noise-induced Phenomena in the Environmental Sciences, Cambridge University Press, New York, 314pp., 2011.
• P. D’Odorico and A. Porporato (Editors), Dryland Ecohydrology, Springer, 2006.

Recent Articles

• Rosa, L., K.F. Davis, M.C. Rulli, and P. D’Odorico, Environmental consequences of oil production from oil sands, Earth’s Future, in press.
• Rulli, M.C., M. Santini M., P. D’Odorico, 2017, “The nexus between forest fragmentation in Africa and Ebola virus disease outbreaks”, Sci. Rep., in press
• Dell’Angelo, J., M.C. Rulli, P. Marchand, and P. D’Odorico, “The tragedy of the grabbed commons”, World Development, 92, 1-12, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2016.11.005.
• Ratajczak, Z., P. D’Odorico, J.B. Nippert, S. Collins, N.A. Brunsell, S. Ravi, “Changes in spatial variance during a grassland to scrubland state transition”. J. Ecol., http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12696, 2016.
• Yu, K., M.J. Saha, and P. D’Odorico, “The effects of interannual rainfall variability on tree/grass composition along Kalahari rainfall gradient”. Ecosystems, doi:10.1007/s10021-016-0086-8, 2016. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10021-016-0086-8.
• Saha, MV, P. D'Odorico, T.M. Scanlon, “Fire Suppresses Rainfall in African Drylands”, Geophys. Res. Lett., 43, doi:10.1002/2016GL069855, 2016. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2016GL069855/abstract.
• Rulli, M.C., D. Bellomi, A. Cazzoli, G. De Carolis, and P. D’Odorico, “The water-energy-food nexus of first-generation biofuels”, Sci. Rep., 6:22521 doi:10.1038/srep22521, 2016. http://www.nature.com/articles/srep22521.
• Davis K.F., K. Yu, M.C. Rulli, L. Pichdara, and P. D’Odorico, “Accelerated deforestation by large-scale land acquisitions in Cambodia”, Nature Geoscience, 8, 772-775, DOI: 10.1038/NGEO2540.
• Carr, J.A., D.A. Seekell, and P. D’Odorico, “Inequality or injustice in water use for food?” Environm. Research Lett., 10, 024013, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/10/2/024013, 2015. http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/10/2/024013/pdf.
• D’Odorico P., J.A. Carr, F. Laio, S.Vandoni, L. Ridolfi, “Feeding humanity through the food and water trade networks”. Earth’s Future, 2, doi:10.1002/2014EF000250, 2014. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014EF000250/epdf.
• Rulli, M.C. and P. D’Odorico, “Food appropriation through large scale land acquisitions”, Environm. Res. Lett. 9, 064030, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/9/6/064030, 2014. http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/9/6/064030/pdf.
• D’Odorico P. and M.C. Rulli, “The land and its people”, Nature Geoscience, 4: 324-325, 2014. http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v7/n5/full/ngeo2153.html.

Honors and Awards

• Hydrologic Sciences Medal, American Meteorological Society, 2023.
• Fellow of the American Meteorological Society, 2023.
• Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science, 2022.
• Paul Witherspoon Lecture, American Geophysical Union, 2016.
• Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, 2016.
• Maury-Tice Environmental Prize, University of Virginia, 2013.
• Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, 2011.
• Fulbright Distinguished Lecturer, J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, 2011.
• Sustainability Science Award, Ecological Society of America, 2009.