Welcome!

Welcome to Dr. Natasha MacBean’s C3E Lab: Carbon Cycle, Climate, and Ecosystems in the Department of Geography & Environment and the Department of Biology at Western University! Our research focuses on interactions between terrestrial vegetation, carbon, and water cycles in response to global climate and environmental change.

Human activity is directly altering the earth system via atmospheric CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and land use and land cover change. These emissions result in indirect feedbacks to the climate and to ecosystem functioning and resilience. We need to better understand the impact of these environmental change agents on the terrestrial biosphere in order to adapt to, or mitigate, the harmful impact of climate change and human activity on our environment and society. Addressing this issue is the core of our research program.

Research

In the Dr MacBean’s C3E Lab, we use process-based land surface/terrestrial biosphere models, together with field and satellite data analysis, to study the impact of global climate change, rising CO2 and land use/cover change and management on terrestrial ecosystems.

Our approach is two-fold: 1) to develop, test and optimize process-based terrestrial biosphere models within a statistical data assimilation framework; and 2) to use spatiotemporal data analysis to interpret field and satellite observations of ecosystem responses.

Our work spans boreal to tropical forests, temperate to semi-arid grasslands and shrublands, and scales from field site to the globe.

 
Current research themes in the MacBean Lab
Dryland Ecosystem Structure and Functioning

IMG_20161007_101733-PANO

Global Carbon Cycle Modelling and Data Assimilation
 
collaborative Research

Vegetation Dynamics
pheno

past research themes
Mapping and Modelling Land Cover Change
globcover_poster2012_v2_rr

Lab Group

Current Lab Members

cropped-20140809_1422411.jpg

Natasha MacBean

Associate Professor

Department of Geography & Environment and Department of Biology, Western University

Email: nmacbean@uwo.ca
Bluesky: @nmacbean.bsky.social

Address: Social Science Centre Rm 2322, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 5C2

CV

Research interests: global carbon cycle, climate change, vegetation dynamics, (eco)hydrology, physiology, CO2 fertilization, climate and environmental change, land management, terrestrial biosphere and earth system modeling, data assimilation, remote sensing.

Postdocs

Raj Deepak S. N.

Western University Postdoctoral Fellow

Department of Geography and Environment, Western University.

Email: mjoshi65@uwo.ca

Research Interests: Land Surface Modeling; Parameter Sensitivity and Uncertainty.

Lead of the Calibrated Land Model Intercomparison Project (CalLMIP) 1st Phase.

Graduate Students

Mohan Joshi

PhD Student

Department of Geography and Environment, Western University.

Email: mjoshi65@uwo.ca

Thesis Topic: Modeling forest management impacts on carbon sequestration.

Joy Kehinde Adebisi

PhD Student

Department of Geography and Environment, Western University.

Email: jadebis2@uwo.ca

Thesis Topic: Modeling dryland soil carbon cycling and responses to rainfall pulses.

Research Interests: Biogeochemistry, CO_{2} flux monitoring, modelling and measurement.

Liam Bogucki

MSc Student

(Formerly Western Undergraduate Summer Research Intern (USRI) 2024)

Department of Biology, Western University.

Email: lboguck@uwo.ca

Thesis topic: Implementing dryland biological soil crusts in terrestrial biosphere models.

Samantha Hopkins

PhD Student

(Formerly Post-Graduate Research Assistant, 2025)

Department of Biology, Western University.

Email: shopki23@uwo.ca

Research Topic: Understanding and modelling the effects of disturbance on carbon, water, and vegetation cycles in North American grasslands.

Undergraduate Students

Ellen Huang

Honours Thesis Student

(Formerly Western Undergraduate Summer Research Intern (USRI) (2025) in the Faculty of Science, Western University).

Program: Honours Specialization in Computer Science.

Research Topic: Examining climate and phenological categorization of C3 vs. C4 vegetation to inform terrestrial biosphere modeling.

Samantha Sharp

Honours Thesis Student

(Formerly Western Undergraduate Summer Research Intern (USRI) (2025) in the Faculty of Social Science, Western University).

Program: Honours Specialization in Geographic Information Science (GIS).

Research Topic: Evaluating process-based terrestrial biosphere modeling of dryland fire burnt area.

Whitney Onoberhie

Work Study Student

(Formerly NSERC Undergraduate Summer Research Associate (USRA) (2025) in the Faculty of Social Science, Western University).

Program: Honours Specialization in Computer Science with a minor in Software Engineering and a diploma in French Studies.

Research Topic: Assessment of terrestrial biosphere model trends in dryland gross primary productivity.

Past Lab Members

Rubaya Pervin

PhD Student (2018-2025)

Department of Geography, Indiana University – Bloomington.

Now: Research Assistant Professor at Texas A&M.

Thesis Topic: Mapping and Modelling Dryland Vegetation and Carbon Cycle Patterns and Processes.

Camellia Naderi

Undergraduate Summer Research Assistant and Honors Thesis (2023-2024)

Department of Geography and Environment, Western University.

Research interests: environmental change, ecosystem functioning, and biodiversity conservation.

Natalia Porro

Western Undergraduate Summer Research Intern (USRI) (2024) in the Faculty of Social Science, Western University.

Kashif Mahmud

Postdoctoral Researcher (2019-2022)

Department of Geography, Indiana University – Bloomington.

Now: Assistant Professor in the Kimbell School of Geosciences at Midwestern State University. Kashif’s Remote Sensing and Modeling Lab website.

Heidi Takada

Undergraduate in Geography and
IU 2020 Sustainability Scholar (2018-2019)

Now at: Carbon Neutral Indiana

Lab Group Address

Social Science Centre Rm 2322, Western University,
London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 5C2.

Publications

Google Scholar | ResearchGate

Student (†) and Postdoc (‡) advisees are underlined

Submitted, under review, or in revision  

Raoult, N., Douglas, N., MacBean, N., Kolassa, J., Quaife, T., Roberts, A.G., Fisher, R., Fer, I., Bacour, C., Dagon, K., Hawkins, L., Carvalhais, N., Cooper, E., Dietze, M.C., Gentine, P., Kaminski, T., Kennedy, D., Liddy, H., Moore, D.J.P., Peylin, P., Pinnington, E., Sanderson, B., Scholze, M., Seiler, S., Smallman, T.L., Vergopolan, N., Viskari, T., Williams, M. and Zobitz, J. (2024) Parameter Estimation in Land Surface Models: Challenges and Opportunities with Data Assimilation and Machine Learning. Submitted to Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems.

Published

2024

Feldman, A., Reed, S., Amaral, C., Babst-Kostecka, A., Babst, F., Biederman, J., Devine, C., Fu, Z., Green, J.K., Guo, J., Hanan, N.P., Kokaly, R., Litvak, M., MacBean, N., Moore, D., Ojima, D., Poulter, B., Scott, R.L., Smith, W.K., Swap, R., Tucker, C.J., Wang, L., Watts, J., Wessels, K., Zhang, F., and Zhang, W. (2024) Adaptation and Response in Drylands (ARID): Community Insights for Scoping a NASA Terrestrial Ecology Field Campaign in Drylands. Earth’s Future, 12, e2024EF004811.

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.

2023

Massoud, E.C., Hoffman, F., Shi, Z., Tang, J., Alhajjar, E., Barnes, M., 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., M. R. Johnston, J. F. Knowles, N. MacBean, K. Mahmud, M. Roby, and M. Dannenberg (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., N. MacBean, F. Chevallier, S. Léonard, E. Koffi, and P. Peylin (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.

2022

Wang, L., W. Jiao, N. MacBean, M. C. Ruilli, S. Manzoni, G. Vico and P. D’Odorio (2022), Dryland productivity under a changing climate: global trends, key drivers, and uncertainties, Nature Climate Change, 12, 981-994.

Kumar, S., J. Kolassa, R. Reichle, W. Crow, G. de Lannoy, P. de Rosnay, N. MacBean, M. Girotto, A. Fox, T. Quaife, C. Draper, B. Forman, G. Balsamao, S. Steele-Dunne, C. Albergel, B. Bonan, J.-C. Calvet, J. Dong, H. Liddy, and B. Ruston (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., S. Robeson, and N. MacBean (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., X. Huo, T. Hoar, H. Dashti, W. K. Smith, N. MacBean, J. A. Anderson, M. C. Roby, and D. J. P. Moore (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., C. Bacour, N. Raoult, V. Bastrikov, E. N. Koffi, S. Kuppel, F. Maignan, C. Ottlé, M. Peaucelle, D. Santaren, and P. Peylin (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. url

Novick, K., D. L. Ficklin, D. Baldocchi, K. J. Davis, T. Ghezzehei, A. G. Konings, N. MacBean, N. Raoult, R. L. Scott, Y. Shi, B. N. Sulman, and J. D. Wood (2022), Confronting the Water Potential Information Gap, Nature Geosciences, 15, 158-164. url

2021

Barnes, M. L., M. M. Farella, R. L. Scott, D. J.P. Moore, G. E. Ponce-Campos, J. A. Biederman, N. MacBean, M. E. Litvak, and D. D. Breshears (2021), Improved dryland carbon flux predictions with explicit consideration of water-carbon coupling, Communications: Earth & Environment, 2, 248, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00308-2. url 

‡Mahmud, K., J. A. Biederman, R. L. Scott, M. E. Litvak, T. Kolb, T. P. Meyers, P. Krishnan, V. Bastrikov, and N. MacBean (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. url

MacBean, N., R. L. Scott, J. A. Biederman, P. Peylin, T. Kolb, M. Litvak, P. Krishnan, T. Meyers, V. Arora, V. Bastrikov, D. Goll, D. L. Lombardozzi, J. Nabel, J. Pongratz, S. Sitch, A. P. Walker, S. Zaehle, and D. J. P. Moore (2021), Dynamic Global Vegetation Models Underestimate Net CO2 Flux Mean and Inter-Annual Variability in Semiarid Ecosystems, Environmental Research Letters, 16, 094023. url pdf

2020

MacBean, N., R.L. Scott, J.A. Biederman, C. Ottlé, N. Vuichard, A. Ducharne, T. Kolb, S. Dore, M. Litvak and D.J.P. Moore (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. pdf url

Walker, A. P., M. G. De Kauwe, A. Bastos, S. Belmecheri, K. Georgiou, R. Keeling, S. McMahon, B. E. Medlyn, D. J. P. Moore, R. J. Norby, S. Zaehle, K. J. Anderson-Teixeira, G. Battipaglia, R. J. W. Brienen, K. Cabugao, M. Cailleret, E. Campbell, J. Canadell, P. Ciais, M. E. Craig, D. Ellsworth, G. Farquhar, S. Fatichi, J. B. Fisher, D. Frank, H. Graven, L. Gu, V. Haverd, K. Heilman, M. Heimann, B. A. Hungate, C. M. Iversen, F. Joos, M. Jiang, T. F. Keenan, J. Knauer, W. K. Smith, C. Körner, V. O. Leshyk, S. Leuzinger, Y. Liu, N. MacBean, Y. Malhi, T. McVicar, J. Penuelas, J. Pongratz, A. Shafer Powell, T. Riutta, M. E. B. Sabot, J. Schleucher, S. Sitch, B. Sulman, B. Taylor, C. Terrer, M. Torn, K. Treseder, A. T. Trugman, S. Trumbore, P. J. van Mantgem, S. L. Voelker, M. Whelan, and P. Ziudema (2020), Integrating evidence for a terrestrial carbon sink caused by increasing atmospheric CO2, New Phytologist, 229, 2413–2445. url

Parazoo, N., T. Magney, A. Norton, B. Raczka, C. Bacour, F. Maignan, I. Baker, Y. Zhang, B. Qiu, M. Shi, N. MacBean, D. Bowling, S. Burns, P. Blanken, J. Stutz, K. Grossman, and C. Frankenberg (2020), Wide Discrepancies in the Magnitude and Direction of Modelled SIF in Response to Light Conditions, Biogeosciences, 17, 3733-3755. pdf

Smith, W.K., A. Fox, N. MacBean, D.J.P. Moore and N. Parazoo (2020), Constraining estimates of terrestrial carbon uptake: New opportunities using long-term satellite observations and data assimilation, New Phytologist, 225, 105-112, doi: 10.1111/nph.16055. (Invited Tansley Insight). url pdf

2019

Smith, W.K., M. Dannenberg, D. Yan, S. Herrmann, M.L. Barnes, G.A. Barron-Gafford, J.A. Biederman, S. Ferrenberg, A.M. Fox, A.R. Hudson, J.F. Knowles, N. MacBean, D.J.P. Moore, P.L. Nagler, S.C. Reed, W.A. Rutherford, R.L. Scott, X. Wang and J. Yang (2019), Remote sensing of dryland ecosystem structure and function: Progress, challenges and opportunities, Remote Sensing of Environment, 233, 111401. url.

Bacour, C., F. Maignan, P. Peylin, N. MacBean, V. Bastrikov, J. Joiner, P. Köhler, L. Guanter, and C. Frankenberg (2019), Differences between OCO2 and GOME2 SIF products from a model-data fusion perspective, JGR-Biogeosciences, 124, 3143–3157. url.

Bacour, C., F. Maignan, N. MacBean, A. Porcar-Castell, J. Flexas, C. Frankenberg, P. Peylin, F. Chevallier and N. Vuichard (2019), Improving estimates of Gross Primary Productivity by assimilating solar-induced fluorescence satellite retrievals in a terrestrial biosphere model using a mechanistic SIF model,  JGR-Biogeosciences 124, doi: 10.1029/2019JG005040. url.

Duncanson, L., J. Armston, M. Disney, V. Avitabile, N. Barbier, K. Calders, S. Carter, J. Chave, M. Herold, T. Crowther, M. Falkowski, J. Kellner, N. Labrière, R. Lucas, N. MacBean, R.E. McRoberts, V. Meyer, E. Næsset, J.E. Nickeson, K.I. Paul, O.L. Phillips, M. Réjou- Méchain, M. Román, S. Roxburgh, S. Saatchi, D. Schepashenko, K. Scipal, P.R. Siqueira, M. Williams, and A. Whitehurst (2019), The Importance of Consistent Global Forest Aboveground Biomass Product Validation. Surveys in Geophysics, 40, 979-999. doi: 10.1007/s10712-019-09538-8. url

Exbrayat, J.-F., A. A. Bloom, N. Carvalhais, R. Fischer, A. Huth, N. MacBean and M. Williams (2019), Understanding the land carbon cycle with space data: current status and prospects. Surveys in Geophysics, 40, 735-755. doi: 10.1007/s10712-019-09506-2. url

2018

Bastrikov, V., N. MacBean, C. Bacour, D. Santaren, S. Kuppel and P. Peylin (2018), Land surface model parameter optimisation using in-situ flux data: comparison of gradient-based versus random search algorithms, Geoscientific Model Development, 11, 4739-4754. pdf

Fox, A.M., T.J. Hoar, J.L. Anderson, A.F. Arellano, W.K. Smith, M.E. Litvak, N. MacBean, D.S. Schimel, and D.J.P. Moore (2018), Evaluation of a Data Assimilation System for Land Surface Models using CLM4.5. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 10, 2471–24942. pdf

Liu, D., Y. Li, T. Wang, P. Peylin, N. MacBean, P. Ciais, G. Jia, M. Ma, Y. Ma, M. Shen,  X. Zhang and S. Piao (2018), Contrasting responses of grassland water and carbon exchanges to climate change between the Tibetan Plateau and Inner Mongolia, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 249, 163-175. url

MacBean, N., F. Maignan, C. Bacour, P. Lewis, P. Peylin, L. Guanter, P. Köhler, J. Gomez-Dans and M. Disney (2018), Strong constraint on modeled global carbon uptake using solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence data, Scientific Reports, 8, 1973, doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-20024-w. pdf

Li, W., N. MacBean, P. Ciais, P. Defourny, C. Lamarche, S. Bontemps, R. A. Houghton and S. Peng (2018), Gross and net land cover changes in the main plant functional types derived from the annual ESA CCI land cover maps (1992–2015). Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 219-234. pdf

Smith, W.K., J.A Biederman, R.L. Scott, D.J.P. Moore, M. He, J.S. Kimball, D. Yan, A. Hudson, M.L. Barnes, N. MacBean, A. Fox and M.E. Litvak (2018), Chlorophyll fluorescence better captures seasonal and interannual gross primary productivity dynamics across dryland ecosystems of southwestern North America, Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, 748–757. url

2017

Hartley, A., N. MacBean, G. Georgievski and S. Bontemps (2017), Uncertainty in plant functional type distributions and its impact on land surface models. Remote Sensing of Environment, 203, 71-89. url

Montané, F., Fox, A. M., Arellano, A. F., MacBean, N., Alexander, M. R., Dye, A., Bishop, D. A., Trouet, V., Babst, F., Hessl, A. E., Pederson, N., Blanken, P. D., Bohrer, G., Gough, C. M., Litvak, M. E., Novick, K. A., Phillips, R. P., Wood, J. D., and Moore, D. J. P. (2017), Evaluating the effect of alternative carbon allocation schemes in a land surface model (CLM4.5) on carbon fluxes, pools and turnover in temperate forests, Geosci. Model Dev. 10, 3499-3517, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-3499-2017.  pdf

Li, Y., H. Yang, T. Wang, N. MacBean, C. Bacour, P. Ciais, Y. Zhang, G. Zhou and S. Piao (2017), Reducing the uncertainty of parameters controlling seasonal carbon and water fluxes in Chinese forests, and its implication for simulated climate sensitivities, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 31, doi:10.1002/2017GB005714.

Walker, A. P., T. Quaife, P. M. van Bodegom, M. G. De Kauwe, T. F. Keenan, J. Joiner, M. R. Lomas, N. MacBean, C. Xu, X. Yang and F. I. Woodward (2017), The impact of alternative trait-scaling hypotheses for the maximum photosynthetic carboxylation rate (Vcmax) on global gross primary production, New Phytologist, 215, 1370–1386, doi:10.1111/nph.14623. url

Thum, T., N. MacBean, P. Peylin, C. Bacour, D. Santaren, B. Longdoz, D. Loustau and P. Ciais (2017) The potential benefit of using forest biomass data in addition to carbon and water flux measurements to constrain ecosystem model parameters: case studies at two temperate forest sites, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 234, 48-65. url

2016

MacBean, N., P. Peylin, F. Chevallier, M. Scholze, M., and G. Schürmann (2016) Consistent assimilation of multiple data streams in a carbon cycle data assimilation system, Geoscientific Model Development, 9, 3569-3588, doi:10.5194/gmd-9-3569-2016. url pdf

Peylin, P., C. Bacour, N. MacBean, S. Leonard, P.J. Rayner, S. Kuppel, E.N. Koffi, A. Kane, F. Maignan, F. Chevallier, P. Ciais and P. Prunet (2016), A new step-wise Carbon Cycle Data Assimilation System using multiple data streams to constrain the simulated land surface carbon cycle, Geoscientific Model Development, 9, 3321-3346, doi:10.5194/gmd-9-3321-2016. url pdf

Li, W., P. Ciais, N. MacBean, S. Peng, P. Defourny and S. Bontemps (2016), Major forest changes and land cover transitions based on plant functional types derived from the ESA CCI Land Cover product. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 47, 30-39. url 

2015

MacBean, N., F. Maignan, P. Peylin, C. Bacour, P. Ciais and F.-M. Bréon (2015), Using satellite data to improve the leaf phenology of a global terrestrial biosphere model, Biogeosciences, 12, 7185-7208. url pdf

Bacour, C., P. Peylin, N. MacBean, P. J. Rayer, F. Delage, F. Chevallier,  M. Weiss, J. Demarty, D. Santaren,  F. Baret, D. Berveiller, E. Dufrêne and P. Prunet (2015), Joint assimilation of eddy-covariance flux measurements and satellite observations within a process-oriented biosphere model, Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences, 120, 1839–1857, doi: 10.1002/2015JG002966. url pdf

Poulter, B., N. MacBean, A. Hartley, I. Khlystova, O. Arino, R. Betts,
 S. Bontemps, M. Boettcher, C. Brockmann, P. Defourny, S. Hagemann, M. Herold, G. Kirches, C. Lamarche, D. Lederer, C. Ottlé, M. Peters, and P. Peylin (2015), Plant functional type classification for Earth System Models: results from the European Space Agency’s Land Cover Climate Change Initiative, Geoscientific Model Development, 8, 2315-2328, doi:10.5194/gmd-8-2315-2015. url pdf

Naudts, K., J. Ryder, M. J. McGrath, J. Otto, Y. Chen, A. Valade, V. Bellasen, G. Berhongaray, G. Bönisch, M. Campioli, J. Ghattas, T. De Groote, V. Haverd, J. Kattge, N. MacBean, F. Maignan, P. Merilä, J. Penuelas, P. Peylin, B. Pinty, H. Pretzsch, E. D. Schulze, D. Solyga, N. Vuichard, Y. Yan, and S. Luyssaert (2015) A vertically discretised canopy description for ORCHIDEE (SVN r2290) and the modifications to the energy, water and carbon fluxes, Geoscientific Model Development, 8, 2035-2065. url pdf

Wang, X., S. Piao, X. Xu, P. Ciais, N. MacBean, R.B. Myneni and L. Li (2015) Has the advancing onset of spring vegetation green-up slowed down or changed abruptly over the past three decades? Global Ecology and Biogeography, 24, 621-631, doi: 10.1111/geb12289. url pdf

2014

MacBean, N. and P. Peylin (2014), Biogeochemistry: Agriculture and the Global Carbon Cycle, Nature (News and Views), 515, 351-352, doi: 10.1038/515351a. url pdf

Traore, A., P. Ciais, N. Vuichard, N.MacBean, C. Dardel, B. Poulter, S.    Piao, J.B. Fisher, N. Viovy, M. Jung and R. Myneni (2014) 1982-2010 Trends of Light use Efficiency and Inherent Water use Efficiency in African vegetation: Sensitivity to Climate and Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations, Remote Sensing, 6, 8923-8944, doi: 10.3390/rs6098923. url pdf

2010

Walker, R.T., M. Talebian, S. Saiffori, R.A. Sloan, A. Rasheedi, N. MacBean and A. Ghassemi (2010) Active faulting, earthquakes, and restraining bend development near Kerman city in southeastern Iran, Journal of Structural Geology, 32(8), 1046-1060. url pdf

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., H. Liddy, T. Quaife, J. Kolassa, and A. Fox (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.

Kato, T., F. Maignan, N. MacBean, P. Peylin, N. Vuichard, Y. Goulas, F. Daumard, I. Moya, A. Porcar-Castell and C. Nicol (2014), Relationship of the model-simulated productivity with the in-situ fluorescence measurements at two flux sites, 5th International Workshop on Remote Sensing of Fluorescence, Paris, France.

MacBean, N., M. Disney, J. Gomez-Dans, P. Lewis and P. Ineson (2010), Using Satellite Measurements of Surface Soil Moisture to Improve Estimates of CO2 and CH4 from Peatlands. In ESA Living Planet Symposium (Vol. 686, p. 517).

MacBean, N., M. Disney, P. Lewis and P. Ineson (2008), Using Remote Sensing Data to Quantify Changes in Vegetation over Peatland Areas. In IGARSS 2008 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (Vol. 4, pp. IV-351), IEEE.

Opportunities

undergraduate and graduate students

I am no longer seeking undergraduate or graduate students for Summer and Fall 2026.

postdocs

I do not currently have any funding for postdoc positions in my lab; however, there are a number of opportunities to apply for postdoctoral fellowships both at Western University and within Canada. Please see below for links to these opportunities.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Undergraduate students

NSERC USRA or Western USRI are available each summer. Please check back in early 2026 for potential opportunities in the C3E Lab for summer 2026. 

If you are interested in doing an Honours thesis under the supervision of Dr MacBean, please email nmacbean@uwo.ca with the following information:

  • Unofficial transcript
  • Complete CV/resume (include all programming skills)
  • Brief summary of the research you are interested in (including specific research questions if you know what they might be) and why you are interested in doing research.
  • Brief summary of any programming experience you have.

Graduate students

Prospective students should have an undergraduate degree in physical geography, environmental science, biology (including ecology), earth system science, or a related field. Experience with programming and process-based modeling is ideal. Candidates can apply to either the Department of Geography and Environment or Department of Biology programs. Students should consult the links below for more information on eligibility, application and program requirements and deadlines.

Interested applicants should email Dr MacBean (nmacbean@uwo.ca) with their CV, a brief statement of research interests and experience, and the transcript from their previous degree (unofficial or official).

Please note: international student places are currently very limited and new restrictions from the Canadian federal government and Ontario provincial government are in place. Prospective international students should consult Canadian IRCC immigration policies to determine their eligibility before contacting Dr MacBean. 

Students interested in pursuing an MSc or PhD at Western University in either the Department of Geography & Environment or Department of Biology should take a look at the following webpages for admissions requirements and application process at the following websites: https://geoenvironment.uwo.ca/graduate/future_students/index.html and https://www.uwo.ca/biology/graduate/prospective/index.html. Note that you must have secured a supervisor before applying to the program. Please contact nmacbean@uwo.ca if you are interested in working with Dr MacBean and the C3E Lab. 

A complete funding package is provided by the department and university. I will support all graduate students in applying for additional internal and external research grants such as:

NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarships – Master’s Program (domestic only)

NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarships – Doctoral Program (domestic only)

Ontario Graduate Scholarship (domestic and international)

Queen Elizabeth II Scholarship in Science and Technology (domestic and international)

Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships (domestic and international)

Western Faculty of Social Science Equity and Diversity Social Science Fellowship and theIndigenous Social Science Doctoral Fellowship.

For more information on all external funding sources please see here and here.

Postdoctoral Researchers

I am happy to hear from postdocs who are interested in working with me on using land surface/terrestrial biosphere models to study the impacts of climate and environmental change on terrestrial ecosystems, especially if the research questions they are interested in pertain to the two main research themes that we are focused on in my lab currently. If you are interested in applying for one of the opportunities listed below, please email me with a CV and brief statement of research interests and experience, and a brief outline of the research you would like to pursue in my lab (noting the current research themes I am focused on as listed on my Research page).

Please note: I do not currently have postdoc positions available in my lab; however, several internal and external fellowship opportunities exist. Please see the following pages for more information on these opportunities: 

 Also see the links in this article for a free database of worldwide funding opportunities.