​People have shaped landscapes for millennia for food, shelter, and other needs. As land-use change has escalated, however, it has become a key driver of biodiversity loss, climate change, and decline in other ecosystem services. Must land use and conservation always be at odds? Around the world, the livelihoods of billions of people are dependent on ecosystems; how to maintain ecosystem function while providing for sustainable, equitable livelihoods, is the central challenge that our lab studies.
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