Agricultural land use and irrigation are major drivers of environmental change, greenhouse gas emissions, and water demand in the United States. We study agricultural landscapes and irrigated systems to characterize historic, contemporary, and future patterns, quantify associated environmental and water-use impacts, and evaluate how policies and management can improve conservation outcomes, climate mitigation, and water management while meeting societal needs.
| Publications |
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| Ramaswamy, K., T.J. Lark and N.U. Aragon. 2024. “Economic Strategies to Synergistically Produce Bioenergy and Optimize Aquifer Life in the US High Plains.” AgEcon Search. [Link] |
| Xie, Y., S.A. Spawn, V.C. Radeloff, H. Yin and T.J. Lark. 2024. "Cropland abandonment between 1986 and 2018 across the United States: Spatiotemporal patterns and current land uses." Environmental Research. [Link] |
| Aragon, N.U., Y. Xie, D. Bigelow, T.J. Lark and A.J. Eagle. 2024. “The Realistic Potential of Soil Carbon Sequestration in U.S. Croplands for Climate Mitigation.” Earth's Future. [Link] |
| Lark, T.J. 2023. "Interactions between U.S. biofuels policy and the Endangered Species Act." Biological Conservation. [Link] |
| Lark, T.J., N.P. Hendricks, A. Smith, N. Pates, S.A. Spawn, M. Bougie, E.G. Booth, C.J. Kucharik and H.K. Gibbs. 2022. “Environmental outcomes of the US Renewable Fuel Standard.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. [Link] |
| Lark, T.J., I.H. Schelly, and H.K. Gibbs. 2021. “Accuracy, Bias, and Improvements in Mapping Crops and Cropland across the United States Using the USDA Cropland Data Layer.” Remote Sensing. [Abstract] [Link] |
| Chen P, Y Yuan, W Li, SD LeDuc, TJ Lark, X Zhang, CM Clark. 2021. "Assessing the Impacts of Recent Crop Expansion on Water Quality in the Missouri River Basin Using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool."" Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems. [Link] |
| Zhang X, TJ Lark, CM Clark, Y Yuan, SD LeDuc. 2021. "Grassland-to-cropland conversion increased soil, nutrient, and carbon losses in the US Midwest between 2008 and 2016."" Environmental Research Letters. [Link] |
| Pelton REO, SA Spawn-Lee, TJ Lark, T Kim, N Springer, P Hawthorne, DP Ray, Jennifer Schmitt. 2021. "Land use leverage points to reduce GHG emissions in US agricultural supply chains." Environmental Research Letters. [Link] |
| Xie, Y. and T.J. Lark. 2021. “Mapping annual irrigation from Landsat imagery and environmental variables across the conterminous United States.” Remote Sensing of Environment. [Link] |
| Xie Y, HK Gibbs and TJ Lark. 2021. "Landsat-based Irrigation Dataset (LANID): 30-m resolution maps of irrigation distribution, frequency, and change for the US, 1997–2017." Earth System Science Data. [Link] |
| Lark, T.J., S.A. Spawn, M. Bougie, and H.K. Gibbs. 2020. “Cropland expansion in the United States produces marginal yields at high costs to wildlife.” Nature Communications.[Link] [UW Press Release] |
| Lark, T.J. 2020. "Protecting our prairies: Research and policy actions for conserving America’s grasslands.” Land Use Policy, Vol 93. [Link] |
| Lark, T.J., B. Larson, I. Schelly, S. Batish, and H. K. Gibbs. 2019. “Accelerated conversion of native prairie to cropland in Minnesota.” Environmental Conservation. [Link] |
| Xie Y, TJ Lark, J Brown, and HK Gibbs. 2019. "Mapping irrigated cropland extent across the conterminous United States at 30 m resolution using a semi-automatic training approach on Google Earth Engine." ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. [Abstract] |
| Xie, Y., T.J. Lark. and H. K. Gibbs. 2019. “Irrigation dynamics in the Ogallala aquifer between 2000 – 2017.” Policy brief. [Link] |
| Lark, T. and I. Schelly. 2018. “Potential impacts of cropland expansion on threatened and endangered species in the United States.” Research Summary. [Link] |
| Runge C, A Plantinga, A Larsen, D Naugle, K Helmstedt, S Polasky, P Donnelly, J Smith, TJ Lark, J Lawler, S Martinuzzi, J Fargione. 2018. "Unintended habitat loss on private land from grazing restrictions on public lands." Journal of Applied Ecology. (2018 IF=5.8). [Link] |
| Lark, T.J., R. M. Mueller, D. M. Johnson, J. M. Salmon, and H. K. Gibbs. 2017. “Measuring land-use and land-cover change using the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cropland Data Layer: Cautions and Recommendations.” International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation. [Link] |
| Wright, C., B. Larson, T. Lark, and H. K. Gibbs. 2017. “Recent grassland losses are concentrated around U.S. ethanol refineries.” Environmental Research Letters. 12 (4). [Abstract] [Link] |
| Lark, T. J., J. M. Salmon, and H. K. Gibbs. 2015. “Cropland expansion outpaces agricultural and biofuel policies in the United States.” Environmental Research Letters 10(4): 044003. [Abstract] [Link] |
| Salmon, J. M, M. A. Friedl, S. Frolking, D. Wisser, and E. M. Douglas. 2015. “Global rain-fed, irrigated, and paddy croplands: A new high resolution map derived from remote sensing, crop inventories and climate data.” International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation. 38: 321-334 [Abstract] [Link] |