 RESEARCH Top
I am a systems ecologist, and all of my life's varied research reflects my interest in understanding and developing computer simulation models of how complex systems of nature and humans and nature operate. My original work was in relatively undisturbed rivers and lakes and then in estuaries. Subsequently, I became increasingly interested in studying systems of humans and nature using ecosystems perspectives, that is, by studying material and energy flows. Most of my work these days is in the tropics. Increasingly I am interested in synthesizing with my wife GIS and simulation modeling to make what we call geographic modeling. For example, I have recently completed a book synthesizing environmental, agricultural and economic information for the country of Costa Rica on a 1 km by 1 km grid cell basis. Nevertheless I continue to work on various aspects of natural tropical forest and temperate stream ecosystems. For example, may students (both grad and undergrad) and I have recently undertaken a new project in a Puerto Rican rain forest using professional free climbing equipment and a LiCor CO2 meter to measure photosynthesis and respiration of the forest at 100 meter altitudinal levels from the bottom to the top of the Luquillo Mountains.
My principal interest, always in energy, has recently been given a boost through private funding. We have established an EROI (Energy return on investment) Institute and are rapidly expanding our energy analyses, for example spatial analyses of corn ethanol net energy, EROI for global oil and gas production and modeling the US and global economy as peak oil comes and passes. You can see more information on my energy site.
My recent talk in PowerPoint EROI: definition, history and future implications (about 13 MB)
Another talk THE GREAT SCIENTIFIC COVERUP OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE IN WESTERN CIVILIZATION (about 48 MB)
For more information on one of my most recent publications go to AcademicPress (Quantifying
Sustainable Development).
Hall, C.A.S., J.A. Stanford and R. Hauer. 1992. The distribution and abundance of organisms as a consequence of energy balances along multiple environmental gradients. Oikos 65:377-390.
Hall, C.A.S. and M.H.P. Hall. 1993. The efficiency of land and energy use in tropical
economies and agriculture. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. 46:1-30.
Hall, C.A.S. (Ed.) 1995. Maximum Power: The ideas and applications of H.T. Odum.
University Press of Colorado.
Hall, C.A.S., H. Tian, Y. Qi, G. Pontius, and J. Cornell. 1995. Modelling
spatial and temporal patterns of tropical land use change. Journal of Biogeography
22:753-757.
Ko, J., C.A.S. Hall, and L.G. López Lemus. 1998. Resource use rates and efficiency as indicators of regional sustainability: an examination of five countries. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 51:571-593.
Hall, C.A.S. (Ed.) 2000. Quantifying sustainable development: The future of tropical economies. Academic Press.
Hall, C.A.S., D. Lindenberger, R. Kummell, T. Kroeger and W. Eichorn. 2001. The Need to Reintegrate the Natural Sciences with Economics. Bioscience 51:663-673.
TEACHING Top
General: I am interested in teaching about real, complex systems. My
focus is ecosystems, including human-dominated ecosystems that are generally taught
(incompletely, I feel) within the aegis of economics. I believe in lecturing interspersed
with Socratic interactions and hands-on application of ideas and procedures. The reading
and homework assignments for my courses tend to be intense, and I have written the
textbooks for each of my courses. I love teaching at ESF because our students (who range
in brightness from very to moderate) all know why they are in my classes, want very much
to learn what I am teaching, and almost all will go on in fields related to what I teach.
Graduate Program: I have a very active and international graduate
student program. Presently I have students from the U.S., China, Ecuador, Germany, Korea,
Mexico and Thailand. Nearly all use computers and GIS very intensively. Projects are in
pure ecology (often of tropical forests or streams) or in examining the relation of humans
and resources. In the past, my programs have been well funded and many of my students have
been supported, but Federal and State cutbacks are making it much more difficult to
support graduate students. Thus, increasingly, my students have to bring their own
support.
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EFB 496, Section 6, Topics in Environment and Forest Biology, Fall 2004 Top
Syllabus (Word format)
EFB 516 - Ecosystems - 3 credits - Spring Top
This course is about ecosystems, what they are, where different types are found and about
the ways that the physical environment has led to the specific types of ecosystems found
in different parts of the globe. Specific sections in energy flow and nutrient cycling
follow. The second half of the course examines specific ecosystems types in some depth.
Generally I focus on estuaries and tropical forests for this part, these being the
ecosystem types I am most familiar with.
EFB 518 - Systems Ecology - 4 credits
- Fall Top
Not for the faint-hearted or the lazy. Systems Ecology introduces the student to a whole
new philosophy for thinking about and analyzing nature. One product is the learning of how
to develop your own computer models of nature. "Modeling is the formalization and
testing of our assumptions about how a system works." We start with a two-day field
trip where we study the energy budget of an upstate New York forest or (generally) stream.
Then for the rest of the semester the students are given increasingly complex
computer-based assignments in which they build models from that data. The final product is
your own computer model of a subject of your interest. This course is often followed by my
wife's course on geographical modeling, which combines modeling with GIS.
EFB 522 - Environment, Resources and Development - 2 credits Top
This course is about the ecology of human-dominated ecosystems including cities,
agricultural areas, fisheries and so on. In some respects it is a synthesis of ecology and
economics, although it would be incorrect to call it ecological economics. Basically,
after a review of concepts of value and of neoclassical economics, we examine the
strengths and weaknesses of using ecosystems procedures (i.e., analyzing energy and
material flows and their control) to study human-dominated systems.
Human-dominated landscape in Costa Rica
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SERVICE Top
Most of my service activity is oriented towards teaching and research activity in the
developing world, especially Latin America. I have taught Systems Ecology and Geographical
Modeling (with my wife Myrna) in Argentina, Bolivia, China, Costa Rica and Mexico. I have
also run workshops and seminar series in Italy, Finland and Sweden. I have done limited
consulting work on many things, including NAFTA, fisheries, impacts of power facilities
and so on. I am on the editorial board of Ecological Economics and was recently on the
Editorial Board of Conservation Ecology and served as the representative of the Ecological
Society of America to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
SOFTWARE Top
My DOS-based Costa Rica Land Use, Agriculture, and Environmental Simulation is
available for download (364 KB). Simply click on the following link, save the
self-extracting file to your hard drive, then execute the file to expand it. Check
out the READ.ME file for details on how to run the simulation.
Main project at present Top
Building a new energy course and an EROI Institute. For example you can visit a series of recent papers summarizing our energy return on investment for various fuels by going to my publication list and looking under 2008.
DOWNLOAD COSTA RICA |
Tropical rainforest
"...all of my life's varied research
reflects my interest in understanding and developing computer simulation models of how
complex systems of nature and humans and nature operate." |
