Jennifer J. Swenson | Scholars@Duke

Jennifer J. Swenson
Associate Professor of the Practice of Geospatial Analysis

Swenson's research tracks changes in terrestrial Earth's living surface at the landscape to region scale with remote sensing and geospatial analysis. Her interest include: how patterns and canopy structure are effected by drought, afforestation, and deforestation, patterns and climate shifts of ecosystem biodiversity, and providing access to practitioners to remotely sensed data and analysis. Prior to her 13 years in Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment, she held positions in NGOs (NatureServe, EcoCiencia), as well as in the US Federal Government (US Forest Service, National Park Service). Her research has been supported by NASA, NSF, USDA and other institutions.

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Associate Professor of the Practice of Geospatial Analysis, Environmental Sciences and Policy, Nicholas School of the Environment 2014

Contact Information

A319 LSRC, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
Box 90328, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0328
jswenson@duke.edu (919) 668-0606
Google Scholar profile
Swenson Lab

Background
Education, Training, & Certifications
- Ph.D., Oregon State University 2003
- M.A., San Diego State University 1995
- B.A., University of California at Santa Barbara 1990
Duke Appointment History
- Director of Professional Programs, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University 2012 - 2016
- Assistant Professor of the Practice of Geospatial Analysis, Environmental Sciences and Policy, Nicholas School of the Environment 2006 - 2014
- Director of Professional Studies in the Nicholas School of the Environment, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University 2011 - 2014
Recognition
In the News
- NOV 9, 2017 Nicholas School of the Environment
  
  Larger Swaths of Tropical Forest Being Lost to Commercial Agriculture
- JAN 4, 2016 Duke Research Blog
  
  An Unconventional Career Map for a Landscape Ecologist
- AUG 5, 2014
  
  Study Eyes Health Risks Of Drilling And Mining In Peru
Expertise
Subject Headings
Global Scholarship
- Expertise
- Research
  - Peru (Country)
Research
Selected Grants
- Collaborative Research: Combining NEON and remotely sensed habitats to determine climate impacts on community dynamics awarded by National Science Foundation 2018 - 2022
- Generative models to forecast community reorganization with climate change 2017 - 2019
- Spatiotemporal Variability of Inland Waterbodies Along the Pacific Flyway Using 40+ Years of Landsat 2013 - 2017
- Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Proposal awarded by National Science Foundation 2015 - 2017
- Drought-induced mortality of trees: ecosystem changes under climate change 2012 - 2016
- Spatial Analysis on the Effectiveness of FSC Certification in Cameroon and Peru 2014 - 2015
- How will the Interaction Between Roots and Canopy Physiological Functioning at Night Influence Water and Carbon Fluxes awarded by North Carolina State University 2011 - 2015
- "Doctoral Dissertation Research:" Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Woody Plant Encroachment in Semiarid Rangelands of Argenti awarded by National Science Foundation 2011 - 2014
- Spatio-temporal dynamics of woody plant encroachment in semiarid rangelands of Argentina 2010 - 2013
- Recent Trends in large-parcel forest ownership in the southern US 2007 - 2009
Publications & Artistic Works
Selected Publications
- Academic Articles
  - Walker, N. J., Schaffer-Smith, D., Swenson, J. J., & Urban, D. L. (2019). Improved connectivity analysis using multiple low-cost paths to evaluate habitat for the endangered San Martin titi monkey (Plecturocebus oenanthe) in north-central Peru. Landscape Ecology, 34(8), 1859–1875. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-019-00837-4
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  - Panlasigui, S., Jimena Rico-Straffon, Alexander Pfaff, Jennifer Swenson, & Colby Loucks. (2018). Impacts of certification, uncertified concessions, and protected areas on forest loss in Cameroon, 2000 to 2013. Biological Conservation, 227, 160–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.09.013
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  - Schwantes, A. M., Parolari, A. J., Swenson, J. J., Johnson, D. M., Domec, J.-C., Jackson, R. B., … Porporato, A. (2018). Accounting for landscape heterogeneity improves spatial predictions of tree vulnerability to drought.. The New Phytologist, 220(1), 132–146. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15274
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  - Schaffer-Smith, D., Swenson, J. J., Reiter, M. E., & Isola, J. E. (2018). Quantifying shorebird habitat in managed wetlands by modeling shallow water depth dynamics.. Ecological Applications : A Publication of the Ecological Society of America, 28(6), 1534–1545. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1732
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  - Gray, P. C., Ridge, J. T., Poulin, S. K., Seymour, A. C., Schwantes, A. M., Swenson, J. J., & Johnston, D. W. (2018). Integrating drone imagery into high resolution satellite remote sensing assessments of estuarine environments. Remote Sensing, 10(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10081257
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  - Seyednasrollah, B., Jennifer J. Swenson, Jean-Christophe Domec, & James S. Clark. (2018). Leaf phenology paradox: Why warming matters most where it is already warm. Remote Sensing of Environment., 209, 446–455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2018.02.059
    Full Text Open Access Copy
  - Johnson, D. M., Domec, J.-C., Carter Berry, Z., Schwantes, A. M., McCulloh, K. A., Woodruff, D. R., … Jackson, R. B. (2018). Co-occurring woody species have diverse hydraulic strategies and mortality rates during an extreme drought.. Plant, Cell & Environment, 41(3), 576–588. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.13121
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  - Terborgh, J. W., Davenport, L. C., Belcon, A. U., Katul, G., Swenson, J. J., Fritz, S. C., & Baker, P. A. (2018). Twenty-three-year timeline of ecological stable states and regime shifts in upper Amazon oxbow lakes. Hydrobiologia, 807(1), 99–111. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-017-3384-z
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  - Schwantes, A. M., Swenson, J. J., González-Roglich, M., Johnson, D. M., Domec, J.-C., & Jackson, R. B. (2017). Measuring canopy loss and climatic thresholds from an extreme drought along a fivefold precipitation gradient across Texas.. Global Change Biology, 23(12), 5120–5135. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13775
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  - Austin, K. G., González-Roglich, M., Schaffer-Smith, D., Schwantes, A. M., & Swenson, J. J. (2017). Erratum: Trends in size of tropical deforestation events signal increasing dominance of industrial-scale drivers (2017 Environ. Res. Lett. 5 054009). Environmental Research Letters, 12(7), 079601–079601. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7760
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  - Pettorelli, N., Nagendra, H., Rocchini, D., Rowcliffe, M., Williams, R., Ahumada, J., … Wegmann, M. (2017). Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation: three years on. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, 3(2), 53–56. https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.53
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  - Austin, K. G., González-Roglich, M., Schaffer-Smith, D., Schwantes, A. M., & Swenson, J. J. (2017). Trends in size of tropical deforestation events signal increasing dominance of industrial-scale drivers. Environmental Research Letters, 12(5). https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa6a88
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  - Schaffer-Smith, D., Swenson, J. J., Barbaree, B., & Reiter, M. E. (2017). Three decades of Landsat-derived spring surface water dynamics in an agricultural wetland mosaic; Implications for migratory shorebirds.. Remote Sensing of Environment, 193, 180–192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.02.016
    Full Text Open Access Copy
  - González-Roglich, M., & Jennifer J. Swenson. (2016). Tree cover and carbon mapping of Argentine savannas: Scaling from field to region. Remote Sensing of Environment, 172, 139–147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2015.11.021
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  - SCHAFFER-SMITH, D. A. N. I. C. A., SWENSON, J. E. N. N. I. F. E. R. J., & BÓVEDA-PENALBA, A. N. T. O. N. I. O. J. (2016). Rapid conservation assessment for endangered species using habitat connectivity models. Environmental Conservation, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892915000405
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  - Schwantes, A. M., Swenson, J. J., & Jackson, R. B. (2016). Quantifying drought-induced tree mortality in the open canopy woodlands of central Texas. Remote Sensing of Environment, 181, 54–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2016.03.027
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  - González-Roglich, M., Swenson, J. J., Villarreal, D., Jobbágy, E. G., & Jackson, R. B. (2015). Woody Plant-Cover Dynamics in Argentine Savannas from the 1880s to 2000s: The Interplay of Encroachment and Agriculture Conversion at Varying Scales. Ecosystems., 18(3), 481–492. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-015-9841-5
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  - González-Roglich, M., Swenson, J. J., Jobbágy, E. G., & Jackson, R. B. (2014). Shifting carbon pools along a plant cover gradient in woody encroached savannas of central Argentina. Forest Ecology and Management, 331, 71–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2014.07.035
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  - Riegel, J. B., Bernhardt, E., & Swenson, J. (2013). Estimating above-ground carbon biomass in a newly restored coastal plain wetland using remote sensing.. Plos One, 8(6). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0068251
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  - Domec, J.-C., Sun, G., Noormets, A., Gavazzi, M. J., Treasure, E. A., Cohen, E., … King, J. S. (2012). A Comparison of Three Methods to Estimate Evapotranspiration in Two Contrasting Loblolly Pine Plantations: Age-Related Changes in Water Use and Drought Sensitivity of Evapotranspiration Components. Forest Science., 58(5), 497–512. https://doi.org/10.5849/forsci.11-051
    Full Text Open Access Copy
  - Smart, L. S., Swenson, J. J., Christensen, N. L., & Sexton, J. O. (2012). Three-dimensional characterization of pine forest type and red-cockaded woodpecker habitat by small-footprint, discrete-return lidar. Forest Ecology and Management., 281, 100–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2012.06.020
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  - Swenson, J. J., Young, B. E., Beck, S., Comer, P., Córdova, J. H., Dyson, J., … Zambrana-Torrelio, C. M. (2012). Plant and animal endemism in the eastern Andean slope: challenges to conservation.. Bmc Ecology, 12. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6785-12-1
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  - Swenson, J. J., Carter, C. E., Domec, J.-C., & Delgado, C. I. (2011). Gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon: global prices, deforestation, and mercury imports.. Plos One, 6(4). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0018875
    Full Text Open Access Copy
  - Sexton, J. O. S. E. P. H. O., Bax, T. Y. L. E. R., Siqueira, P. A. U. L., Swenson, J. E. N. N. I. F. E. R. J., & Hensley, S. C. O. T. T. (2009). A comparison of lidar, radar, and field measurements of canopy height in pine and hardwood forests of southeastern North America. Forest Ecology and Management., 257(3), 1136–1147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2008.11.022
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  - Hernandez, P. A., Franke, I., Herzog, S. K., Pacheco, V., Paniagua, L., Quintana, H. L., … Young, B. E. (2008). Predicting species distributions in poorly-studied landscapes. Biodiversity and Conservation, 17(6), 1353–1366. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-007-9314-z
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  - Olander, L. P., Gibbs, H. K., Steininger, M., Swenson, J. J., & Murray, B. C. (2008). Reference scenarios for deforestation and forest degradation in support of REDD: A review of data and methods. Environmental Research Letters, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/3/2/025011
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  - Swenson, J. J., & Waring, R. H. (2006). Modelled photosynthesis predicts woody plant richness at three geographic scales across the north-western United States. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 15(5), 470–485. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-822X.2006.00242.x
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  - Alig, R. J., Lewis, D. J., & Swenson, J. J. (2005). Is forest fragmentation driven by the spatial configuration of land quality? The case of western Oregon. Forest Ecology and Management., 217(2–3), 266–274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2005.06.007
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  - Hansen, A., Waring, R., Phillips, L., Swenson, J., & Loehle, C. (2005). Using biophysical factors to predict regional biodiversity potential in the pacific and inland northwest. Ncasi Technical Bulletin, (907).
  - Swenson, J. J., Waring, R. H., Fan, W. H., & Coops, N. (2005). Predicting site index with a physiologically based growth model across Oregon, USA. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 35(7), 1697–1707. https://doi.org/10.1139/x05-089
    Full Text Link to Item
  - Swenson, J. J., Waring, R. H., Fan, W., & Coops, N. (2005). Predicting site index with a physiologically based growth model across Oregon, USA. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 35(7), 1697–1707. https://doi.org/10.1139/x05-089
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  - Swenson, J. J., Waring, R. H., Coops, N., & Fan, W. (2005). Estimation of forest productivity across the Pacific and Inland Northwest with a physiologically based process model, 3-PG.. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, (35), 1697–1707.
  - Butler, B. J., Swenson, J. J., & Alig, R. J. (2004). Forest fragmentation in the Pacific Northwest: quantification and correlations.. Forest Ecology and Management., 189(1–3), 363–373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2003.09.013
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  - Swenson, J. J., & Franklin, J. (2000). The effects of future urban development on habitat fragmentation in the Santa Monica Mountains. Landscape Ecology, 15(8), 713–730. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008153522122
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  - Fan, L., Al-Yaari, A., Frappart, F., Swenson, J., Xiao, Q., Wen, J., … Wigneron, J.-P. (n.d.). Mapping Soil Moisture at a High Resolution over Mountainous Regions by Integrating In Situ Measurements, Topography Data, and MODIS Land Surface Temperatures. Remote Sensing, 11(6), 656–656. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11060656
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Teaching & Mentoring
Recent Courses
Scholarly, Clinical, & Service Activities
Outreach & Engaged Scholarship
- Bass Connections Faculty Team Member . Environmental Epidemiology in Latin America . August 2014 - May 2015 2014 - 2015
- Bass Connections Faculty Team Member . Environmental Epidemiology in Latin America . August 2013 - May 2014 2013 - 2014

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Education, Training, & Certifications

Duke Appointment History

In the News

Subject Headings

Global Scholarship

Expertise

Research

Selected Grants

Selected Publications

Academic Articles

Recent Courses

Outreach & Engaged Scholarship