Thomas Gillespie

Research Interests

My past research interests have focused on using geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing data for predicting patterns of species richness and rarity for plants and birds at a regional spatial scale.

Subfields

Biogeography, Forest Ecosystems, Remote Sensing

Biodiversity Research

My botanical research will continue to focus on surveying tropical dry forests in biodiversity hotspots. I have collected floristic data from Wallacea, Sundaland, Indo-Burma, Mesoamerica, New Caledonia, and Caribbean hotspots and within four years, I will collect data from a number of other tropical dry forests in biodiversity hotspots. This research is field intensive and taxonomically challenging but provides comparative floristic and structural data for regions where relatively little information exists. This research will result in a number of publications on global conservation priorities, natural resource management, and tropical ecology and will be used as ground truth data for remote sensing studies of anthropogenic disturbance and estimates of forest biomass.

My faunal research has focused predominately on tropical bird communities, but I have published papers on mammal and herpetofauna diversity. My long-term research agenda for fauna will focus primarily on combining detailed natural history and field data with remote sensing data to model species distributions and probability of extinction in fragmented landscapes. Models of species distributions will also be examined for a number of environmental change scenarios to predict the future distribution of species.

Remote Sensing Research

My remote sensing research is divided into airborne and spaceborne sensors that can be used to measure and monitor terrestrial vegetation. My spaceborne sensor research focuses specifically on high-resolution data from Landsat and IKONOS satellites to test hypotheses on the utility of these sensors for predicting floristic composition and structure in fragmented landscapes and to develop new algorithms that predict the distribution and abundance of endangered species. Advances in geographic information systems and remote sensing techniques have resulted in a number of landscape metrics and indices that may be used to predict the distribution of species richness in habitat fragments. I am currently testing the utility and accuracy of landscape metrics and remote sensing indices for predicting patterns of woody plant species richness and rarity in tropical dry forests of south Florida and Oceania. In particular, I focus on testing the accuracy of landscape metrics within three fragmented systems: anthropogenic fragments, natural habitat fragments, and true islands. The long-term goal is to develop algorithms that predict the distribution of plants and endangered species in other tropical dry forest regions and California ecosystems.

Dr. Gillespie’s interests focus on using geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing data for predicting patterns of species richness and rarity for plants and birds at a regional spatial scale.

Education

Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles, 1998
Department of Geography

M.A. California State University, Chico, 1994
Department of Geography and Planning

B.A. University of Colorado, Boulder, 1990
Department of International Affairs

Selected Publications

Ibanez, T., Keppel, G., Menkes, C. Gillespie, T., Lengaigne, M. Mangeas, M. Rivas, G. and Birnbaum, P. 2018. Globally consistent impact of tropical cyclones on the structure of tropical and subtropical forests. Journal of Ecology(In Press)

Yao, T., Xue, Y., Chen, D., Chen, F., Thompson, L., Cui, P., Koike, T., Lau, W., Lettenmaier, D., Mosbrugger, V., Zhang, R., Xu, B., Dozier, J., Gillespie, T., Gu, Y., Kang, S., Piao, S., Sugimoto, S., Ueno, K., Wang, L., Zhang, F., Sheng, Y., Guo, W., Wang, W., Ailikun, Yang, X., Ma, Y., Shen, S., Su, Z., Chen, F., Liang, S., Liu, Y., Singh, V., K., Yang, Yang, D., Zhao, X., Zhang, Y., and Li, Q. 2018. Recent Third Pole’s rapid warming accompanies cryospheric melt and water cycle intensification and interactions between monsoon and environment: multi-disciplinary approach with observation, modeling and analysis. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society(In Press)

Okin, G.S., Chunyu, D., Willis, K.S., Gillespie, T.W., and MacDonald, G.M. 2018

The impact of drought on native southern California vegetation: remote sensing analysis using MODIS-derived time series. Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences(In Press)

Pouteau, R., Gillespie, T.W., and Birnbaum, P. 2018. Predicting biodiversity patterns from NDVI time series: the devil is perhaps not in the detail. Remote Sensing10, 5.

Robinson, C., Saatchi, S., Clark, D., Hurtado Astaiza, J., Hubel, A.F., and Gillespie, T.W. 2018. Topography and three-dimensional structure can estimate tree diversity along a tropical elevational gradient in Costa Rica. Remote Sensing10, 629.

Franklin, J., Andrade, R., Daniels, M.L., Fairbairn, P., Fandino, M.C., Gillespie, T.W., González, G., Gonzalez, O., Imbert, D., Kapos, V., Kelly, D.L., Marcano-Vega, H., Meléndez-Ackerman, E.J., McLaren, K.P., McDonald, M.A., Ripplinger, J., Rojas-Sandoval, J., Ross, M.S., Ruiz, J., Steadman, D.W., Tanner, E.V.J, Terrill, I., and Vennetier, M. 2018. Geographical ecology of dry forest tree communities in the West Indies. Journal of Biogeography 45, 1168-1181.

Gillespie, T.W., Ostermann-Kelm, S., Dong, C., Willis, K.S., Okin, G.S. and MacDonald, G.M. 2018.Monitoring changes of NDVI in protected areas of southern California. Ecological Indicators88, 485-494.

Ibanez, T., Keppel, G., Baider, C., Culmsee, H., Florens, V., Franklin, J., Gillespie, T.W., Laidlaw, M., Martin, T., Ostertag, B., Parthasathy, N., Ratovoson, F., Shinichiro, A., Webb, E., Whistler, A., Whitfeld, T., Zang, R., and Birnbaum, P. 2018. Regional forcing drives plot-level species diversity and composition on islands in the Indo-Pacific. Global Ecology and Biogeography27, 474-486.

Silk, J.W.F. et al. 2018. A phylogenetic classification of the world’s tropical forests. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America115, 1837-1842.

Rocchini, D., Bacaro, G., Chirici, G., Re, D.D. ,Feilhauer, H., Foody, G.M., Galluzzi, M., Garzon-Lopez, C. X., Gillespie, T.W., He, K.S., Lenoir, J., Marcantonio, M., Nagendra, H., Ricotta, C., Rommel, E., Schmidtlein, S., Skidmore, A.K., Van De Kerchove, R., Wegmann, M., and Rugani, B. 2018. Remotely sensed spatial heterogeneity as an exploratory tool for taxonomic and functional diversity study. Ecological Indicators85, 983-990.

Rovzar, C., Gillespie, T.W., Shirman, M.K., Hubel, A.F., and Kawelo, K. 2018. Management implications for the reintroduction of the endangered Hawaiian state flower Hibiscus brackenridgei.Restoration Ecology26(3), 516-524.

Madelyn Glickfeld

Madelyn Glickfeld was the Staff Director of the UCLA Water Resources Working Group at the IoES from 2012-2023. In 2023, Gregory Pierce, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Urban Planning; Associate Director, Luskin Center for Innovation, joined her as Co-Director of the UCLA Water Resources Group. She retired in June 2023.

The UCLA Water Resources Working Group was established in 2011. The goal of this group is to connect the over sixty faculty across campus with water expertise. We are working to create a network of expert faculty who can work together to address complex water supply and quality problems focused on the on the question of water sustainability in California and the West. As Director of this Working Group, Glickfeld is working with faculty to engage with public agencies and other stakeholders in examining the opportunities and obstacles to water sustainability.

Glickfeld mentored a Graduate Student Water Resources Group from across UCLA, recruiting members, and assisting them in organizing speakers and networking events.

Her own research is focused on the challenges and policy recommendation to improve access to reliable and clean drinking water for people living in disadvantaged urban and rural communities in California. She has authored several peer reviewed journal articles on these and other water topics.

Ms. Glickfeld brings a long history of public environmental leadership and service. She served as a member of the California Coastal Commission from 1986-1996. She served as a member and Chairperson of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, appointed by Governors Schwarzenegger and Brown from 2008 to 2018. She was also a member of the Trust for Public Land California Advisory Board, and is a current member of the Board of Directors for the Green Info Network. She is currently Vice Chair of the Watershed Advisory Committee for the North Santa Monica Bay Watershed, responsible for recommendations on funding projects to improve water supply, water quality and communities using Safe and Clean Water Funding.

Mark Gold

Dr. Mark Gold focuses on building climate resilience through integrated water management solutions for the increasingly arid urban California and the West. From 2019–2022, Gold served as Governor Gavin Newsom’s deputy secretary for Oceans and Coastal Policy and executive director of the Ocean Protection Council. He served as a key advisor to the governor and the secretary of Natural Resources and directed policy, scientific research, and critical partnerships to increase protection of coastal and ocean resources in California.

Prior to his appointment, he was the UCLA associate vice chancellor for Environment and Sustainability, where he helped create and lead its Sustainable LA Grand Challenge effort. Before becoming associate vice chancellor, Gold was the interim director and associate director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. He has been an adjunct professor at UCLA for more than 15 years. Prior to UCLA, Gold served as president of the environmental group Heal the Bay for 18 years.

Over the course of his career, Gold has focused on all things wet, and his research focused on beach water quality and health risks as well as sustainable water resources management and sustainable cities. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology and his doctorate in environmental science and engineering, all from UCLA. Gold has served on numerous boards and commissions, including the Metropolitan Water District and the California Coastal Commission. He is based in Santa Monica, California.

Christa Gomez

Interests

Christa enjoys baking sweet treats, swing dancing, the color purple, travel, and coming home to sunsets on the beach. The whole world sounds amazing, but if she has to pick, tropical settings will always win. Hawaii, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic are among her favorite destinations. Animals, insects, flora, and fauna of all species have tantalized her since childhood, but the butterfly has earned her highest honors.

Leonida Fusani

Rosemary Gillespie

Ana Paula Giorgi

Derek Girman

Mary Katherine Gonder

John Froines

Professor Froines joined the faculty of the School of Public Health in 1981. He received a B.S. in chemistry from UC Berkeley (1963), M.S. in chemistry (1964) and Ph.D. in physical-organic chemistry (1967) from Yale University. He conducted postdoctoral research at the Royal Institution of Great Britain under Nobel Laureate, Sir George Porter from 1966-68. Before coming to the UCLA School of Public Health, Dr. Froines was Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oregon and later served as Director of Toxic Substances at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Deputy Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Dr. Froines served as the Director of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health for 25 years and is currently the Director of the Southern California Particle Center and Supersite. He is Associate Director of the Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center and the Director of the UCLA Fogarty Program in Occupational and Environmental Health. He is Director of the Sustainable Technology and Policy Program. He serves on three advisory committees of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Dr. Froines’ area of expertise is toxicology and exposure assessment. His research interests are in the qualitative and quantitative characterization of risk factors in environmental and occupational health.

Dr. Froines chairs the State of California’s Scientific Review Panel; the central review panel at the State level for identifying toxic air contaminants.