I am interested in understanding socio-ecological land systems and how their changes due to anthropogenic forces, impact on the socio-environmental wellbeing of rich biocultural agricultural regions. I include the role of policies and transboundary influences in my studies and thus geopolitics and the history of regions are key in my work.

I studied a Bachelor of Environmental Sciences in Spain, I did a master on Geo-information in the Netherlands and after working for a couple of year in Australia as a data analyst I ended up doing my doctoral studies at the Geography Department of Humboldt University. I spent two years in Argentina as a postdoc and returned back to Germany to accomplish another two years of postdoc at Freie Universität, where since March 2022 I hold the chair of “Modelling Human-Environment Interactions” of the Geography Institute.

I am the coordinator of the Global Land Program “Socio-Ecological Land Systems of Latin America” (website).

Publications and Research by María Piquer-Rodríguez (Selection 2018-2023)

1. Zarbá, L., Piquer-Rodríguez, M., Boillat, S., Levers, C., Gasparri, I., Anderson, L.O., Araoz, E., Arima, E., Batistella, M., Calderón-Loor, M., Echeverria, C., Gonzalez-Roglich, M., Jobbágy, E., Mathez-Stiefel, S-L., Ramirez-Reyes, C., Pacheco, A., Vallejos, M., Young, K., Grau.R. (2022). Mapping and characterization of Socio Ecological Land Systems of South America. Ecology and Society 27(2):27
   
   
2. Grau, R., Gasparri, I., Aráoz,E., Aide, T. M., Piquer-Rodríguez, M. (2022). Landscape divergence associated with international borders and economic asymmetries. Austral Ecology 32
   
   
3. Pötzschner, F., Baumann, M., Gasparri, N.I., Conti, G., Loto, D., Piquer-Rodríguez, M., Kuemmerle, T. (2022). Ecoregion-wide, multi-sensor biomass mapping highlights a major underestimation of dry forests carbon stocks. Remote Sensing of Environment 269.
   
   
4. Levers, C., Romero-Muñoz, A., Baumann, B., de Marzo, T., Fernández, P.D., Gasparri, N.I., Gavier-Pizarro, G., le Polain de Waroux, Y., Piquer-Rodríguez, M., Semper-Pascual, A., Kuemmerle, T. (2021). Agricultural expansion and the ecological marginalization of forest-dependent people. PNAS 118 (44) e2100436118
   
   
5. Law, E., Macchi, L., Baumann, M., Decarre J., Gavier-Pizarro, G., Levers, C., Mastrangelo M.E., Murray, F., Müller, D., Piquer-Rodríguez, M., Torres, R., Wilson, K.A., Kuemmerle, T. (2021). Fading opportunities for mitigating agriculture-environment trade-offs in a South American deforestation hotspot. Biological Conservation 262.
   
   
6. Piquer-Rodríguez, M., Gasparri, N.I., Zarbá, L., Aráoz, E., Grau, H.R. (2021) Land systems‘ asymmetries across transnational ecoregions in South America. Sustainability Science 16, 1519–1538.
   
   
7. López-Felices B.; Aznar-Sanchez J.A.; Velasco-Muñoz J.F, Piquer-Rodríguez M., (2020). Contribution of Irrigation Ponds to the Sustainability of Agriculture. A Review of Worldwide Research. Sustainability 12 (13).
   
   
8. Macchi L., Decarre J., Goijman A.P., Mastrangelo M, Blendinger P.G., Gavier-Pizzaro G.I., Murray F., Piquer-Rodríguez M., Semper-Pascaul A., Kuemmerle. (2020). Trade-offs between biodiversity and agriculture are moving targets in dynamic landscapes.  Journal of Applied Ecology 57 (10).
   
   
9. Nanni S., Piquer-Rodríguez M., et al. (2020). Threats to conservation associated to land-use in the terrestrial ecoregions of Argentina. Ecología Austral 30: 304-320.
   
   
10. Nuñez-Regueiro, M.; Branch, L.C.; Derlindati, E.; Gasparri, I.; Marinaro, S.; Nanni, S; Núñez Godoy, C.; Piquer-Rodríguez, M.; Soto, J.R.; Tálamo, A. (2020). Open Standards for Conservation as a tool for linking research and conservation agendas in complex socio-ecological systems. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainabilit 44:6-15
    
    
11. Aznar-Sánchez, José A., Piquer-Rodríguez M., Velasco Muñoz J., Manzano-Agugliaro F. (2019). Worldwide research trends on sustainable land use in agriculture. Land Use Policy 87.
    
    
12. Torrella S. A., Piquer-Rodríguez M., Levers C., Ginzburg R., Gavier-Pizarro G., and Kuemmerle T. (2018). Multiscale spatial planning to maintain forest connectivity in the Argentine Chaco in the face of deforestation. Ecology and Society 23(4):37.
    
    
13. Piquer-Rodríguez, M., Baumann, M., Butsic, V., Gasparri N.I., Gavier Pizarro G., Volante, J.N., Müller, D., Kuemmerle T.  (2018). The potential impact of economic policies on future land-use conversions in Argentina. Land Use Policy 79:57-67.
    
    
14. Nolte C., Gobbi B., Le Polain de Waroux Y., Piquer-Rodríguez M., Butsic V., Lambin E.F. (2018). Challenges in Attributing Avoided Deforestation to Policies and Actors: Lessons From Provincial Forest Zoning in the Argentine Dry Chaco. Ecological Economics 150: 346-352.
    
    
15. Piquer-Rodríguez, M., Butsic, V., Gärtner, P., Macchi, L., Baumann, M., Gasparri N.I., Gavier Pizarro G., Volante, J.N., Kuemmerle T.  (2018). Drivers of agricultural land-use change in the Argentine Pampas and Chaco regions. Applied Geography 91: 111-122.
    
    
16. Piquer-Rodríguez, M., Friis, C., R. Ntsiva N. Andriatsitohaina, Boillat, Roig-Boixeda, P., Cortinovis, C., Geneletti, D., Ibarrola-Rivas, M., Kelley, L. C., Llopis, J. C., Mack, E. A., Nanni, A. S., Zaehringer, J. G. & Henebry, G. M. (2023). Global shocks, cascading disruptions, and (re-)connections: viewing the COVID-19 pandemic as concurrent natural experiments to understand land system dynamics. Landscape Ecology: 38, 1147–1161
    
    
17. Andrade-Díaz, M.S., Piquer-Rodríguez, M., Baldi, G. (2023). Conservation opportunities for threatened paleochannel grasslands in the South American Dry Chaco. Journal for Nature Conservation: 71, 126306
    
    

For an overview of Publications and Research by María Piquer-Rodríguez, please follow this link