Usuarios

La Universidad de Lethbridge es el centro canadiense para la iniciativa Water for Life de las Naciones Unidas, y ha abierto recientemente un centro ambiental interdisplinario: el Alberta Water and Environmental Science Centre (AWESB).  

Con base en AWESB, el Dr. Matthew G. Letts es el Coordinador del Programa de Ciencias Ambientales y uno de los profesores asociados más jóvenes en la Universidad de Lethbridge.

Sus principales áreas de especialización son en ecofisiología vegetal e hidrometeorología, pero cuenta con grados de ciencias y artes, y su experiencia internacional en geografía le ha proporcionado el conocimiento de la necesidad de investigaciones interdisciplinarias e interinstitucionales.

Sus estudios del medio ambiente, financiados por el Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), el Alberta Ingenuity y el FCAR, se han llevado a cabo en varios ecosistemas, incluyendo los bosques tropicales nubosos y páramos en Suramérica, los llanos, bosques ribereños, humedales y tierras alpinas en Canadá y el bosque mediterráneo seco en Francia. El Dr. Letts habla el español, el inglés y el francés, y ha presentado en el 2010 los resultados de su investigación en dichos idiomas.

Adicionalmente, el fue el presidente del Comité de Investigación de la Universidad de Lethbridge entre 2008 y 2009, y ha servido en el Comité de Planificación de la Facultad de Artes y la Ciencia.

El Dr. Letts está trabajando con Francisco Cuesta, del Consorcio para el Desarrollo Sostenible de la Ecorregión Andina (CONDESAN) y con investigadores de la Universidad de Calgary, de la Universidad McGill, de la Universidad del Cauca, de la Universidad del Valle y del Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT), para desarrollar un proyecto multidisciplinario con el objetivo de mejorar la capacidad de adaptación de las comunidades vulnerables frente a los cambios climáticos (i) en las ecorregiones de los países andinos y (ii) en las cuencas de las Montañas Rocosas en Alberta, Canadá.

Esta propuesta, Impactos de los cambios climáticos y estrategias de adaptación en las cuencas hidrográficas de los Andes y las Montañas Rocosas, se hizo en respuesta a una convocatoria de la Iniciativa Internacional para la Investigación sobre Adaptación al Cambio Climático (IRIACC).

Conozca más acerca del Dr. Letts en http://people.uleth.ca/~matthew.letts/ y http://directory.uleth.ca/users/matthew.letts

The University of Lethbridge is the Canadian Centre for the United Nations Water for Life initiative, and has recently opened a state-of-the-art, interdisciplinary facility: the Alberta Water and Environmental Science Centre (AWESB).  

Based at AWESB, Dr. Matthew G. Letts is the Co-ordinator of the Environmental Science Program and one of the youngest Associate Professors at the University of Lethbridge.  

His primary areas of expertise are in plant ecophysiology and hydrometeorology, but he holds both Science and Arts degrees and his international Geography background has provided him with an appreciation of the need for interdisciplinary, cross-agency research.  

His environmental studies, funded by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Alberta Ingenuity and FCAR, have been carried out in a wide range of ecosystems, including tropical montane cloud forests, paramo, riparian woodlands, temperate grasslands, northern peatlands, alpine krummolz and Mediterranean dry forest.  

Fluent in three languages, Matthew has presented his research results in Spanish, English and French this year.  He was the Chair of the University of Lethbridge Research Committee in 2008-2009, and has served on the Arts & Science Planning Committee and recruitment selection teams.

Matthew has teamed with Francisco Cuesta (Consortium for the Sustainable Development of the Andean Ecoregion - CONDESAN) and with Latin Americanists from the University of Calgary, McGill University, Universidad del Cauca, Universidad del Valle and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), to develop a unique, multidisciplinary approach to improve the adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities in both the Andean and Rocky Mountain ecoregions.

This proposal, Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation in Mountain Watersheds of the Americas, was made in response to a call from the International Research Initiative on Adapatation to Climate Change (IRIACC).

Know more about Dr. Letts in http://people.uleth.ca/~matthew.letts/ and http://directory.uleth.ca/users/matthew.letts

Publicaciones/publications

1. Letts MG, J Rodríguez-Calcerrada, V Rolo and S Rambal. In Review. Long-term physiological and morphological acclimation by the evergreen shrub Buxus sempervirens L. to understory and canopy gap light intensities. Trees
2. Larson RP, JM Byrne, DL Johnson, MG Letts & SW Kienzle. In Review. Modelling climate change impacts on spring runoff for the Rocky Mountains of Montana and Alberta I. Model development, calibration and historical analysis. Canadian Water Resources Journal
3. Larson RP, JM Byrne, DL Johnson, SW Kienzle & MG Letts. In Review. Modelling climate change impacts on spring runoff for the Rocky Mountains of Montana and Alberta II. Future scenarios and runoff change forecasts. Canadian Water Resources Journal
4. Nielsen JL, SB Rood, DW Pearce, MG Letts & H Jiskoot. In Press. Streamside trees: responses of male, female and hybrid cottonwoods to flooding. Tree Physiology
5. Letts MG, DRE Johnson & CA Coburn. 2010. Drought stress ecophysiology of shrub and grass functional groups on opposing slope aspects of a temperate grassland valley. Botany. 88(9):850-866. doi:10.1139/B10-054
6. Misson L, J-M Limousin, R Rodriguez & MG Letts. 2010. Leaf physiological responses to extreme drought in a Mediterranean Quercus ilex forest. Plant Cell & Environment. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3040.2010.02193.x
7. Rood SB, JL Nielsen, L Shenton, KM Gill & MG Letts. 2010. Effects of flooding on leaf development, transpiration and photosynthesis in narrowleaf cottonwood, a willow-like poplar. Photosynthesis Research 104(1): 31-39
8. Letts MG, M Mulligan, ME Rincón-Romero & LA Bruijnzeel. 2010. Environmental controls on photosynthetic rates of lower montane cloud forest vegetation in south-western Colombia. pp. 465-478 in: LA Bruijnzeel, FN Scatena, & LS Hamilton (eds.) Tropical Montane Cloud Forests: Science for Conservation and Management. UNESCO International Hydrology Series, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK
9. Letts MG, KN Nakonechny, KE Van Gaalen & CM Smith. 2009. Physiological acclimation of Pinus flexilis to drought stress on contrasting slope aspects in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 39(3): 629-641
10. Letts MG, LB Flanagan, KE Van Gaalen & DRE Johnson. 2009. Interspecific differences in photosynthetic gas exchange characteristics and acclimation to soil moisture stress among shrubs of a semiarid grassland. Ecoscience 16(1): 125-137
11. Letts MG, CA Phelan, DRE Johnson & SB Rood. 2008. Seasonal photosynthetic gas exchange and leaf reflectance characteristics of male and female cottonwoods in a riparian woodland. Tree Physiology. 28(7): 1037-1048
12. Letts MG, PM Lafleur & NT Roulet. 2005. On the relationship between cloudiness and net ecosystem carbon dioxide exchange in a peatland ecosystem. Ecoscience. 12(1): 53-59
13. Letts MG & M Mulligan. 2005. The impact of light quality and leaf wetness on photosynthesis in north-west Andean tropical montane cloud forest. Journal of Tropical Ecology. 21(5): 549-557
14. Letts MG. 2003. Carbon Assimilation and Productivity in a Northwest Andean Tropical Montane Cloud Forest. Ph.D. thesis, King's College London. 352 p.
15. Letts MG, NT Roulet, NT Comer, MR Skarupa & DL Verseghy. 2000. Parametrization of peatland hydraulic properties for the Canadian Land Surface Scheme. Atmosphere-Ocean. 38(1): 141-160
16. Comer, NT, PM Lafleur, NT Roulet, MG Letts & MR Skarupa. 2000. A Test of the Canadian Land Surface Scheme (CLASS) for a variety of wetland types. Atmosphere-Ocean. 38(1): 161-179
17. Letts MG. 1998. Modelling peatland soil climate and methane flux using the Canadian Land Surface Scheme. M.Sc. thesis. McGill University. 86 p.