|
Fields of study
Ecology and paleoecology of mammals, evolution of Cenozoic mammals, biogeography, sustainable agriculture
Academic background
Catherine Badgley studied geology as an undergraduate at Radcliffe College (Harvard University). She then obtained a master’s degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, followed by a Ph.D. from the Biology Department at Yale. She came to the University of Michigan in 1982 as a Michigan Fellow with the Michigan Society of Fellows. She has been a research scientist in the Museum of Paleontology since 1985 and a lecturer in the Residential College since 1987. She has conducted paleontological field work in Pakistan, China, Kenya and the western United States. Her research also includes studies of modern mammal biogeography. A long-standing interest in the modern biodiversity crisis led her to study the impacts of agriculture on biodiversity and then to evaluate alternative scenarios to the current food system. She is currently the president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, an international scientific organization.
Graduate students
Emily Sluzas, John Berini
Museum of Paleontology home page
News
New species' numbers rise with rising mountains
"The major times of (species) diversification directly coincide with times of large tectonic events," said Professor Catherine Badgley, who presented the findings in September 2009 at the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Bristol, UK.
Read more in Naturenews.
Dear “Farmer in Chief”
In a recent New York Times Magazine article, author and food activist Michael Pollan wrote an open letter to President-Elect Barack Obama about what he thinks he can and should do to remake the way we grow and eat our food. He cites the organic agriculture study by Professors Catherine Badgley and Ivette Perfecto, and M. Jahi Chappell, EEB Ph.D. student, and others in SNRE, in the article “Farmer in Chief.”
On Page 5, the article says, “First, bear in mind that the average yield of world agriculture today is substantially lower than that of modern sustainable farming. According to a recent University of Michigan study, merely bringing international yields up to today’s organic levels could increase the world’s food supply by 50 percent."
Vertebrate paleontology video
Professor Catherine Badgley appears in the new 33-minute video called “We Are SVP” on the Web site of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. The video, introduced and narrated by Sam Waterston, the star of "Law & Order," explains why their work is important for science and society.
(Evolving with Darwin blogspot)
Organic agriculture can feed the world and help environment
Organic farming can yield up to three times as much food as low-intensive farming on the same amount of land in developing countries.
The study was conducted by a research team headed by Professor Catherine Badgley, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Professor Ivette Perfecto, School of Natural Resources and Environment. The team's results refute the long-standing assumption that organic farming methods cannot produce enough food to feed the global population.
Co-authors and researchers include several current and former U-M graduate and undergraduate students, including Michael Jahi Chappell, EEB Ph.D. candidate.
The study was published in Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, July 2007, Issue 2.
U-M News Service press release
|
