Jesse Rieb
Degrees Received
B.A. in Biology (concentration in Ecology) – Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College (2013)
Ph.D. in Renewable Resources – Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University (2020)
Current Position
Postdoctoral Researcher – Department of Geography, McGill University (2020 to present)
Current research interests
Humans rely on the natural environment to provide us with many benefits, such as the ability to grow crops or the availability of clean water. However, human activity is increasingly degrading the ecosystems that we rely on for these important services. My research focuses on developing and improving models that describe how and where these ecosystem services are provided in order to increase scientific understanding and improve policies for conservation and sustainable development. Specific areas of interest include:
Co-production of ecosystem services by nature and technology: Although ecosystem service research often focuses on how species, ecosystems, and natural processes influence the provision of ecosystem services, human technology and management interventions also play important roles. Using exploratory simulation models and collection and analysis of public government data, I work to quantitatively understand the interactions between human and natural drivers in the co-production of ecosystem services, and to explore the long-term outcomes of natural and technological ecosystem service management strategies.
Landscape-scale spatial dynamics of ecosystem services: Land use and land cover play an important role in determining ecosystem service provision, but landscape configuration—the spatial arrangement of land uses in a landscape—also affects the provision of many ecosystem services. I use fine-resolution maps of multiple ecosystem services, produced using a mix of remote sensing, process-based models, and spatially-explicit government data, to investigate the relationship between landscape configuration, ecosystem services, and their interactions and to explore the potential of landscape configuration as a lever for ecosystem service management.
Improving ecosystem service models and tools: Diverse institutions, from governments to NGOs to private industry, are looking to incorporate ecosystem services into their decision-making. Yet, current ecosystem service modelling tools often fall short of being able to provide the information decision-makers require. I have been involved in two synthesis projects with the goal of improving the next generation of ecosystem service models—one with iDiv that identified and proposed solutions for gaps in ecosystem service modelling tools, and one funded by NASA that explored how novel and existing earth observation products could be better integrated with ecosystem service models.
Ecosystem services, social inequality, and resilience: How do social inequalities affect the systems producing ecosystem services? How can societies undergo transformations without leaving behind marginalized people? How can resilience theory help us better understand ecosystem service provision? I am involved in multiple side projects using literature reviews, synthetic thinking, and exploratory simulation modelling to explore questions at the intersection of ecosystem services, inequality, and theories of resilience and transformation.
Past research
During my undergrad I worked as a research assistant for Dr. Kathy Cottingham on the Gloeo project, studying how the cyanobacteria Gloeotrichia echinulata affects ecosystem functions and nutrient cycling in low-nutrient lakes. I then went on to write an honours thesis supervised by Dr. Cottingham, in collaboration with Dr. Shi Dingji at Shanghai Ocean University, exploring the spatial dynamics of cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins in Chaohu, a highly eutrophic lake in eastern China and the potential of using multispectral remote sensing imagery to monitor toxic cyanobacterial blooms.
I was also a member of the 2012 Dartmouth Biology Foreign Study Program, a ten-week field course in Costa Rica and the Cayman Islands. Manuscripts from the program were compiled as volume 22 of Dartmouth Studies in Tropical Ecology.
Publications
Carlos Ramírez-Reyes, Kate A. Brauman, Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, Gillian L. Galford, Susana B. Adamo, Christopher B. Anderson, Clarissa Anderson, Ginger R. H. Allington, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Michael T. Coe, Anna F. Cord, Laura E. Dee, Rachelle K. Gould, Meha Jain, Virginia A. Kowal, Frank E. Muller-Karger, Jessica Norriss, Peter Potapov, Jiangxiao Qiu, Jesse T. Rieb, Brian E. Robinson, Leah H. Samburg, Nagendra Singh, Sabrina H. Szeto, Brian Voigt, Keri Watson, and T. Maxwell Wright. 2019. Reimagining the potential of Earth observations for ecosystem service assessments. Science of the Total Environment 664: 1053-1063.
Jesse T. Rieb, Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, Gretchen C. Daily, Paul A. Armsworth, Katrin Böhning-Gaese, Aletta Bonn, Graeme S. Cumming, Felix Eigenbrod, Volker Grimm, Bethanna Jackson, Alexandra Marques, Subhrendu K. Pattanayak, Henrique M. Pereira, Garry D. Peterson, Taylor H. Ricketts, Brian E. Robinson, Matthias Schröter, Lisa A. Schulte, Monica G. Turner, Elena M. Bennett. 2018. Response to Kabisch and Colleagues. Bioscience 68: 167-168.
Jesse T. Rieb, Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, Gretchen C. Daily, Paul A. Armsworth, Katrin Böhning-Gaese, Aletta Bonn, Graeme S. Cumming, Felix Eigenbrod, Volker Grimm, Bethanna Jackson, Alexandra Marques, Subhrendu K. Pattanayak, Henrique M. Pereira, Garry D. Peterson, Taylor H. Ricketts, Brian E. Robinson, Matthias Schröter, Lisa A. Schulte, Monica G. Turner, Elena M. Bennett. 2017. When, where, and how nature matters for ecosystem services. Bioscience 67: 820-833.
Presentations
Jesse T. Rieb and Elena M. Bennett. “Landscape structure and the provision of multiple ecosystem services.” US-IALE Annual Meeting, Fort Collins, CO, USA. April 8, 2019.
Jesse T. Rieb and Elena M. Bennett. “Can technology replace nature for ecosystem services? Exploring long-term outcomes of management strategies through simulation modelling.” Resilience 2017 Conference, Stockholm, Sweden. August 21, 2017.
Jesse T. Rieb and Elena M. Bennett. “Quantifying the relationship between nature and technology in the co-production of three ecosystem services.” Québec Centre for Biodiversity Science Symposium, Montréal, QC, Canada. December 15, 2016.
Jesse T. Rieb. “Within-lake spatial distribution of microcystins and cyanobacteria in Lake Chaohu, China.” Karen E. Wetterhahn Science Symposium, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA. May 23, 2013.
Jesse T. Rieb. “Spatial distribution of microcystins in a highly polluted Chinese lake, and the joys and frustrations of doing science abroad.” TIS at Dartmouth weekly science seminar, Hanover, NH, USA. January 28, 2013.
Selected Awards
Blair Postgraduate Fellowship, McGill University (2018)
Tomlinson Doctoral Fellowship, McGill University (2014-2017)
James B. Reynolds Scholarship for Foreign Study, Dartmouth College (2014)
The Christopher G. Reed Biologist Award, Dartmouth (2013)
Andrew W. Mellon Grant for Environmental Research, Dartmouth (2012)
James O. Freedman Presidential Scholar, Dartmouth (2011-2013)
Thomas D. Sayles, Jr. 1954 Scholarship, Dartmouth (2010-2013)
Other Interests
Hiking, backpacking, cooking, breadmaking, photography, learning foreign languages
Contact information
[email protected]
B.A. in Biology (concentration in Ecology) – Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College (2013)
Ph.D. in Renewable Resources – Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University (2020)
Current Position
Postdoctoral Researcher – Department of Geography, McGill University (2020 to present)
Current research interests
Humans rely on the natural environment to provide us with many benefits, such as the ability to grow crops or the availability of clean water. However, human activity is increasingly degrading the ecosystems that we rely on for these important services. My research focuses on developing and improving models that describe how and where these ecosystem services are provided in order to increase scientific understanding and improve policies for conservation and sustainable development. Specific areas of interest include:
Co-production of ecosystem services by nature and technology: Although ecosystem service research often focuses on how species, ecosystems, and natural processes influence the provision of ecosystem services, human technology and management interventions also play important roles. Using exploratory simulation models and collection and analysis of public government data, I work to quantitatively understand the interactions between human and natural drivers in the co-production of ecosystem services, and to explore the long-term outcomes of natural and technological ecosystem service management strategies.
Landscape-scale spatial dynamics of ecosystem services: Land use and land cover play an important role in determining ecosystem service provision, but landscape configuration—the spatial arrangement of land uses in a landscape—also affects the provision of many ecosystem services. I use fine-resolution maps of multiple ecosystem services, produced using a mix of remote sensing, process-based models, and spatially-explicit government data, to investigate the relationship between landscape configuration, ecosystem services, and their interactions and to explore the potential of landscape configuration as a lever for ecosystem service management.
Improving ecosystem service models and tools: Diverse institutions, from governments to NGOs to private industry, are looking to incorporate ecosystem services into their decision-making. Yet, current ecosystem service modelling tools often fall short of being able to provide the information decision-makers require. I have been involved in two synthesis projects with the goal of improving the next generation of ecosystem service models—one with iDiv that identified and proposed solutions for gaps in ecosystem service modelling tools, and one funded by NASA that explored how novel and existing earth observation products could be better integrated with ecosystem service models.
Ecosystem services, social inequality, and resilience: How do social inequalities affect the systems producing ecosystem services? How can societies undergo transformations without leaving behind marginalized people? How can resilience theory help us better understand ecosystem service provision? I am involved in multiple side projects using literature reviews, synthetic thinking, and exploratory simulation modelling to explore questions at the intersection of ecosystem services, inequality, and theories of resilience and transformation.
Past research
During my undergrad I worked as a research assistant for Dr. Kathy Cottingham on the Gloeo project, studying how the cyanobacteria Gloeotrichia echinulata affects ecosystem functions and nutrient cycling in low-nutrient lakes. I then went on to write an honours thesis supervised by Dr. Cottingham, in collaboration with Dr. Shi Dingji at Shanghai Ocean University, exploring the spatial dynamics of cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins in Chaohu, a highly eutrophic lake in eastern China and the potential of using multispectral remote sensing imagery to monitor toxic cyanobacterial blooms.
I was also a member of the 2012 Dartmouth Biology Foreign Study Program, a ten-week field course in Costa Rica and the Cayman Islands. Manuscripts from the program were compiled as volume 22 of Dartmouth Studies in Tropical Ecology.
Publications
Carlos Ramírez-Reyes, Kate A. Brauman, Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, Gillian L. Galford, Susana B. Adamo, Christopher B. Anderson, Clarissa Anderson, Ginger R. H. Allington, Kenneth J. Bagstad, Michael T. Coe, Anna F. Cord, Laura E. Dee, Rachelle K. Gould, Meha Jain, Virginia A. Kowal, Frank E. Muller-Karger, Jessica Norriss, Peter Potapov, Jiangxiao Qiu, Jesse T. Rieb, Brian E. Robinson, Leah H. Samburg, Nagendra Singh, Sabrina H. Szeto, Brian Voigt, Keri Watson, and T. Maxwell Wright. 2019. Reimagining the potential of Earth observations for ecosystem service assessments. Science of the Total Environment 664: 1053-1063.
Jesse T. Rieb, Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, Gretchen C. Daily, Paul A. Armsworth, Katrin Böhning-Gaese, Aletta Bonn, Graeme S. Cumming, Felix Eigenbrod, Volker Grimm, Bethanna Jackson, Alexandra Marques, Subhrendu K. Pattanayak, Henrique M. Pereira, Garry D. Peterson, Taylor H. Ricketts, Brian E. Robinson, Matthias Schröter, Lisa A. Schulte, Monica G. Turner, Elena M. Bennett. 2018. Response to Kabisch and Colleagues. Bioscience 68: 167-168.
Jesse T. Rieb, Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, Gretchen C. Daily, Paul A. Armsworth, Katrin Böhning-Gaese, Aletta Bonn, Graeme S. Cumming, Felix Eigenbrod, Volker Grimm, Bethanna Jackson, Alexandra Marques, Subhrendu K. Pattanayak, Henrique M. Pereira, Garry D. Peterson, Taylor H. Ricketts, Brian E. Robinson, Matthias Schröter, Lisa A. Schulte, Monica G. Turner, Elena M. Bennett. 2017. When, where, and how nature matters for ecosystem services. Bioscience 67: 820-833.
Presentations
Jesse T. Rieb and Elena M. Bennett. “Landscape structure and the provision of multiple ecosystem services.” US-IALE Annual Meeting, Fort Collins, CO, USA. April 8, 2019.
Jesse T. Rieb and Elena M. Bennett. “Can technology replace nature for ecosystem services? Exploring long-term outcomes of management strategies through simulation modelling.” Resilience 2017 Conference, Stockholm, Sweden. August 21, 2017.
Jesse T. Rieb and Elena M. Bennett. “Quantifying the relationship between nature and technology in the co-production of three ecosystem services.” Québec Centre for Biodiversity Science Symposium, Montréal, QC, Canada. December 15, 2016.
Jesse T. Rieb. “Within-lake spatial distribution of microcystins and cyanobacteria in Lake Chaohu, China.” Karen E. Wetterhahn Science Symposium, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA. May 23, 2013.
Jesse T. Rieb. “Spatial distribution of microcystins in a highly polluted Chinese lake, and the joys and frustrations of doing science abroad.” TIS at Dartmouth weekly science seminar, Hanover, NH, USA. January 28, 2013.
Selected Awards
Blair Postgraduate Fellowship, McGill University (2018)
Tomlinson Doctoral Fellowship, McGill University (2014-2017)
James B. Reynolds Scholarship for Foreign Study, Dartmouth College (2014)
The Christopher G. Reed Biologist Award, Dartmouth (2013)
Andrew W. Mellon Grant for Environmental Research, Dartmouth (2012)
James O. Freedman Presidential Scholar, Dartmouth (2011-2013)
Thomas D. Sayles, Jr. 1954 Scholarship, Dartmouth (2010-2013)
Other Interests
Hiking, backpacking, cooking, breadmaking, photography, learning foreign languages
Contact information
[email protected]