Dr Thomas Pugh

Dr Thomas Pugh

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Reader in Biosphere-Atmosphere Exchange

Contact details

Address
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
ϳԹ
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Tom Pugh is a scientist interested in interactions and feedbacks between the terrestrial biosphere and the global climate system, which he primarily investigates using computer models and big data synthesis. Read more about Tom's research at .

Qualifications

  • BSc (Hons) Environmental Science
  • PhD Environmental Science

Biography

Tom completed a PhD at Lancaster University studying the effects of tropical rainforests and oil palm plantations on tropospheric chemistry. He then carried out a postdoc at Lancaster investigating the interactions between plants and urban air pollution, before moving to IMK-IFU in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, where he broadened his horizons to work with global vegetation and climate models on questions of land-use change, forest mortality and food security. In 2016 he took up the position of Lecturer in GEES at Birmingham, where his work is closely linked with the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR). In 2018 he became Reader in Biosphere-Atmosphere Exchange at the ϳԹ. In 2020 he took up a new position at Lund University in Sweden and currently splits his time between Lund and Birmingham.

Postgraduate supervision

Tom Pugh welcomes enquiries from students with interests in the interaction between terrestrial vegetation, biogeochemical cycles and climate. Please contact him if you are interested in working with him on the following core topics, or more generally within this theme.

> Interactions and feedbacks between climate change and forest mortality.
> CO2 fertilisation of vegetation and the global terrestrial carbon sink.
> Effects of biotic agents on forest vitality and biogeochemical cycling.
> How anthropogenic actions modify the structure and function of our forests.

Research

Tom Pugh is a scientist interested in interactions and feedbacks between the terrestrial biosphere and the global climate system, which he primarily investigates using computer models and big data synthesis. Read more about Tom's research at bioatmo.wordpress.com.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Suvanto, S, Esquivel Muelbert, A, Schelhaas, MJ, Astigarraga, J, Astrup, R, Cienciala, E, Fridman, J, Henttonen, HM, Kunstler, G, Kändler, G, König, LA, Ruiz‐Benito, P, Senf, C, Stadelmann, G, Starcevic, A, Talarczyk, A, Zavala, MA & Pugh, TAM 2025, '', Earth's Future, vol. 13, no. 2, e2024EF005225.

Yu, K, Chen, HYH, Gessler, A, Pugh, TAM, Searle, EB, Allen, RB, Pretzsch, H, Ciais, P, Phillips, OL, Brienen, RJW, Chu, C, Xie, S & Ballantyne, AP 2024, '', PNAS nexus, vol. 3, no. 2, pgae008.

Liu, D, Esquivel-Muelbert, A, Acil, N, Astigarraga, J, Cienciala, E, Fridman, J, Kunstler, G, Matthews, TJ, Ruiz-Benito, P, Sadler, JP, Schelhaas, M-J, Suvanto, S, Talarczyk, A, Woodall, CW, Zavala, MA, Zhang, C & Pugh, T 2024, '', Nature Communications, vol. 15, no. 1, 8909.

Astigarraga, J, Esquivel-Muelbert, A, Ruiz-Benito, P, Rodríguez-Sánchez, F, Zavala, MA, Vilà-Cabrera, A, Schelhaas, MJ, Kunstler, G, Woodall, CW, Cienciala, E, Dahlgren, J, Govaere, L, König, LA, Lehtonen, A, Talarczyk, A, Liu, D & Pugh, TAM 2024, '', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 121, no. 28, e2314899121.

Müller, C, Jägermeyr, J, Franke, JA, Ruane, AC, Balkovic, J, Ciais, P, Dury, M, Falloon, P, Folberth, C, Hank, T, Hoffmann, M, Izaurralde, RC, Jacquemin, I, Khabarov, N, Liu, W, Olin, S, Pugh, TAM, Wang, X, Williams, K, Zabel, F & Elliott, JW 2024, '', Earth's Future, vol. 12, no. 3, e2023EF003773.

Biliac-Murphy et al 2024, '', Science (New York, N.Y.), vol. 386, no. 6717, pp. 92-98.

Asuk, SA, Matthews, TJ, Sadler, JP, Pugh, TAM, Ebu, VT, Ifebueme, NM & Kettridge, N 2023, '', Biotropica, vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 1-14.

Camargo-Alvarez, H, Elliott, RJR, Olin, S, Wang, X, Wang, C, Ray, DK & Pugh, TAM 2023, '', Modeling Earth Systems and Environment, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 2617-2635.

Araza, A, Herold, M, de Bruin, S, Ciais, P, Gibbs, DA, Harris, N, Santoro, M, Wigneron, JP, Yang, H, Málaga, N, Nesha, K, Rodriguez-Veiga, P, Brovkina, O, Brown, HCA, Chanev, M, Dimitrov, Z, Filchev, L, Fridman, J, García, M, Gikov, A, Govaere, L, Dimitrov, P, Moradi, F, Muelbert, AE, Novotný, J, Pugh, TAM, Schelhaas, MJ, Schepaschenko, D, Stereńczak, K & Hein, L 2023, '', International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, vol. 118, 103274.

Gärtner, A, Jönsson, AM, Metcalfe, DB, Pugh, TAM, Tagesson, T, Ahlström, A & Park, PS (ed.) 2023, '', Forests, vol. 14, no. 5, 1017.

Pugh, T, Seidl, R, Liu, D, Lindeskog, M, Chini, L & Senf, C 2023, '', Global Ecology and Biogeography, pp. 1-16.

Anderegg, WRL, Wu, C, Acil, N, Carvalhais, N, Pugh, TAM, Sadler, JP & Seidl, R 2022, '', Science, vol. 377, no. 6610, pp. 1099–1103.

Franke, JA, Müller, C, Minoli, S, Elliott, J, Folberth, C, Gardner, C, Hank, T, Izaurralde, RC, Jägermeyr, J, Jones, CD, Liu, W, Olin, S, Pugh, TAM, Ruane, AC, Stephens, H, Zabel, F & Moyer, EJ 2022, '', Global Change Biology, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 167-181.

Chapter

Maire, J, Alexander, P, Anthoni, P, Huntingford, C, Pugh, TAM, Rabin, S, Rounsevell, M & Arneth, A 2022, . in C Kondrup, P Mercogliano, F Bosello, J Mysiak, E Scoccimarro, A Rizzo, R Ebrey, M de Ruiter, A Jeuken & P Watkiss (eds), Climate Adaptation Modelling. 1 edn, Springer Climate, Springer, pp. 133-140.

Letter

Lee, H, Pugh, TAM, Patacca, M, Seo, B, Winkler, K & Rounsevell, M 2023, '', Environmental Research Letters, vol. 18, no. 3, 034020.

Expertise

vegetation-climate interactions; terrestrial carbon cycle; tree mortality; climate impacts on forests/agriculture; carbon storage in ecosystems