Maya Almaraz is a terrestrial ecologist whose research focuses on biogeochemical cycling and its interaction with soil processes, pollution, and global food systems. Nitrogen fertilizer technology feeds about half the world’s human population and is widely considered a key limiting resource in ecological systems; however, excess nitrogen in the environment harms the economy, hurts people, and imposes serious climate change risks; feeding back to the Earth's carbon cycle. Feeding the world while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental damages that stem from anthropogenic activities is one of the greatest challenges of this century. Maya’s research focuses on unraveling such multi-dimensional complexities of the world’s environmental challenges.
Projects
As food demands change, we need to increase yields while advancing sustainable farming practices.
Tropical forests are important carbon sinks but whether or not they become sources in the future depends on a variety of factors
Climate change is here and it affects every aspect of ecology. Developing mitigation strategies will be key to a sustainable and healthy future.
From state, to country, to global analyses. Data science can help synthesize and scale up field measurements.