Expertise

Mariana Rufino studied Agronomy at the National University of Tucuman (UNT) in Argentina and obtained a PhD in Production Ecology and Resource Conservation at Wageningen University. After a 2-year postdoc in Wageningen, she moved to Kenya to work for the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) to investigate the effects of livestock management on carbon, nutrient and water cycles and on GHG from land systems. Later on at the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), she continued deepening her understanding of the complex interactions and landscape dynamics resulting the production of livestock products. In 2016, she was appointed as full professor at Lancaster University in the UK, and joined TUM in 2023. Her work contributes to the global assessments of livestock systems, and has evolved in time to account for novel effects of land use associated to food production. Her most recent work includes an exploration of the impacts of different livestock species on plant diversity and their role on carbon removal, the water cycle and ecosystem functioning in tropical and sub-tropical grasslands.

Career

• From 2023, Livestock systems chair (full professor), Technical University of Munich, Germany.
• 2016-2023, Agricultural Systems chair (full professor), Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, UK.
• 2013-2016, Team leader & Senior Scientist, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Kenya.
• 2014-2015, Guest researcher, Lab of GIS & Remote Sensing, Wageningen University.
• 2010-2013, Livestock systems scientist, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya.
• 2010, Guest researcher, Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), The Netherlands.
• 2008-2010, Postdoctoral researcher, Plant Production Systems, Wageningen University.
• 2004-2008, Researcher, Plant Production Systems and Plant Research International, Wageningen University.

Selected Publications

1. Houspanossian, J, R Gimenez, J Whitworth-Hulse, MD Nosetto, W Tych, PM Atkinson, MC Rufino, EG Jobbágy. Agricultural expansion raises groundwater and increases flooding in the South    American plains. Science, 380, 1344-1348.
2. Hawkins, J, A Komarek, EM Kihoro, CF Nicholson, A Omore, GU Yesuf, PJ Ericksen, GC Schoneveld, MC Rufino 2022 High yield dairy cattle breeds improve farmer incomes, curtail greenhouse gas emissions and reduce dairy import dependency in Tanzania. Nature Food 3, 957-967.
3. Yesuf, GU, GC Schoneveld, M Zijlstra, J Hawkins, E Kihoro, V Vernooij, MC Rufino 2021 Embedding stakeholders’ priorities into the low emission development of the East African dairy sector. Env Res Letters 16, 064032.
4. Brandt, P, G Yesuf, M Herold, MC Rufino 2020 Intensification of dairy production can increase the GHG mitigation potential of the land use sector in East Africa. Global Change Biol 26, 568-585.
5. Wanyama, I, DE Pelster, K Butterbach-Bahl, C Martius, L Verchot, MC Rufino 2019 Soil carbon dioxide and methane fluxes from forests and other land use types in an African tropical montane region. Biogeochemistry 143, 171-190
6. Carter, S, M Herold, V Avitabile, S de Bruin, V De Sy, L Kooistra, MC Rufino 2018 Agriculture-driven deforestation in the tropics from 1990 to 2015: emissions, trends, and uncertainties. Environ Res Lett 13, 014002.
7. Rufino, MC, P Brandt, M Herrero, K Butterbach-Bahl 2014 Reducing uncertainty in nitrogen budgets for African livestock systems. Environ Res Lett 9 (10), 105008.