Reyes Tirado
Ecologist En Español aquí
|  I am a Research Scientist at the Greenpeace Research Laboratories in the University of Exeter (UK) since September 2006, where I coordinate research projects on agriculture and provide scientific support over wider terrestrial ecology issues. From spring 2009 until recently I was based in the offices of Greenpeace India in Bangalore, to work closely with the agriculture campaigners in Asia. I work with my Greenpeace colleagues in agricultural areas in China, India, Thailand and the Philippines researching some of the environmental impacts of chemical agriculture and documenting solutions already being applied by farmers. In 2007 we investigated the use of fertilizers and pesticides in intensive farming areas in Thailand and the Philippines, analyzing the negative consequences of agrochemicals misuse on the environment and human health. We recently documented the nitrate pollution in the groundwater coming from synthetic fertilisers in Punjab, India. I am interested in an ecological farming model that provides food for all avoiding impacts on the environment and nurturing biological diversity. I also work on the relationship between land use, agriculture and climate change, looking especially to alternative practices that can mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases caused by the excessive use of synthetic fertilizers and the intensive production of livestock. I coordinated the report Cool Farming: Climate impacts of agriculture and mitigation potential published in January 2008. You can see the full report here. Our paper on the emissions and mitigation potential from fertiliser use in India has been just published in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability. Until 2006 I worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Ackerly lab at the University of California - Berkeley. I did my PhD in Spain, in the Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (CSIC) in Almería and my undergraduate at the University of Seville, also in Andalusia, Spain. I investigated the role of plant-plant interactions, specially facilitation, in semiarid plant communities under Mediterranean climate, in deserts in SE Spain and also in the chaparral in California. PublicationsTirado, R., Gopikrishnah, Krishnan, R. & Smith, P. 2010. Greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation potential from fertiliser manufacture and application in India. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 8: 176-185. pdf Tirado, R. 2010. Picking Cotton. The choice between organic and genetically-engineered cotton for farmers in South India. Greenpeace Research Laboratories Technical Note 03/2010, June 2010: 22 pp. pdf and photo essay about this research Tirado, R. 2009. Chemical fertilisers in our water. An analysis of nitrates in the groundwater in Punjab. Greenpeace India. http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/india/press/reports/chemical-fertilisers-in-our-wa-2.pdf Novotny, V., Wang, X., Englande, A., Bedoya, D., Promakasikorn, L. and Tirado, R. 2009. Comparative assessment of pollution by the use of industrial agricultural fertilizers in four rapidly developing Asian countries. Environment, Development and Sustainability online first DOI 10.1007/s10668-009-9207-2. http://www.springerlink.com/content/w71032018114777q/ Roy, B. C., Chattopadhyay, G. N. and Tirado, R. 2009. Subsidising Food Crisis: Synthetic Fertilisers Lead To Poor Soil And Less Food. Greenpeace India. http://www.greenpeace.org/india/press/reports/subsidising-food-crisis.Tirado, R. 2009. Defining Ecological Farming. Greenpeace Research Laboratories Technical Note 04/2009, 16 pp. http://greenpeace.to/publications/Defining-Ecological-Farming-2009.pdfTirado, R. 2009. 5220 Matorrales arborescentes con Ziziphus (*). En: VV.AAAA., Bases ecológicas preliminares para la conservación de los tipos de hábitat de interés comunitario en España. Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, y Medio Rural y Marino. 68 p. PDF Tirado R. 2008. Dead zones: How Agricultural Fertilizers Kill our Rivers, Lakes and Oceans. Greenpeace Research Laboratories Technical Note, July 2008: 8/2008. 25 pp. http://greenpeace.to/publications/dead-zones.pdf Cotter, J. & Tirado R. 2008 Food security and climate change: the answer is biodiversity - a review of scientific publications on climate change adaptation in agriculture. Greenpeace Research Laboratories Technical Note, June 2008: 9/2008. 8 pp. http://greenpeace.to/publications/food-security-and-climate-change.pdf Tirado, R. & Johnston, P. 2008. Viewpoints: “What are the most important constraints to achieving food security in various parts of Africa?” Natural Resources Forum 32: 163–166. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/narf Tirado, R. & Stabinsky, D. 2008. New Challenges Facing Agriculture Require New Approaches. E-letter response to Editorial by Norman Borlaug 'Feeding a Hungry World' Science 2007; 318: 359. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/eletters/318/5849/359 Tirado, R. 2007. Health concerns associated with nitrates in drinking water. Greenpeace Research Laboratories Technical Note 12/2007. http://www.greenpeace.to/publications.asp Tirado, R. 2007. Nitrates in drinking water in the Philippines and Thailand. Greenpeace Research Laboratories Technical Note 11/2007. http://www.greenpeace.to/publications.asp Tirado, R. & Pugnaire, F.I. Mutualistic interaction between shrubs in a semiarid ecosystem. In Review Tirado, R. & Pugnaire, F.I. Strong ecosystem engineering by Ziziphus lotus, a shrub from semi arid environments that affects ecosystem function. In Review Reinhurt, K., J. Gurnee, R. Tirado & Ragan Callaway. 2006. Invasion through quantitative effects: intense shade as a driver of native decline and invasive success. Ecological Applications 16: 1821-1831. Tirado, R. & Pugnaire, F.I. 2005. Community structure and positive interactions in constraining environments. Oikos 111: 437-444. PDF Tirado, R. & Pugnaire, F.I. 2003. Shrub spatial aggregation and consequences for reproductive success. Oecologia136: 296-201. PDF Ain-Lhout, F., M. Zunzunegui, M. C. Díaz Barradas, R. Tirado, A. Clavijo & F. García Novo. 2001. Comparison of proline accumulation in two Mediterranean shrubs subject to natural and experimental water deficit. Plant and Soil 230: 175-183 Díaz Barradas, M. C., M. Zunzunegui, R. Tirado, F. Ain-Lhout, & F. García Novo. 1999. Plant functional types and ecosystem function in Mediterranean shrubland. Journal of Vegetation Science 10, 709-716. PDF Pugnaire, F.I., C. Armas & R. Tirado 2002. Interacciones entre plantas de alta montaña. Quercus 200:28-32. Pugnaire, F.I., C. Armas & R. Tirado 2001 Las dehesas de retama: Biodiversidad en ambientes semiáridos. Quercus 176:26-29. Luque, M.T., R. Tirado, C. Armas & F.I. Pugnaire 2000 Artineras: Ecosistemas singulares en peligro. Quercus 175: 26-30. Some presentations (files) Tirado, R., G. Krishna, R. Krishnan, P. Smith. Greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation potential from synthetic fertiliser manufacturing and application in India. INTECOL Ecology in a Changing Climate, Brisbane, Australia, August 2009. intecol2009.pdf Tirado, R. Synthetic fertilisers in India and their contribution to global warming. International Seminar on Environmental degradation and food crisis – Lessons for India, organized by Greenpeace India. Delhi, 24th October 2008. presentation in PDF Tirado, R. Climate Change Mitigation in Agriculture – Policy options for the Future, PICCMAT Consultation Workshop, Brussels, June 2008. http://www.climatechangeintelligence.baastel.be/piccmat/draft.php http://www.climatechangeintelligence.baastel.be/piccmat/files/Reyes_piccmat.pdf What's up with organic cotton? January 2010. Peddling ecological farming in India. June 2009. Testing the waters. April 2009. |