About Brian Buma

Brian Buma

Senior Climate Scientist

Contact

Boulder, Colorado Office

Work

Areas of expertise:

Climate change, climate innovation and new technology, environmental feedbacks, natural climate solutions, exploration

Brian studies innovative ways to alter the trajectory of climate change through natural systems, innovative technologies, and emerging expertise. Global in scale, his work aims to address the ways in which we can bend the curve of feedbacks and drive new ways to limit climate change, habitat loss, and biodiversity destruction. He coordinates the Climate Innovation Initiative at EDF, which focuses on finding emerging ways to mitigate climate change and smoothing the bottlenecks that may get in their way. A published author with over 100 scientific articles, many magazine pieces, and a book on climate change, he is also an international explorer and advocate for wilderness landscapes.

Background

Brian was a tenured associate professor at the University of Colorado, Denver, prior to joining EDF; before that he was a  professor at the University of Alaska. Brian earned his PhD in ecosystem ecology in 2013 and is on the steering committee of the Arctic Migrations Network, the leadership committee of the Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research Station, and is a senior scientist with the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center. Brian is passionate about the intersection of community engagement, art, and creativity in science. He is also a National Geographic Explorer and Explorer’s Club Fellow, in which capacity he conducts explorative research in all corners of the world and works to communicate science to classrooms and adult participants in a variety of media.

Education

  • BS, Western Washington University, 2003
  • MS, Western Washington University, 2005
  • PhD, University of Colorado Boulder, 2013

Publications

Weiss S, Rancher W, Hayes K, Buma B, Lucash M. 2026. Climate change may lead to larger fires, greater area burned, and more reburning across interior Alaska. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. In press.

Abernathy S, Monteverde D, Schädel C, Buma B, Duffy PB, Jackson RB, Natali SM, Ocko I, Rogers BM, Poulter B. 2026. Projected amplification of global warming by warming-induced greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental Research Letters. In press.

Riaz A, Sun K, Baker BD, Buma B, et al. 2026. Towards a Remote Sensing Solution to Quantify Nitrous Oxide Emissions by Integrating Shortwave and Thermal Infrared Bands. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques 19:5169-5191.

Ciais P, Peng S, Chang J, Li F, Zhu Q, et al. 2026. A global methane observation system to reduce uncertainty for anthropogenic and natural sources and sinks for detecting and attributing climate feedbacks. Advanced Science.

Creed IF, Ury EA, Anderson KJ, Bansal S, et al. 2026. Climate-smart wetlands can mitigate the wetland-methane feedback loop. One Earth 9(6).

Watts JD, Ordway E, Malone SL, Zhu Q, et al. 2026. A global methane observation system to track climate feedbacks for verifiable climate impact. Science 391:1324-1327.

Ury EA, Zhang Z, Fluet-Chouinard E, Sartzetakis SS, Sun T, Buma B. 2026. Strategic restoration of global inland peatlands can maximize local and global co-benefits. Ecological Applications 36:e70300.

Carter T, Hart SJ, Buma B. 2026. Ecological Regime Changes Triggered by Compound Disturbances Persist After 20 Years. Forest Ecology and Management 612:123734.

Buma B, Dietzen C, Gordon DR, Maher K, et al. 2026. Expert elicitation on agricultural enhanced weathering reveals carbon dioxide removal potential and uncertainties in loss pathways. Communications Earth & Environment 7:376.

Buma B, Frumhoff PC, Rogers BM, Sartzetakis SS, et al. 2026. Policy solutions to better assess progress toward Paris goals given warming-induced ecosystem emissions. One Earth 9:101571.

DellaSala DA, Buma B, Leverkus AB, Lindenmayer DB, et al. 2025. Removing dead trees will not save us from fast-moving wildfires. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 122:e2510922122.

Ury EA, Zhang Z, Buma B. 2025. Addressing methane emission feedbacks from global wetlands. Nature Sustainability 8:1115-1118.

Buma B, Ocko I, Walkowiak B, Xu Y, et al. 2025. Considering sectoral warming and cooling emissions and their lifetimes can improve climate change mitigation policies. npj Climate and Atmospheric Science 8:287.

Sartzetakis SS, Sun T, Xu Y, Ury EA, Ocko IB, Buma B. 2025. Evaluating temporal trade-offs in climate effects from carbon dioxide removal strategies across different metrics: A case study on wetland restoration. Environmental Research Letters 20:084050.

Carter T, Buma B. 2025. Different topographic and climatic contexts associated with carbon hotspots in a carbon-dense ecoregion. Ecosphere 16:e70363.

Esquivel-Elizondo S, Walkowiak B, Sartzetakis SS, Buma B. 2025. Climate Impact of Direct and Indirect N₂O Emissions from the Ammonia Marine Fuel Value Chain. Environmental Science & Technology 59:9037-9048.

Godziek J, Pawlik L, Buma B. 2025. Mapping and analysis of an infrequent large-scale blowdown event in the Colorado Front Range. Land Degradation & Development 36:3604-3620.

Carter TA, Stears AE, Forwalt PJ, Atkins DH, et al. 2025. Fine-root Traits Coordinate with Aboveground Strategies but Are Poor Predictors of Understory Plant Species Response to Widespread Spruce Mortality. Plant and Soil.

Talucci A, Loranty MM, Holloway JE, Rogers BM, et al. 2024. Permafrost-Wildfire Interactions: Active Layer Thickness Estimates for Paired Burned and Unburned Sites in Northern High Latitudes. Earth System Science Data Discussions.

Ury EA, Hinckley E, Visioni D, Buma B. 2024. Managing the Global Wetland Methane-Climate Feedback: A Review of Potential Options. Global Change Biology 30:e17585.

Hayes K, Hoffman C, Linn R, Ziegler J, Buma B. 2024. Fuel Constraints, Not Fire Weather Conditions, Limit Fire Behavior in Reburned Boreal Forests. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 358:110216.

Buma B. 2024. Including Non-Growing Season Emissions of N₂O in US Maize Could Raise Net CO₂e Emissions 31% Annually. Agricultural and Environmental Letters 9:e20146.

Pawlik Ł, Gałązka A, Gruba P, Marzec-Grządziel A, et al. 2024. High-Resolution Soil Sampling Reveals the Pattern of Biological Weathering and Soil Formation Under Trees. Science of the Total Environment.

Carter T, Buma B. 2024. Understory Plant Biodiversity Is Inversely Related to Carbon Storage in a Carbon-Dense Ecosystem. Ecology and Evolution 14:e70095.

Gough CM, Buma B, Jentsch A, Mathes KC, Fahey RT. 2024. Disturbance Theory for Ecosystem Ecologists: A Primer. Ecology and Evolution 14:e11403.

Carter T, Buma B. 2024. The Distribution of Tree Biomass Carbon Within the Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest, a Disproportionately Carbon-Dense Forest. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 54:956-977.

Buma B, Gordon DR, Kleisner KM, et al. 2024. Expert Review of the Science Underlying Nature-Based Climate Solutions. Nature Climate Change 14:402-406.

Vorster AG, Stevens-Rimann C, Young N, Woodward B, et al. 2024. Metrics and Considerations for Evaluating How Forest Treatments Alter Wildfire Behavior and Effects. Journal of Forestry 122:13-30.

Pawlik Ł, Gruba P, Gałązka A, Marzec-Grządziel A, et al. 2023. Weathering and Soil Production Under Trees Growing on Sandstones: The Role of Tree Roots in Soil Formation. Science of the Total Environment 902:166002.

Weiss SA, Marshall AM, Hayes KR, Nicolsky DJ, Buma B, Lucash MS. 2023. Future Transitions from a Conifer- to Deciduous-Dominated Landscape Are Accelerated by Greater Wildfire Activity and Climate Change in Interior Alaska. Landscape Ecology 38:2569-2589.

Booth AM, Buma B, Nagorski S. 2023. Effects of Landslides on Terrestrial Carbon Stocks with a Coupled Geomorphic-Biologic Model: Southeast Alaska, USA. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences.

Davis KT, Robles MD, Kemp KB, Higuera PE, et al. 2023. Reduced Fire Severity Offers a Near-Term Buffer to Climate-Driven Declines in Conifer Resilience Across the Western United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120:e2209120120.

Pawlik L, Buma B, Wistuba M, Malik I, Slezak A. 2023. Trees as Bioindicators of Hillslope Degradation by Debris Flows and Rockfalls Along Lefthand Canyon, Colorado Front Range. Land Degradation & Development 34:1869-1884.

Buma B. 2022. Alternate Growth Forms Can Protect Climate-Threatened Trees from Freezing Stressors. Forest Science 68:435-439.

LaRue EA, Fahey RT, Alverson BC, Atkins JW, et al. 2023. A Theoretical Framework for the Ecological Role of Structural Diversity. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 21:4-13.

Shuman JK, Balch JK, Barnes RT, Higuera PE, et al. 2022. Reimagine Fire Science for the Anthropocene. PNAS Nexus 1:pgac115.

Carter T, Hayes K, Buma B. 2022. Putting More Fuel on the Fire... Or Maybe Not? A Synthesis of Spruce Beetle and Fire Interactions in North American Subalpine Forests. Landscape Ecology.

Hayes K, Carter T, Cook P, Twaddell E, Buma B. 2022. Supporting Graduate Field Leadership Through Community-Sourced Advice, Action, and Policy. Ecosphere.

Buma B, Morello F, Rodriguez K, Serrano Fillol A. 2022. The Southernmost End Point of Pre-Industrial Human Expansion Found on Isla Hornos (Isla Lököshpi), Chile. Antiquity 96:1324-1329.
Featured in Nature: "Archaeologists uncover the southernmost evidence of pre-industrial humans."

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