Sami Rifai

Dr Sami Rifai

Lecturer

School of Biological Sciences

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

I research how different aspects of global change are affecting the vegetation of terrestrial ecosystems. I mostly focus on how meteorological extremes affect the vegetation of Australia and the tropics. I am particularly interested in the usage of Earth Observation technologies to examine processes in ecophysiology and ecosystem ecology. 



My research tends to utilize: 

  • Earth observation and remote sensing
  • climate data
  • statistical modeling
  • machine learning

 

 

Global Change Biology (2880)

  • Journals
    Year Citation
    2024 Devanand, A., Falster, G. M., Gillett, Z. E., Hobeichi, S., Holgate, C. M., Jin, C., . . . Ukkola, A. M. (2024). Australia's Tinderbox Drought: An extreme natural event likely worsened by human-caused climate change. Science Advances, 10(10), eadj3460-1-eadj3460-22.
    DOI Scopus5 Europe PMC1
    2024 Morel, A. C., Demissie, S., Gonfa, T., Mehrabi, Z., Rifai, S., Hirons, M. A., . . . Norris, K. (2024). Landscape and management influences on smallholder agroforestry yields show shifts during a climate shock. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 366, 108930.
    DOI
    2024 Rifai, S. W., De Kauwe, M. G., Gallagher, R. V., Cernusak, L. A., Meir, P., & Pitman, A. J. (2024). Burn Severity and Post-Fire Weather Are Key to Predicting Time-To-Recover From Australian Forest Fires. Earth's Future, 12(4), e2023EF003780-1-e2023EF003780-18.
    DOI Scopus2
    2024 Slot, M., Rifai, S. W., Eze, C. E., & Winter, K. (2024). The stomatal response to vapor pressure deficit drives the apparent temperature response of photosynthesis in tropical forests. New Phytologist, 12 pages.
    DOI Scopus2
    2024 Matos, I. S., Rifai, S. W., Gouveia, W. F., Oliveras, I., Mantuano, D., & Rosado, B. H. P. (2024). A causal trait model for explaining foliar water uptake capacity. Journal of Vegetation Science, 35(3), 13 pages.
    DOI
    2024 Mu, M., Sabot, M. E. B., Ukkola, A. M., Rifai, S. W., De Kauwe, M. G., Hobeichi, S., & Pitman, A. J. (2024). Examining the role of biophysical feedbacks on simulated temperature extremes during the Tinderbox Drought and Black Summer bushfires in southeast Australia. Weather and Climate Extremes, 45, 100703.
    DOI
    2024 Retallack, A., Rifai, S., Finlayson, G., Ostendorf, B., & Lewis, M. (2024). Remote sensing for rangeland conservation monitoring: Impacts of livestock removal after 15 years. Journal of Applied Ecology, 61(9), 12 pages.
    DOI
    2024 Gopalakrishna, T., Rifai, S. W., Ratnam, J., Oliveras Menor, I., Stevens, N., & Malhi, Y. (2024). The distribution and drivers of tree cover in savannas and forests across India. Communications Earth and Environment, 5(1), 10 pages.
    DOI
    2024 Retallack, A., Campbell, D., Finlayson, G., Raja Segaran, R., Ostendorf, B., Hennekam, M., . . . Lewis, M. (2024). Arid erosion mapping: Comparing LiDAR and structure from motion. Rangeland Journal, 45(4), 173-186.
    DOI
    2024 Zhang-Zheng, H., Adu-Bredu, S., Duah-Gyamfi, A., Moore, S., Addo-Danso, S. D., Amissah, L., . . . Malhi, Y. (2024). Contrasting carbon cycle along tropical forest aridity gradients in West Africa and Amazonia. Nature Communications, 15(1), 3158.
    DOI Scopus1
    2023 West, T. A. P., Wunder, S., Sills, E. O., Börner, J., Rifai, S. W., Neidermeier, A. N., . . . Kontoleon, A. (2023). Action needed to make carbon offsets from forest conservation work for climate change mitigation. Science (New York, N.Y.), 381(6660), 873-877.
    DOI Scopus58 WoS7 Europe PMC8
    2023 De Kauwe, M., Sabot, M., Medlyn, B., Pitman, A., Meir, P., Cernusak, L., . . . Choat, B. (2023). Towards species-level forecasts of drought-induced tree mortality risk.
    DOI
    2023 Matos, I. S., Rifai, S. W., & Rosado, B. H. P. (2023). 2015/16 El Niño increased water demand and pushed plants from a Mesic tropical montane grassland beyond their hydraulic safety limits. Austral Ecology, 49(1), 17 pages.
    DOI Scopus1
    2023 Burton, C. A., Renzullo, L. J., Rifai, S. W., & Van Dijk, A. I. J. M. (2023). Empirical upscaling of OzFlux eddy covariance for high-resolution monitoring of terrestrial carbon uptake in Australia. Biogeosciences, 20(19), 4109-4134.
    DOI Scopus3
    2023 Burton, C. A., Renzullo, L. J., Rifai, S. W., & Van Dijk, A. I. J. M. (2023). Empirical upscaling of OzFlux eddy covariance for high-resolution monitoring of terrestrial carbon uptake in Australia.
    DOI
    2023 Valle, D., Rifai, S. W., Carrero, G. C., & Meiga, A. Y. Y. (2023). An automated procedure to determine construction year of roads in forested landscapes using a least-cost path and a Before-After Control-Impact approach. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, 10(3), 388-400.
    DOI
    2022 De Kauwe, M. G., Sabot, M. E. B., Medlyn, B. E., Pitman, A. J., Meir, P., Cernusak, L. A., . . . Choat, B. (2022). Towards species-level forecasts of drought-induced tree mortality risk. New Phytologist, 235(1), 94-110.
    DOI Scopus14 WoS8 Europe PMC1
    2022 Bauman, D., Fortunel, C., Delhaye, G., Malhi, Y., Cernusak, L. A., Bentley, L. P., . . . McMahon, S. M. (2022). Tropical tree mortality has increased with rising atmospheric water stress. Nature, 608(7923), 528-533.
    DOI Scopus91 WoS44 Europe PMC9
    2022 Scalon, M. C., Oliveras Menor, I., Freitag, R., Peixoto, K. S., Rifai, S. W., Marimon, B. S., . . . Malhi, Y. (2022). Contrasting strategies of nutrient demand and use between savanna and forest ecosystems in a neotropical transition zone. Biogeosciences, 19(15), 3649-3661.
    DOI Scopus5 WoS3
    2022 De Kauwe, M., Sabot, M., Medlyn, B., Pitman, A., Meir, P., Cernusak, L., . . . Choat, B. (2022). Towards species-level forecasts of drought-induced tree mortality risk.
    DOI
    2022 Scalon, M. C., Oliveras Menor, I., Freitag, R., Peixoto, K. S., Rifai, S. W., Marimon, B. S., . . . Malhi, Y. (2022). Contrasting strategies of nutrient demand and use between savanna and forest ecosystems in a Neotropical transition zone. Biogeosciences.
    DOI
    2022 Scalon, M. C., Oliveras Menor, I., Freitag, R., Peixoto, K. S., Rifai, S. W., Marimon, B. S., . . . Malhi, Y. (2022). Supplementary material to "Contrasting strategies of nutrient demand and use between savanna and forest ecosystems in a Neotropical transition zone".
    DOI
    2022 Beringer, J., Moore, C. E., Cleverly, J., Campbell, D. I., Cleugh, H., De Kauwe, M. G., . . . Woodgate, W. (2022). Bridge to the future: Important lessons from 20 years of ecosystem observations made by the OzFlux network. Global Change Biology, 28(11), 3489-3514.
    DOI Scopus19 WoS6 Europe PMC4
    2022 Rifai, S. W., De Kauwe, M. G., Ukkola, A. M., Cernusak, L. A., Meir, P., Medlyn, B. E., & Pitman, A. J. (2022). Thirty-eight years of CO₂ fertilization has outpaced growing aridity to drive greening of Australian woody ecosystems. Biogeosciences, 19(2), 491-515.
    DOI Scopus18 WoS10
    2022 Bauman, D., Fortunel, C., Cernusak, L. A., Bentley, L. P., McMahon, S. M., Rifai, S. W., . . . Malhi, Y. (2022). Tropical tree growth sensitivity to climate is driven by species intrinsic growth rate and leaf traits. Global Change Biology, 28(4), 1414-1432.
    DOI Scopus22 WoS10 Europe PMC2
    2022 Li, S., Rifai, S., Anderson, L. O., & Sparrow, S. (2022). Identifying local‐scale meteorological conditions favorable to large fires in Brazil. Climate Resilience and Sustainability, 1(1).
    DOI
    2021 Li, S., Sparrow, S. N., Otto, F. E. L., Rifai, S. W., Oliveras, I., Krikken, F., . . . Wallom, D. (2021). Anthropogenic climate change contribution to wildfire-prone weather conditions in the Cerrado and Arc of deforestation. Environmental Research Letters, 16(9), 14 pages.
    DOI Scopus10 WoS3
    2021 David Urquiza Muñoz, J., Marra, D. M., Negrón-Juarez, R. I., Tello-Espinoza, R., Alegría-Muñoz, W., Pacheco-Gómez, T., . . . Trumbore, S. E. (2021). Recovery of forest structure following large-scale windthrows in the northwestern Amazon. Forests, 12(6), 667-1-667-15.
    DOI Scopus10
    2021 Huaraca Huasco, W., Riutta, T., Girardin, C. A. J., Hancco Pacha, F., Puma Vilca, B. L., Moore, S., . . . Malhi, Y. (2021). Fine root dynamics across pantropical rainforest ecosystems. Global Change Biology, 27(15), 3657-3680.
    DOI Scopus15 WoS9 Europe PMC3
    2021 Slot, M., Rifai, S. W., & Winter, K. (2021). Photosynthetic plasticity of a tropical tree species, Tabebuia rosea, in response to elevated temperature and [CO₂]. Plant Cell and Environment, 44(7), 2347-2364.
    DOI Scopus18 WoS14 Europe PMC3
    2021 Malhi, Y., Girardin, C., Metcalfe, D. B., Doughty, C. E., Aragão, L. E. O. C., Rifai, S. W., . . . Phillips, O. L. (2021). The Global Ecosystems Monitoring network: Monitoring ecosystem productivity and carbon cycling across the tropics. Biological Conservation, 253, 108889-1-108889-14.
    DOI Scopus43
    2021 Aguirre-Gutiérrez, J., Rifai, S., Shenkin, A., Oliveras, I., Bentley, L. P., Svátek, M., . . . Malhi, Y. (2021). Pantropical modelling of canopy functional traits using Sentinel-2 remote sensing data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 252, 112122-1-112122-18.
    DOI Scopus41 WoS25
    2020 De Kauwe, M. G., Medlyn, B. E., Ukkola, A. M., Mu, M., Sabot, M. E. B., Pitman, A. J., . . . Briggs, P. R. (2020). Identifying areas at risk of drought-induced tree mortality across South-Eastern Australia. Global Change Biology, 26(10), 5716-5733.
    DOI Scopus82 WoS68 Europe PMC11
    2020 Liang, B., Chen, X., Lang, W., Liu, G., Malhi, Y., & Rifai, S. (2020). Examining land surface phenology in the tropical moist forest eco-zone of South America. International Journal of Biometeorology, 64(11), 1911-1922.
    DOI
    2020 Matos, I. S., Menor, I. O., Rifai, S. W., & Rosado, B. H. P. (2020). Deciphering the stability of grassland productivity in response to rainfall manipulation experiments. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 29(3), 558-572.
    DOI Scopus31 WoS22
    2019 Morel, A. C., Hirons, M., Demissie, S., Gonfa, T., Mehrabi, Z., Long, P. R., . . . Norris, K. (2019). The structures underpinning vulnerability: Examining landscape-society interactions in a smallholder coffee agroforestry system. Environmental Research Letters, 14(7), 075006.
    DOI Scopus10 WoS6
    2019 Park, J. Y., Muller-Landau, H. C., Lichstein, J. W., Rifai, S. W., Dandois, J. P., & Bohlman, S. A. (2019). Quantifying leaf phenology of individual trees and species in a tropical forest using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images. Remote Sensing, 11(13), 1534-1-1534-32.
    DOI Scopus81 WoS64
    2019 Fonseca, L. D. M., Dalagnol, R., Malhi, Y., Rifai, S. W., Costa, G. B., Silva, T. S. F., . . . Borma, L. S. (2019). Phenology and seasonal ecosystem productivity in an Amazonian floodplain forest. Remote Sensing, 11(13), 1530-1-1530-17.
    DOI Scopus18 WoS15
    2019 Núñez-Regueiro, M. M., Fletcher, R. J., Pienaar, E. F., Branch, L. C., Volante, J. N., & Rifai, S. (2019). Adding the temporal dimension to spatial patterns of payment for ecosystem services enrollment. Ecosystem Services, 36, 6 pages.
    DOI Scopus17 WoS12
    2019 Aguirre-Gutiérrez, J., Oliveras, I., Rifai, S., Fauset, S., Adu-Bredu, S., Affum-Baffoe, K., . . . Malhi, Y. (2019). Drier tropical forests are susceptible to functional changes in response to a long-term drought. Ecology Letters, 22(5), 855-865.
    DOI Scopus77 WoS60 Europe PMC13
    2019 Rifai, S. W., Li, S., & Malhi, Y. (2019). Coupling of El Niño events and long-term warming leads to pervasive climate extremes in the terrestrial tropics. Environmental Research Letters, 14(10), 11 pages.
    DOI Scopus45 WoS33
    2018 Magnabosco Marra, D., Trumbore, S. E., Higuchi, N., Ribeiro, G. H. P. M., Negrón-Juárez, R. I., Holzwarth, F., . . . Wirth, C. (2018). Windthrows control biomass patterns and functional composition of Amazon forests. Global Change Biology, 24(12), 5867-5881.
    DOI Scopus42 WoS38 Europe PMC4
    2018 Visakorpi, K., Gripenberg, S., Malhi, Y., Bolas, C., Oliveras, I., Harris, N., . . . Riutta, T. (2018). Small-scale indirect plant responses to insect herbivory could have major impacts on canopy photosynthesis and isoprene emission. New Phytologist, 220(3), 799-810.
    DOI Scopus32 WoS21 Europe PMC9
    2018 Burton, C., Rifai, S., & Malhi, Y. (2018). Inter-comparison and assessment of gridded climate products over tropical forests during the 2015/2016 El Niño. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 373(1760), 20170406-1-20170406-10.
    DOI Scopus22 WoS18 Europe PMC2
    2018 Rifai, S. W., Girardin, C. A. J., Berenguer, E., Del Aguila-Pasquel, J., Dahlsjö, C. A. L., Doughty, C. E., . . . Malhi, Y. (2018). ENSO Drives interannual variation of forest woody growth across the tropics. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 373(1760), 20170410-1-20170410-13.
    DOI Scopus44 WoS32 Europe PMC10
    2018 Negrón-Juárez, R. I., Holm, J. A., Marra, D. M., Rifai, S. W., Riley, W. J., Chambers, J. Q., . . . Higuchi, N. (2018). Vulnerability of Amazon forests to storm-driven tree mortality. Environmental Research Letters, 13(5), 054021.
    DOI Scopus52 WoS44
    2017 Wilson, C. H., Caughlin, T. T., Rifai, S. W., Boughton, E. H., Mack, M. C., & Flory, S. L. (2017). Multi-decadal time series of remotely sensed vegetation improves prediction of soil carbon in a subtropical grassland. Ecological Applications, 27(5), 1646-1656.
    DOI Scopus26 WoS22 Europe PMC2
    2017 Tucker Lima, J. M., Vittor, A., Rifai, S., & Valle, D. (2017). Does deforestation promote or inhibit malaria transmission in the Amazon? A systematic literature review and critical appraisal of current evidence. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 372(1722), 20160125.
    DOI Scopus84 WoS59 Europe PMC41
    2016 Caughlin, T. T., Rifai, S. W., Graves, S. J., Asner, G. P., & Bohlman, S. A. (2016). Integrating LiDAR-derived tree height and Landsat satellite reflectance to estimate forest regrowth in a tropical agricultural landscape. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, 2(4), 190-203.
    DOI Scopus27 WoS22
    2016 Rifai, S. W., Urquiza Muñoz, J. D., Negrón-Juárez, R. I., Ramírez Arévalo, F. R., Tello-Espinoza, R., Vanderwel, M. C., . . . Bohlman, S. A. (2016). Landscape-scale consequences of differential tree mortality from catastrophic wind disturbance in the Amazon. Ecological Applications, 26(7), 2225-2237.
    DOI Scopus35 WoS33 Europe PMC11
    2015 Rifai, S. W., West, T. A. P., & Putz, F. E. (2015). "Carbon Cowboys" could inflate REDD+ payments through positive Measurement bias. Carbon Management, 6(3-4), 151-158.
    DOI Scopus15 WoS9
    2014 Cho, A. H., Johnson, S. A., Schuman, C. E., Adler, J. M., Gonzalez, O., Graves, S. J., . . . Bruna, E. M. (2014). Women are underrepresented on the editorial boards of journals in environmental biology and natural resource management. PeerJ, 2014(1), 11 pages.
    DOI Scopus79 WoS73 Europe PMC22
    2014 Graves, S. J., Rifai, S. W., & Putz, F. E. (2014). Outer bark thickness decreases more with height on stems of fire-resistant than fire-sensitive Floridian oaks (Quercus spp.; Fagaceae). American Journal of Botany, 101(12), 2183-2188.
    DOI Scopus60 WoS50 Europe PMC6
    2011 Negrón-Juárez, R. I., Chambers, J. Q., Marra, D. M., Ribeiro, G. H. P. M., Rifai, S. W., Higuchi, N., & Roberts, D. (2011). Detection of subpixel treefall gaps with Landsat imagery in Central Amazon forests. Remote Sensing of Environment, 115(12), 3322-3328.
    DOI Scopus53 WoS42 Europe PMC4
    2010 Rifai, S. W., Markewitz, D., & Borders, B. (2010). Twenty years of intensive fertilization and competing vegetation suppression in loblolly pine plantations: Impacts on soil C, N, and microbial biomass. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 42(5), 713-723.
    DOI Scopus41 WoS38 Europe PMC1
    - Burton, C. A., Rifai, S. W., Renzullo, L. J., & Van Dijk, A. I. J. M. (n.d.). Enhancing long-term vegetation monitoring in Australia: a new approach for harmonising the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer normalised-difference vegetation (NVDI) with MODIS NDVI. Earth System Science Data, 16(10), 4389-4416.
    DOI

  • Conference Papers
    Year Citation
    2007 Santos, G. M., Mazon, M., Southon, J. R., Rifai, S., & Moore, R. (2007). Evaluation of iron and cobalt powders as catalysts for <SUP>14</SUP>C-AMS target preparation. In NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS & METHODS IN PHYSICS RESEARCH SECTION B-BEAM INTERACTIONS WITH MATERIALS AND ATOMS Vol. 259 (pp. 308-315). Univ Calif Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV.
    DOI WoS35

  • Preprint
    Year Citation
    2024 Burton, C. A., Rifai, S. W., Renzullo, L. J., & Van Dijk, A. I. J. M. (2024). Enhancing Long-Term Vegetation Monitoring in Australia: A New Approach for Harmonising and Gap-Filling AVHRR and MODIS NDVI.
    DOI

Prof. Lucas Cernusak; Dr. Sami Rifai; Associate Professor Martin De Kauwe; Professor Dr Charlotte Grossiord; Dr Martijn Slot. Australian tropical rainforests in the face of climate change. James Cook University. $547,428

 

SPATIAL 3010 - Earth Observation III (https://www.adelaide.edu.au/course-outlines/109293/1/sem-2/)

ENV BIOL 3121 - Concepts in Ecology III (https://www.adelaide.edu.au/course-outlines/103104/1/sem-1/)

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Co-Supervisor Spatiotemporal Patterns of the Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat (Lasiorhinus latifrons) and European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) with Remote Sensing Applications Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Natarsha Jade McPherson
    2023 Co-Supervisor Under what circumstances can southern bluefin tuna be detected using satellite imagery? Master of Philosophy Master Part Time Mr Ian Robert Dewey
    2023 Co-Supervisor Designing authentic ecologies to address the biodiversity crises: Grasslands as designed landscapes Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Maximilian Dirk McQuillan

  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2023 - 2024 Co-Supervisor Monitoring Arid Land Condition for Conservation Using Remote Sensing Technologies Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Angus Eugene Retallack

  • Other Supervision Activities
    Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
    2023 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Ecological restoration strategies of a native grassland University of Adelaide - Doctorate - Maximilian Dirk McQuillan
    2022 - ongoing External Supervisor Investigating data-driven methods for characterising, understanding, and predicting Australia’s terrestrial carbon cycle The Australian National University Fenner School of Environment Doctorate - Chad Burton
  • Position: Lecturer
  • Email: sami.rifai@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Oliphant, floor Third Floor
  • Room: 306
  • Org Unit: School of Biological Sciences
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