Karina Yager

Dr. Karina Yager is an Associate Professor at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS), Stony Brook University. Her research focuses on the social and ecological impacts of climate change in the Andes, integrating remote sensing, ethnographic studies, and alpine ecosystem analysis. She holds a Ph.D. from Yale University (2009) and has conducted transdisciplinary work for over two decades, examining coupled social-ecological systems (SES) in mountain environments. Her projects are funded by NASA, CONICYT (Chile), and the National Geographic Society. Key research areas include glacial retreat effects on pastoral agriculture, peatland dynamics, and land-cover change. Dr. Yager collaborates with indigenous communities and leads the GLORIA South America network. Major contributions include analyzing alpine plant community shifts, bofedal management systems, and mountain resilience strategies. She maintains an active lab site and develops ArcGIS StoryMaps for educational outreach, such as the 'Andean Water Towers' project.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Environmental Studies, Yale University (2009)

Research Highlights:

• Climate change impacts on Andean pastoral systems and water resources
• Remote sensing of land-use change and peatland monitoring
• Indigenous knowledge integration with ecological data

Funding & Collaborations:

• Lead investigator for NASA LCLUC ROSES grants
• CONICYT (Chile) and National Geographic Society grants
• GLORIA network member since 2002

Labs & Resources:

• Andean Water Towers ArcGIS platform
• Interactive glacier change dashboards