Marina Hirota

Short CV

Marina Hirota is currently the scientific director of Relva Institute, a newly founded, independent and non-profit scientific institute dedicated to developing actionable science for policy: knowledge that links ecological function, ecosystem services, and societal needs. 
She built her academic career through a highly interdisciplinary education, with a bachelor's degree in applied and computational mathematics, a master's degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, a doctorate in Meteorology, and postdoctoral studies with theoretical ecologists. Such diversity has defined her current research field in Earth System Sciences, more specifically, seeking to understand the processes and interactions involved in biome changes within the planet's tropical zones, using dynamic systems concepts such as resilience and tipping points. She seeks to understand and quantify the dynamics of interactive mechanisms between different components of the Earth system, at different spatial and temporal scales, which determine responses to the current environmental crises we currently experience on the planet.

Research Interests

Tipping points and resilience, water connectivity, connections among different knowledge systems, valuing ecosystem services

 

Selected Publications

• Nehemy, M.; Mattos, C.R.C.; Oliveira, R.S.; Hirota, M.; Fan, Y.; Schlickmann, M.B.; Penha, D.; Giacomin, L.L.; Silva, J.S.G.M.; Rocha, M.; Rodrigues, G.A.; McDonnellJ.J. (2025) Embolism resistance supports the contribution of dry-season precipitation to transpiration in eastern Amazon forests. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 122: e2501585122.
• Akabane, T.; Chiessi, C.M.; Hirota, M.; [13 Others] (2024) Weaker Atlantic overturning circulation increases the vulnerability of northern Amazon forests, Nature Geoscience, 17: 1284-1290.
• van Passel, J.; Bernardino, P.N.; Lhermitte, S.; Rius, B.; Hirota, M.; Conradi, T., de Keersmaecker, W.; van Meerbeek, K.; Somers, B. (2024) Critical slowing down of the Amazon forest after increased drought occurrence, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 121: e2316924121.
• Flores, B. M.; E. Montoya; B. Sakschewski; R. Betts; N. Nascimento; D. M. Lapola; A. Esquível-Muelbert; C. Jakovac; C. A. Nobre; A. Staal; C. Levis; R. S. Oliveira; L. S. Borma; D. Nian; N. Boer; S. B. Hecht; S. ter Steege; J. Arieira; I. L. Lucas; E. Berenguer; J. A. Marengo; L. V. Gatti; M. Hirota (2024) Tipping points in the Amazon forest system, Nature, 626: 555-564.
• Nian, D.; Bathiany, S.; Ben-Yami M.; Blaschke, L.; Hirota, M.; Rodrigues, R.R.; Boers, N. (2023) A potential collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation may stabilize eastern Amazonian rainforests, Communications Earth & Environment, 4: 470.
• Araújo, R.; Assunção, J.; Hirota, M.; Scheinkman, J.A. (2023) Estimating the spatial amplification of damage caused by degradation in the Amazon, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120: e2312451120.
• Mattos, C.; Hirota, M.; Oliveira, R.S.; Flores, B.M.; Miguez-Macho, G.; Pokhrel, Y.; Fan, Y. (2023) Double stress of waterlogging and drought drives forest-savanna coexistence, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 120: e2301255120.
• Wunderling, N.; A. Staal; B. Sakschewski; M. Hirota; O. A. Tuinenburg; J. F. Donges; H. M. J. Barbosa; R. Winkelmann (2022) Recurrent droughts increase the risk of cascading tipping events by outpacing adaptive capacities in the Amazon rainforest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119: e2120777119.
• Zemp, D.C.; C-F. Schleussner; H.M.J. Barbosa; M. Hirota; V. Montade; G. Sampaio; A. Staal; L. Wang-Erlandsson; A. Rammig (2017) Self-amplified Amazon forest due to vegetation-atmosphere feedbacks, Nature Communications, 8: 14681, doi: 10.1038/ncomms14681. 

• Hirota, M.; M. Holmgren; E.H. van Nes; M. Scheffer (2011) Global resilience of tropical forest savanna to critical transitions, Science, 334: 232-235, doi: 101126/science.1210657.