I am biogeographer specialized in land change science. My research focuses on human-environment relations affecting patterns and processes of land-use land-cover change. My specific research interests are monitoring and modeling land transformation, biophysical remote sensing and ecological dynamics of plant invasions.

Results of my research show how important land transitions in the tropics, such as deforestation and the spread of invasive species, are caused by land management practices occurring under particular ecological contexts. My findings show how the ecology of invasive species, particularly its growth and expansion, is linked to farmers’ economic incentives and labor practices; I also developed ways to characterize heterogeneous tropical land cover types. My research findings from collaborative efforts also demonstrate how agricultural intensification does not necessarily release spare land for other types of uses.

I am currently involved in an ongoing research project looking at Environmental Disturbance in Greater Yucatan (EDGY) which is funded by Moore Foundation Ph.D., Geography, Clark University
1992  B.S., Biology, Universidad Nacional de  Colombia, Bogotá

 L. C. Schneider and N. Fernando. 2010. An untidy cover: Invasion of Bracken Fern in the shifting cultivation systems of Southern Yucatán, Mexico. Biotropica 42 (1):41-48.

Rudel T.K., L. C. Schneider, M. Uriarte, B.L. Turner II, R. DeFries, D.Lawrence,  J. Geoghegan, S. Hecht, A. Ickowitz, E. F. Lambin,  T. Birkenholtz, S. Baptista and R. Grau. Agricultural Intensification and Changes in Cultivated Areas, 1970-2005. 2009. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106: 20675-20680.

L.C. Schneider. 2008. Plant Invasions in an Agricultural Frontier: Linking satellite, ecological and household survey data.  In Land Change Science in the Tropics: Changing Agricultural Landscapes, A. Millington and W. Jepson eds. Kluwer publishers. Pag 117-140.

L.C. Schneider.  2006. The effect of land management practices on bracken fern invasion in the region of Calakmul , Mexico Journal of Latin American Geography. 5(2): 91-107. 

L.C. Schneider and J. Geoghegan. 2006. Land Abandonment in an Agricultural Frontier after a Plant Invasion: The Case of Bracken Fern in Southern Yucatán , Mexico . Agricultural and Resource Economics Review: 35(1):167-177. 

 L.C. Schneider. 2004. Bracken Fern (Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn) Invasion in Southern Yucatán Peninsular Region: A Case for Land-Change Science. Geographical Review. 94(2):229-241.

J. Geoghegan, L. C. Schneider and C. Vance. 2004. Temporal Dynamics and Spatial Scales: Modeling Deforestation in the Southern Yucatan Peninsular Region. Geojournal. 61(4):353-363.

L. C. Schneider and R. G. Pontius Jr. 2001. Modeling land-use change in the Ipswich watershed, Massachusetts, USA. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment
85(1-3) p. 83-94.