Webinar: Biodiversity as a metric of ecosystem resilience to climate change
Channel: Conservation and Adaptation Resources Toolbox
Date: 2014-03-24

Title: Biodiversity as a metric of ecosystem resilience to climate change

Presenter: Helen Poulos, PhD

Date: March 13th, 2014 at 11am CST

Abstract:
Shifting diversity patterns and species turnover are fundamental concerns about how climate change will influence desert ecosystems. Scientists, managers, and-policy makers are searching for metrics to assist in the prediction of ecosystem responses to climate change. Temporal variation in landscape and regional-scale diversity can provide insights on the fragility or resilience of plant and animal communities in the Southwest to changing climates. This talk will explore the suite of diversity metrics and tools for measuring species turnover that are available for monitoring ecosystem change over time through the lens of biodiversity. 

About the Presenter:
Helen's research focuses on developing risk management and decision support tools for sustainable forest and ecosystem management. She has been working in the Southwest for the last 14 years exploring local-, landscape, and regional-scale tree diversity patterns and species turnover along environmental gradients of Sky Island systems. Helen is both a field biologist and a data-mining expert, which she uses for developing decision support tools that can be readily implemented by policy-makers and on the ground by land managers. She holds a Master's degree in Geography from The Pennsylvania State University and a PhD from The Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She is currently part of Wesleyan University's College of the Environment.