Tuesday, August 7, 2007: 1:30 PM-5:00 PM
A2&7, San Jose McEnery Convention Center
SYMP 8 - Plant functional traits as tools for ecological restoration
One of the greatest challenges for ecological restoration is to identify the desired composition of the ultimate plant community. It is essential to understand which species will establish, co-exist, and perform the desired suite of services in the re-established ecosystem. Plant functional traits integrate the ecological and evolutionary history of a species, and can predict where a species is likely to succeed as well as its influence on ecosystem function. Successful restoration efforts must also consider continued anthropogenic disturbances, including the introduction of invasive species, changes in fire regime, and changes in abiotic factors. Thus, it is essential to identify species differences in functional traits and to understand how these inter-specific differences will mediate community response to changes in the environment. The goal of this symposium is to draw together academic and practicing restoration ecologists working on different aspects of plant function to identify successful strategies for restoration that utilize information on plant functional traits.
Organizer:Jennifer L. Funk, Stanford University
Co-organizer:Elsa Cleland, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
Moderator:Elsa Cleland, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
1:30 PMSYMP 8-1Plant functional traits as a means of achieving compositional and functional restoration goals
Richard J. Hobbs, Murdoch University
1:50 PMSYMP 8-2Phylogeny- and provenance-linked traits and the invasion and restoration of California grasslands
Eric Seabloom, Oregon State University, Sophie S. Parker, University of California, Santa Barbara, W. Stanley Harpole, University of California, Irvine
2:10 PMSYMP 8-3Restoring by re-assembling: Functional trait and resource controls on invasion
Katharine N. Suding, University of California Irvine, Elsa Cleland, National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Loralee Larios, University of Calirfornia Irvine
2:30 PMSYMP 8-4Assessing grassland restoration success: Relative roles of keystone, dominant, and early emerging species
Brian J. Wilsey, Iowa State University
2:50 PMSYMP 8-5Restoration challenges and opportunities posed by non-random species losses in invaded California grasslands
Erika Zavaleta, University of California, Santa Cruz, Kristin B. Hulvey, University of California, Santa Cruz, Jae R. Pasari, University of California, Santa Cruz
3:10 PM Break
3:20 PMSYMP 8-6Designing restoration strategies: Using functional traits of plants species as both benchmarks and builders of soil conditions and plant communities
Valerie T. Eviner, University of California, Davis, Christine Hawkes, University of Texas, Austin
3:40 PMSYMP 8-7Community assembly in revegetated serpentine grassland: Functional vs. taxonomic perspectives
David U. Hooper, Western Washington University, Leslie M. Gonzalez, Western Washington University, Jeffrey S. Dukes, University of Massachusetts Boston
4:00 PMSYMP 8-8Functional diversity, ecosystem services, and restoration
Daniel E. Bunker, Columbia University, Dan F.B. Flynn, Columbia University, Shahid Naeem, Columbia University
4:20 PMSYMP 8-9Leaf size, litter flammability, and restoration fire: Changes in stand composition influence pattern of burning
Dylan Schwilk, USGS --- Sequoia-Kings Canyon Research Station
4:40 PMSYMP 8-10Tactics, opportunities, and obstacles of trait-based approaches to the restoration of ecological structure and function
Evan Weiher, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Tali D. Lee, University of Minnesota - Duluth, Stephen Bentivenga, University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh

See more of Symposium

See more of The ESA/SER Joint Meeting (August 5 -- August 10, 2007)