Sunday, August 2, 2009: 8:00 AM-4:30 PM
Pecos, Albuquerque Convention Center
WK 4 - Restoring and Sustaining Western Landscapes: Interaction with Climate Change
The interior Western U.S. represents a huge area, dominated by semiarid to arid landscapes. Much of this land is publically owned and is critical for wildlife habitat, recreation, and other resources. However, urbanization, frequent fires, and increasing pressure from invasive species are interacting to cause an unsustainable cycle of environmental degradation of plant communities. Restoration efforts that emphasize native germplasm adapted to local environments may be the best approach to ensure long-term sustainability. Yet in pursuing this approach, land managers are faced with rapid climate change, making sustainable restoration a moving target. This workshop will explore how scientists and land managers can blend new approaches to restoration with climate change. More specifically, topics will examine ways in which the pattern and amplitude of temperature and precipitation are expected to change and which ecosystems are most threatened? What are the prospects for plant migration and the genetic mechanisms involved in adaptation? How will climate change affect the spread of exotic invasives? What is the current situation for germplasm conservation of key native species and what are approaches to safeguard against loss of biodiversity? What is the role of plant molecular ecology in understanding climate change effects? Will insect and disease pests be enhanced and key pollinating insects limited? And what are the practical problems associated with restoration of landscapes now and into the future? Participants are expected to be ecologists, geneticists, and land managers wishing to gain perspective on approaches to restoration in the face of climate change on Western lands.
Organizer:Nancy L. Shaw, USDA Forest Service
Co-organizer:Richard Johnson, USDA Agricultural Research Service
8:00 AMWK 4-1The landscape of climate change
Tim Brown, Desert Research Institute, Program for Climate, Ecosystems and Fire Applications
8:30 AMWK 4-2Vegetation distribution and climate change in the West
Ronald P. Neilson, USDA Forest Service
9:00 AMWK 4-3Decisions, decisions: Invasive species and altered wildfire regimes with or without climate change
Julio L. Betancourt, US Geological Survey
9:30 AMWK 4-4Genecology, restoration, and adapting to climate change
Brad St. Clair, USDA Forest Service
10:00 AM Break
10:20 AMWK 4-5Molecular tools and landscape genetics
Richard Cronn, USDA Forest Service
10:50 AMWK 4-6Pollinators and climate change
James H. Cane, USDA Agricultural Research Service
11:20 AM Panel Discussion
12:00 PM Lunch
1:30 PMWK 4-7Collection and utilization of plants for restoration: Current and future needs
Peggy Olwell, Bureau of Land Management and Plant Conservation Alliance
2:00 PMWK 4-8Plant conservation, gene banking, and genecology with climate change
Richard Johnson, USDA Agricultural Research Service
2:30 PM Break II
2:50 PMWK 4-9Implications of climate change for restoration practices on public lands
Vicky Erickson, USDA Forest Service
3:20 PM Panel Discussion II

See more of Workshop

See more of The 94th ESA Annual Meeting (August 2 -- 7, 2009)