OOS 29 - Urban Woodlands: Remnants, Regeneration and Restoration

Thursday, August 11, 2016: 8:00 AM-11:30 AM
Grand Floridian Blrm G, Ft Lauderdale Convention Center
Organizer:
Lea Johnson, University of Maryland
Co-organizer:
Richard V. Pouyat, USDA Forest Service
Moderator:
Richard V. Pouyat, USDA Forest Service
As urbanization proceeds at a globally rapid pace, remnant and regenerating fragments of habitat are becoming disproportionally important for their size. Urban woodlands are relied upon to provide environmental benefits, from migratory bird stopovers to local cooling and place-based education. Land use transformation alters soils, hydrology, connectivity, and atmosphere, extirpating many species even in these relatively undisturbed fragments of the urban matrix. Species surviving these transformations are joined in novel assemblages by an ongoing influx of introduced plants, animals, insects, microbes and pathogens from a global species pool. Efforts are now underway in temperate zone cities across the globe to improve the health and function of woodland patches within cities for the benefit of both humans and biodiversity. Understanding patterns and processes in these social-ecological systems is critical to these efforts. Urban woodlands provide an arguably unique set of ecological circumstances for study of emergent ecosystems under globally expanding urbanization and climate change.
8:00 AM
 Urban forests at the edge: Fragmentation and plant invasion
Tara L.E. Trammell, University of Delaware; J. Christina Mitchell, University of Delaware; Carl Rosier, University of Delaware; Vincent D'Amico III, USDA Forest Service; Meghan L. Avolio, National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center
8:20 AM
 What is a healthy urban woodland? A unified approach to characterizing the ecological variation found in forest ecosystems within and across cities
Clara Pregitzer, Yale University; Richard Hallett, USDA Forest Service; Helen Forgione, Natural Areas Conservancy; Sarah Charlop-Powers, Natural Areas Conservancy
8:40 AM
 Restoring urban forests: Directing vegetation dynamics
Lea Johnson, University of Maryland
9:20 AM Cancelled
 Wildlife habitat and conservation in suburban yards
Susannah B. Lerman, USDA Forest Service
9:40 AM
9:50 AM
 Species patterns of forest patches along an urban to rural gradient
Wayne C. Zipperer, USDA Forest Service; John J. Lagrosa IV, University of Florida; Michael G. Andreu, University of Florida; Robert J. Northrop, University of Florida
10:10 AM
 Urban woodland regeneration: Tree growth rates in response to climate and urban gradients
Elizabeth R Matthews, National Park Service; James M. Dyer, Ohio University; John Paul Schmit, National Park Service; Aaron S. Weed, National Park Service, Inventory and Monitoring, Mid-Atlantic Network; James A. Comiskey, National Park Service, Inventory and Monitoring, Mid-Atlantic Network; Norman A. Bourg, Smithsonian Institution - National Zoological Park; William J. McShea, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute at the National Zoological Park; Patrick Campbell, National Park Service
10:30 AM
 Soils of urban woodlands
Ian D. Yesilonis, USDA Forest Service; Richard V. Pouyat, USDA Forest Service
10:50 AM
 New York City Afforestation Project: Rapid tree health assessment methods applied to urban afforestation
Richard Hallett, USDA Forest Service; Michelle L. Johnson, USDA Forest Service; Nancy F. Sonti, USDA Forest Service; Sara Kuebbing, Yale University; Emily Oldfield, Yale University; Alexander J. Felson, Yale University; Mark A. Bradford, Yale University
11:10 AM
 Building social-ecological resilience in the Chicago wilderness
David H. Wise, University of Illinois at Chicago; Liam Heneghan, DePaul University; Lynne M. Westphal, USDA Forest Service