2021 ARCHIVES: Special Symposia
The following special symposia were offered as part of the technical program at the annual conference. An Organized Symposium is a series of integrated presentations that address aspects of a single topic or theme.
Toward a comprehensive understanding of pyrodiversity: How landscape-scale heterogeneity in fire history influences biodiversity across taxa, fire regimes, and spatial scales.
Contact: Jesse Miller, Stanford University
Co-Organizers: Zack Steel - UC Berkeley
Overview: The question of how spatial and temporal variation in fire history (pyrodiversity) influences biodiversity has received increasing attention in recent years. Understanding this dynamic is especially important as fire regimes and fire-shaped landscape patterns shift, and biological conservation is increasingly challenged in an era of global change. In this symposium we bring together researchers working at the frontier of landscape-scale fire ecology with the goal of synthesizing recent pyrodiversity research. By bringing together presenters measuring pyrodiversity using a variety of approaches, while focusing on disparate spatial scales, ecosystem types, and taxa, we hope to highlight commonalities in the field as well as priority areas for future research.
Contact: Jesse Miller, Stanford University
Co-Organizers: Zack Steel - UC Berkeley
Overview: The question of how spatial and temporal variation in fire history (pyrodiversity) influences biodiversity has received increasing attention in recent years. Understanding this dynamic is especially important as fire regimes and fire-shaped landscape patterns shift, and biological conservation is increasingly challenged in an era of global change. In this symposium we bring together researchers working at the frontier of landscape-scale fire ecology with the goal of synthesizing recent pyrodiversity research. By bringing together presenters measuring pyrodiversity using a variety of approaches, while focusing on disparate spatial scales, ecosystem types, and taxa, we hope to highlight commonalities in the field as well as priority areas for future research.
Exploring the context and implications of departures from historical fire frequency across ecosystems
Contact: Katherine Hayes, University of Colorado, Denver
Co-Organizers: Tyler Hoecker, [email protected], University of Wisconsin-Madison
Overview: In many fire-adapted systems, warming temperatures associated with climate change are driving increased fire frequency past historical ranges of variability. These short-interval fires can drive landscape-scale shifts in community composition, biomass and forest structure, and thus have received considerable attention by researchers and managers. However, what constitutes “short,” the context for variability in fire frequency, and the ecological implications of departures from historical norms varies widely across fire-prone systems affected by climate change. This session will facilitate a comparison across systems to identify emergent patterns in ecosystem responses to departures from historical fire frequency and synthesize findings relevant to the management and conservation of fire-prone ecosystems. This organized symposium will explore short-interval fires across North America to ask: what is the past precedent for short-interval fire?; are shifts in composition, biomass and structure reversible or enduring?; how does management and social context change the implications of increased fire frequency?; can changes in fire frequency be restorative?; how do ecological communities vary in resilience to anomalous fire frequency?; how does changing fire frequency interact with other drivers? We will address similarities and differences between the dynamics of short-interval fires occurring across systems, ecotypes and species. This session will focus on short-interval fires occurring in North American landscapes, but –by identify widespread patterns and universal mechanisms– will provide globally relevant insight to fire-prone ecosystems affected by climate change.
Contact: Katherine Hayes, University of Colorado, Denver
Co-Organizers: Tyler Hoecker, [email protected], University of Wisconsin-Madison
Overview: In many fire-adapted systems, warming temperatures associated with climate change are driving increased fire frequency past historical ranges of variability. These short-interval fires can drive landscape-scale shifts in community composition, biomass and forest structure, and thus have received considerable attention by researchers and managers. However, what constitutes “short,” the context for variability in fire frequency, and the ecological implications of departures from historical norms varies widely across fire-prone systems affected by climate change. This session will facilitate a comparison across systems to identify emergent patterns in ecosystem responses to departures from historical fire frequency and synthesize findings relevant to the management and conservation of fire-prone ecosystems. This organized symposium will explore short-interval fires across North America to ask: what is the past precedent for short-interval fire?; are shifts in composition, biomass and structure reversible or enduring?; how does management and social context change the implications of increased fire frequency?; can changes in fire frequency be restorative?; how do ecological communities vary in resilience to anomalous fire frequency?; how does changing fire frequency interact with other drivers? We will address similarities and differences between the dynamics of short-interval fires occurring across systems, ecotypes and species. This session will focus on short-interval fires occurring in North American landscapes, but –by identify widespread patterns and universal mechanisms– will provide globally relevant insight to fire-prone ecosystems affected by climate change.
Disaster and Food Security
Contact: Bryan Pijanowski, Purdue University
Co-Organizers: Rob Scheller, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina
Overview: By the year 2050, there will be almost 9 billion people on Earth, more than 2 billion more than today. In the last 30 years, there has been an increased attention and moderate success at providing more food to people around the world with per capita nutrition increasing through to about 2015. Recent declines, however, suggest that we may not be able to feed this growing population adequately and we may not be able to continually increase food production and food supply chains to meet future demand. Current and future challenges include increasing droughts, flooding, soil degradation, invasive species, new pathogens, and declining biodiversity that sustains ecosystem services. At the landscape scale, these food security challenges are occurring that require expertise from both the landscape ecology community and experts in food security. In this session, we will explore the nexus of landscape ecology and food security by examining a variety of case studies, theories, and organizational and governance structures that all focus on this grand environment challenge. This session will be composed of presenters from the IALE Working Group on Landscapes and Food Security and from scholars who potentially work within this nexus. A discussion at the end of a set of presentations will focus on a way forward for research in this area as we attempt to address this issue squarely through the lens of landscape ecology addressing the grand environmental challenge of feeding a growing population of people in the near future.
Contact: Bryan Pijanowski, Purdue University
Co-Organizers: Rob Scheller, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina
Overview: By the year 2050, there will be almost 9 billion people on Earth, more than 2 billion more than today. In the last 30 years, there has been an increased attention and moderate success at providing more food to people around the world with per capita nutrition increasing through to about 2015. Recent declines, however, suggest that we may not be able to feed this growing population adequately and we may not be able to continually increase food production and food supply chains to meet future demand. Current and future challenges include increasing droughts, flooding, soil degradation, invasive species, new pathogens, and declining biodiversity that sustains ecosystem services. At the landscape scale, these food security challenges are occurring that require expertise from both the landscape ecology community and experts in food security. In this session, we will explore the nexus of landscape ecology and food security by examining a variety of case studies, theories, and organizational and governance structures that all focus on this grand environment challenge. This session will be composed of presenters from the IALE Working Group on Landscapes and Food Security and from scholars who potentially work within this nexus. A discussion at the end of a set of presentations will focus on a way forward for research in this area as we attempt to address this issue squarely through the lens of landscape ecology addressing the grand environmental challenge of feeding a growing population of people in the near future.
Plots, pixels, and patches: using inventory plots to measure areas and landscape metrics
Contact: Andrew Lister, USDA Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis
Co-Organizers: Rachel Riemann, Research Forester, USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis; Mark Nelson, Research Forester, USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis
Overview: Forest inventories are used around the world to measure forest attributes like tree biomass and forest health. These inventories rely on survey sampling, a branch of statistics used to estimate population parameters, like means or totals, by sampling a subset of the population. However, it is often overlooked that sample-based forest inventories can also estimate areas of land cover (LC) or land use classes (LC). One advantage of using survey sampling to estimate LU/LC class areas is that confidence intervals can be generated, giving land managers additional tools with which to make informed decisions.
Presentations in this session will discuss several aspects of how to use fixed area forest inventory plots, as well as grids of photo points such as those used for sample-based interpretation of high resolution imagery, to produce area estimates and confidence intervals. Topics will include plot design, LU/LC patch definitions, pros and cons of various sample designs, examples of area inventories using data from forest inventories, and an example of how to use these types of data for forest fragmentation and degradation monitoring. International use and case studies will be referenced, including using sampling-based methods for creating baselines for deforestation monitoring and REDD+ reporting.
Contact: Andrew Lister, USDA Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis
Co-Organizers: Rachel Riemann, Research Forester, USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis; Mark Nelson, Research Forester, USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis
Overview: Forest inventories are used around the world to measure forest attributes like tree biomass and forest health. These inventories rely on survey sampling, a branch of statistics used to estimate population parameters, like means or totals, by sampling a subset of the population. However, it is often overlooked that sample-based forest inventories can also estimate areas of land cover (LC) or land use classes (LC). One advantage of using survey sampling to estimate LU/LC class areas is that confidence intervals can be generated, giving land managers additional tools with which to make informed decisions.
Presentations in this session will discuss several aspects of how to use fixed area forest inventory plots, as well as grids of photo points such as those used for sample-based interpretation of high resolution imagery, to produce area estimates and confidence intervals. Topics will include plot design, LU/LC patch definitions, pros and cons of various sample designs, examples of area inventories using data from forest inventories, and an example of how to use these types of data for forest fragmentation and degradation monitoring. International use and case studies will be referenced, including using sampling-based methods for creating baselines for deforestation monitoring and REDD+ reporting.
Complexities in payments for ecosystem services programs
Contact: Li An, San Diego State University
Co-Organizers: Li An, San Diego State University; Conghe Song, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Madeline Giefer, Austin Peay State University
Overview: Many essential ecosystem services have been degraded as a result of global change. Even services derived from so-called protected areas are not immune to these threats. Indeed, much debate surrounds the topic of the most effective approaches to conservation. One approach has been to provide compensation to the parties protecting them in the form of payments for ecosystem services (PES). To counteract forces of degradation, governments, the private sector, and non-governmental organizations worldwide invest billions of dollars each year in PES programs that provide incentives to resource users to take actions that sustain ecosystem services (or to refrain from taking actions that threaten ecosystem services). Despite reported successes in restoring and preserving ecosystems and their corresponding services such as clean air and water, food, soil fertility, forest resources, and eco-tourism, long-term PES program sustainability remains uncertain. PES lack of sustainability can arise from many reasons, one being that PES participants may return to their previous behavioral patterns when payments end and the other being that PES programs affect one another negatively.
This symposium will explore possible pathways toward PES sustainability, addressing the complex reciprocal relationships between PES programs and corresponding socioeconomic, demographic, and environmental systems. We particularly encourage review and research efforts to address theoretical, methodological, and empirical issues related to (but not limited to) the following topics:
Contact: Li An, San Diego State University
Co-Organizers: Li An, San Diego State University; Conghe Song, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Madeline Giefer, Austin Peay State University
Overview: Many essential ecosystem services have been degraded as a result of global change. Even services derived from so-called protected areas are not immune to these threats. Indeed, much debate surrounds the topic of the most effective approaches to conservation. One approach has been to provide compensation to the parties protecting them in the form of payments for ecosystem services (PES). To counteract forces of degradation, governments, the private sector, and non-governmental organizations worldwide invest billions of dollars each year in PES programs that provide incentives to resource users to take actions that sustain ecosystem services (or to refrain from taking actions that threaten ecosystem services). Despite reported successes in restoring and preserving ecosystems and their corresponding services such as clean air and water, food, soil fertility, forest resources, and eco-tourism, long-term PES program sustainability remains uncertain. PES lack of sustainability can arise from many reasons, one being that PES participants may return to their previous behavioral patterns when payments end and the other being that PES programs affect one another negatively.
This symposium will explore possible pathways toward PES sustainability, addressing the complex reciprocal relationships between PES programs and corresponding socioeconomic, demographic, and environmental systems. We particularly encourage review and research efforts to address theoretical, methodological, and empirical issues related to (but not limited to) the following topics:
- Ecological effects of PES programs (e.g., wildlife habitat or behavioral change, land use or land cover change associated with PES programs)
- Interactions between simultaneous PES programs
- Potential mechanisms for success/failure observed in current PES programs
- Socioeconomic, demographic, and political consequences of PES programs
- Methodological issues: collection of qualitative and quantitative data related to PES, data analysis and modeling, GIS/RS techniques, spatial statistics, integration of multidisciplinary and multi-scale data, etc.
- Complexity in complex human-environment systems arising from PES programs (e.g., feedback, nonlinearity, time lags). Analyses using similar integrated frameworks including coupled human and natural systems (CHANS), social-ecological systems, or social-environmental systems are also welcome.
Understanding land change: monitoring, assessing, and projecting US landscapes
Contact: Jennifer Rover, USGS
Co-Organizers: Kristi Sayler, Physical Scientist, USGS, [email protected]
Overview: In order to provide more timely and validated information on contemporary U.S. landscape condition, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earth Resources Observation and Science Center has implemented a new annual land-cover and land-change mapping and monitoring capability titled LCMAP – Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection. LCMAP methods enable nationwide tracking and characterization of contemporary changes in land cover and condition, translating data into assessments of current and historical processes of change. This symposium will provide an overview of the LCMAP Collection 1 Science Products including details on time series-based land change monitoring approaches, land cover change trends, validation of land change and reference data collection, novel product derivatives, demonstration of workflow tools to aid users in mining the LCMAP data collections, and scientific applications. LCMAP Collection 1 Science products are useful for an array of applications including water resources, predicting physical site potential for modeling anomalous conditions, and understanding changes in forested landscapes. Information on research and development plans to move the LCMAP Products into the future will be provided. The role of LCMAP projections supports predictive modeling, including the integration with other models and driving forces to account for feedbacks with landscape change. The USGS’s long-term initiative Earth Monitoring, Analyses, and Prediction (EarthMAP) will be introduced, the goal of which is to integrate science activities for actionable intelligence at the speed of decision, working hand-in-hand with partners and stakeholders to co-develop and deliver the science information that meets their needs.
Contact: Jennifer Rover, USGS
Co-Organizers: Kristi Sayler, Physical Scientist, USGS, [email protected]
Overview: In order to provide more timely and validated information on contemporary U.S. landscape condition, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earth Resources Observation and Science Center has implemented a new annual land-cover and land-change mapping and monitoring capability titled LCMAP – Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection. LCMAP methods enable nationwide tracking and characterization of contemporary changes in land cover and condition, translating data into assessments of current and historical processes of change. This symposium will provide an overview of the LCMAP Collection 1 Science Products including details on time series-based land change monitoring approaches, land cover change trends, validation of land change and reference data collection, novel product derivatives, demonstration of workflow tools to aid users in mining the LCMAP data collections, and scientific applications. LCMAP Collection 1 Science products are useful for an array of applications including water resources, predicting physical site potential for modeling anomalous conditions, and understanding changes in forested landscapes. Information on research and development plans to move the LCMAP Products into the future will be provided. The role of LCMAP projections supports predictive modeling, including the integration with other models and driving forces to account for feedbacks with landscape change. The USGS’s long-term initiative Earth Monitoring, Analyses, and Prediction (EarthMAP) will be introduced, the goal of which is to integrate science activities for actionable intelligence at the speed of decision, working hand-in-hand with partners and stakeholders to co-develop and deliver the science information that meets their needs.
Remote Sensing of Large-Scale Changes and Disturbances over Broad Landscapes
Contact: Jitendra Kumar, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Co-Organizers: Jitendra Kumar, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; William Hargrove, USDA Forest Service; Forrest Hoffman, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Steve Norman, USDA Forest Service; Venkata Shashank Konduri, Northeastern University
Overview: Remote sensing provides a means to detect and map the severity of events that affect large areas. Increasing availability, resolution, and shortened revisit times of satellite and airborne sensors, as well as new analytical approaches permitted with ever-increasing computational resources allow earlier and more thorough characterization of early hard freezes, early/late spring/fall phenological development, hurricanes, derechos, droughts, wildfires, and other large-scale ecological events on the landscape. Such events may be difficult to detect initially, or, even if known, may have variable degree or severity within their extent. Most will have both ecological and management implications. Immediate short-term effects may be aligned with, or may be diametric to longer term effects. Quantitative descriptions of the "normal" or baseline situation, based on historical remotely sensed or ground-based data, are necessary to characterize effects, but their development may pose more challenges than monitoring the disturbed landscape itself. Interpretation of high resolution disturbance products can be difficult, because of mixed-content pixels, changing illumination, sensor angle, and shadows. This special IALE-NA symposium widely invites all practitioners to share their approaches and experiences in using remote sensing methods to detect, observe, describe and monitor changes/disturbances and their effects through time over large landscapes.
Contact: Jitendra Kumar, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Co-Organizers: Jitendra Kumar, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; William Hargrove, USDA Forest Service; Forrest Hoffman, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Steve Norman, USDA Forest Service; Venkata Shashank Konduri, Northeastern University
Overview: Remote sensing provides a means to detect and map the severity of events that affect large areas. Increasing availability, resolution, and shortened revisit times of satellite and airborne sensors, as well as new analytical approaches permitted with ever-increasing computational resources allow earlier and more thorough characterization of early hard freezes, early/late spring/fall phenological development, hurricanes, derechos, droughts, wildfires, and other large-scale ecological events on the landscape. Such events may be difficult to detect initially, or, even if known, may have variable degree or severity within their extent. Most will have both ecological and management implications. Immediate short-term effects may be aligned with, or may be diametric to longer term effects. Quantitative descriptions of the "normal" or baseline situation, based on historical remotely sensed or ground-based data, are necessary to characterize effects, but their development may pose more challenges than monitoring the disturbed landscape itself. Interpretation of high resolution disturbance products can be difficult, because of mixed-content pixels, changing illumination, sensor angle, and shadows. This special IALE-NA symposium widely invites all practitioners to share their approaches and experiences in using remote sensing methods to detect, observe, describe and monitor changes/disturbances and their effects through time over large landscapes.
Integrating social science in landscape ecology research - challenges and opportunities
Contact: Anita Morzillo, University of Connecticut
Co-Organizers: Jennifer Koch, University of Oklahoma
Overview: Landscape ecology research has broadened its scope and study systems are frequently conceptualized as socio-ecological, socio-environmental, or coupled natural-human systems (“coupled systems” as follows). However, many of these endeavors still emphasize ecological patterns and processes as the focal dependent variable or use ecological questions to drive the research. Fewer endeavors emphasize a social focus on bidirectional linkages or feedbacks, or put forth a social research question to drive the analyses. Challenges to social science components of coupled systems research include lack of social science-specific metrics and terminology, mismatch of conceptual theory and system of study, mismatch of ontologies and epistemologies, integration of qualitative and quantitative information, few large-scale and longitudinal datasets, and mismatch in temporal and spatial scales of analysis. Furthermore, strong criticisms exist about the quality of environmental social science research because of inadequate social science expertise in associated data collection and analysis. In this symposium, we aim to highlight landscape ecology research focused on social science contributions or particularly on social components as feedbacks and research foci as connected to ecological systems. We are especially interested in contributions that go beyond unidirectional relationships, and identify social drivers and ecological responses and feedbacks between them. Also of interest are feedbacks within the social subsystems, and gaps in process representation of social complexities. We invite theoretical contributions, contributions from empirical studies collecting primary data about social and environmental processes that drive changes in coupled systems, and modeling studies emphasizing process-based approaches. Since we hope to have constructive discussions on the challenges of coupled systems research with a social focus, we ask the abstracts to clearly identify the challenges that will be addressed in the presentations.
Contact: Anita Morzillo, University of Connecticut
Co-Organizers: Jennifer Koch, University of Oklahoma
Overview: Landscape ecology research has broadened its scope and study systems are frequently conceptualized as socio-ecological, socio-environmental, or coupled natural-human systems (“coupled systems” as follows). However, many of these endeavors still emphasize ecological patterns and processes as the focal dependent variable or use ecological questions to drive the research. Fewer endeavors emphasize a social focus on bidirectional linkages or feedbacks, or put forth a social research question to drive the analyses. Challenges to social science components of coupled systems research include lack of social science-specific metrics and terminology, mismatch of conceptual theory and system of study, mismatch of ontologies and epistemologies, integration of qualitative and quantitative information, few large-scale and longitudinal datasets, and mismatch in temporal and spatial scales of analysis. Furthermore, strong criticisms exist about the quality of environmental social science research because of inadequate social science expertise in associated data collection and analysis. In this symposium, we aim to highlight landscape ecology research focused on social science contributions or particularly on social components as feedbacks and research foci as connected to ecological systems. We are especially interested in contributions that go beyond unidirectional relationships, and identify social drivers and ecological responses and feedbacks between them. Also of interest are feedbacks within the social subsystems, and gaps in process representation of social complexities. We invite theoretical contributions, contributions from empirical studies collecting primary data about social and environmental processes that drive changes in coupled systems, and modeling studies emphasizing process-based approaches. Since we hope to have constructive discussions on the challenges of coupled systems research with a social focus, we ask the abstracts to clearly identify the challenges that will be addressed in the presentations.
Landscape genetics distributed graduate seminar connecting the world: innovative products of a blended model of graduate education and remote scientific collaboration
Contact: Melanie Murphy, University of Wyoming
Co-Organizers: Dr. Bill Peterman, The Ohio State University; Dr. Lisette Waits, University of Idaho; Dr. Helene Wagner, University of Toronto
Overview: Landscape genetics integrates landscape ecology and population genetics to address questions fundamental to landscape ecology: species distribution, functional connectivity, landscape planning, landscape-level species conservation and species adaptation within heterogeneous landscapes. Since 2010, the Landscape Genetics Distributed Graduate Seminar (DGS) has provided blended learning (in-person and remote learning components) in conjunction with student-powered, faculty mentored remote research collaborations. These collaborations have contributed to developing landscape genetics as a field. The DGS has seen methods continue to mature with broadening of taxonomic groups and “landscapes” represented, including riverscapes and seascapes. Our symposium will include new landscape genetics research resulting from global collaborations, including reserve design, testing theoretical foundations in landscape ecology, methodological development, developments in evaluating model support and species adaptation to changing landscapes. Speakers will address a wide range of taxa (e.g., plants, mammals, invertebrates, fish, amphibians) and ecosystems (e.g., urban, rangelands, tropical, temperate forest, rivers, seascapes). The invited diverse slate of speakers speakers draws from collaborative efforts og the Landscape Genetics Distributed Graduate Seminar (DGS) 2020 offering, an interdisciplinary, cross-institution course that combines local instruction, distance learning, and experiential learning; which provides students and faculty with a unique collaborative learning experience and interdisciplinary research skills.
Contact: Melanie Murphy, University of Wyoming
Co-Organizers: Dr. Bill Peterman, The Ohio State University; Dr. Lisette Waits, University of Idaho; Dr. Helene Wagner, University of Toronto
Overview: Landscape genetics integrates landscape ecology and population genetics to address questions fundamental to landscape ecology: species distribution, functional connectivity, landscape planning, landscape-level species conservation and species adaptation within heterogeneous landscapes. Since 2010, the Landscape Genetics Distributed Graduate Seminar (DGS) has provided blended learning (in-person and remote learning components) in conjunction with student-powered, faculty mentored remote research collaborations. These collaborations have contributed to developing landscape genetics as a field. The DGS has seen methods continue to mature with broadening of taxonomic groups and “landscapes” represented, including riverscapes and seascapes. Our symposium will include new landscape genetics research resulting from global collaborations, including reserve design, testing theoretical foundations in landscape ecology, methodological development, developments in evaluating model support and species adaptation to changing landscapes. Speakers will address a wide range of taxa (e.g., plants, mammals, invertebrates, fish, amphibians) and ecosystems (e.g., urban, rangelands, tropical, temperate forest, rivers, seascapes). The invited diverse slate of speakers speakers draws from collaborative efforts og the Landscape Genetics Distributed Graduate Seminar (DGS) 2020 offering, an interdisciplinary, cross-institution course that combines local instruction, distance learning, and experiential learning; which provides students and faculty with a unique collaborative learning experience and interdisciplinary research skills.
Landscape ecology research in neotropical landscapes: Ecological Functions, Socio-cultural challenges, and technological constraints
Contact: Carlos Andres Cultid Medina, CONACYT - Instituto de Ecología, A.C.
Co-Organizers: Dr Yessica Rico. Researcher CONACYT - Instituto de Ecología, A.C. ([email protected]); Dr Sandra Haire. Haire Laboratory for Landscape Ecology: Belfast, ME, US ([email protected]); Dr Miguel Villarreal. Research Geographer, U.S. Geological Survey ([email protected])
Overview: Following the successful IALE 2020 Symposium "Landscape ecology research in neotropical landscapes: lessons learned, challenges, and perspectives", we present the second version of the symposium for academic discussion on the role of landscape ecology for adaptive management and conservation in the Neotropics. Building upon highlights from the previous session, the 2021 symposium will focus on three critical issues: i) the study of ecological functions and environmental services; ii) the need to incorporate socio-cultural (historical and present) and economic information for spatial and environmental landscape analysis and iii) the ways in which addressing these first two issues can be strongly limited by a deep technological gap between local (based in Neotropical countries) vs outside research groups (based on developed countries). In this way, the three themes will allow us to recognize the status of "Neotropical Landscape Ecology" in terms of understanding patterns and processes in relation to many topics including pollinator networks, seed dispersal, gene flow, and disturbances including natural and anthropogenic fire. Applications of widely available remotely sensed data hold great potential to provide information for quantification of spatial pattern in relation to these processes of interest while bridging technological disparities. The relevance of a landscape ecological perspective in this diverse region hinges on its ability to represent different points of view, visions and approaches in sustaining ecosystems and livelihoods: what is measured and modelled; what tools are utilized; who participates; and ultimately, who benefits from our research? With this symposium, we hope to support and increase the dialogue between researchers interested in working and solving problems (basic and applied) in neotropical landscapes. In this sense, we hope that this second version of the symposium will be the prelude for a network of researchers who represent the ecology of neotropical landscapes within IALE.
Contact: Carlos Andres Cultid Medina, CONACYT - Instituto de Ecología, A.C.
Co-Organizers: Dr Yessica Rico. Researcher CONACYT - Instituto de Ecología, A.C. ([email protected]); Dr Sandra Haire. Haire Laboratory for Landscape Ecology: Belfast, ME, US ([email protected]); Dr Miguel Villarreal. Research Geographer, U.S. Geological Survey ([email protected])
Overview: Following the successful IALE 2020 Symposium "Landscape ecology research in neotropical landscapes: lessons learned, challenges, and perspectives", we present the second version of the symposium for academic discussion on the role of landscape ecology for adaptive management and conservation in the Neotropics. Building upon highlights from the previous session, the 2021 symposium will focus on three critical issues: i) the study of ecological functions and environmental services; ii) the need to incorporate socio-cultural (historical and present) and economic information for spatial and environmental landscape analysis and iii) the ways in which addressing these first two issues can be strongly limited by a deep technological gap between local (based in Neotropical countries) vs outside research groups (based on developed countries). In this way, the three themes will allow us to recognize the status of "Neotropical Landscape Ecology" in terms of understanding patterns and processes in relation to many topics including pollinator networks, seed dispersal, gene flow, and disturbances including natural and anthropogenic fire. Applications of widely available remotely sensed data hold great potential to provide information for quantification of spatial pattern in relation to these processes of interest while bridging technological disparities. The relevance of a landscape ecological perspective in this diverse region hinges on its ability to represent different points of view, visions and approaches in sustaining ecosystems and livelihoods: what is measured and modelled; what tools are utilized; who participates; and ultimately, who benefits from our research? With this symposium, we hope to support and increase the dialogue between researchers interested in working and solving problems (basic and applied) in neotropical landscapes. In this sense, we hope that this second version of the symposium will be the prelude for a network of researchers who represent the ecology of neotropical landscapes within IALE.
Forecasting Biological Invasions
Contact: Chris Jones, Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University
Co-Organizers: Chelsey Walden-Schreiner, NC State University Center for Geospatial Analytics; Ross Meentemeyer, NC State University Center for Geospatial Analytics
Overview: Worldwide, biological invasions threaten food security, biodiversity, and ecosystem function and represent a new frontier in ecological forecasting. Many types of process-based and statistical models are well developed in the literature for biological invasions. However, infrastructure for decision support, iteratively updating models as new data become available, and data pipelines for these models are lacking. We propose an all-day symposium addressing 4 key elements necessary to connect the latest in scientific research with the latest innovations in technology to create a system that improves both the state of science and provides management relevant decision support. The 4 areas we are focusing on include: (i) Current theoretical underpinnings of the models, (ii) iterative forecasting and propagating uncertainty, (iii) data pipelines to support iterative forecasting, and (iv) co-production of knowledge and decision support systems to facilitate science-based decision making. The central aim of the symposium is to explore how models/forecasts for biological invasions can adapt concepts from iterative ecological-forecasting, decision-science, and participatory modeling to become more relevant for management decisions. At the end of each focus area session, we will reserve 15 - 30 minutes for a panel discussion with the presentation speakers of that session. The symposium will start with an overview of the full-day session and conclude with closing remarks that wrap up and connect all of the presentations, highlighting challenges and ways forward for forecasting biological invasions. Biological invasions are kept intentionally broad in this proposal to include animals, plants, insects, and diseases. This symposium is designed to explore the state of the art in biological invasion forecasting across spatial scales from global to local, and across multiple biologically relevant stages from phenology to spatial-temporal spread dynamics.
Contact: Chris Jones, Center for Geospatial Analytics, North Carolina State University
Co-Organizers: Chelsey Walden-Schreiner, NC State University Center for Geospatial Analytics; Ross Meentemeyer, NC State University Center for Geospatial Analytics
Overview: Worldwide, biological invasions threaten food security, biodiversity, and ecosystem function and represent a new frontier in ecological forecasting. Many types of process-based and statistical models are well developed in the literature for biological invasions. However, infrastructure for decision support, iteratively updating models as new data become available, and data pipelines for these models are lacking. We propose an all-day symposium addressing 4 key elements necessary to connect the latest in scientific research with the latest innovations in technology to create a system that improves both the state of science and provides management relevant decision support. The 4 areas we are focusing on include: (i) Current theoretical underpinnings of the models, (ii) iterative forecasting and propagating uncertainty, (iii) data pipelines to support iterative forecasting, and (iv) co-production of knowledge and decision support systems to facilitate science-based decision making. The central aim of the symposium is to explore how models/forecasts for biological invasions can adapt concepts from iterative ecological-forecasting, decision-science, and participatory modeling to become more relevant for management decisions. At the end of each focus area session, we will reserve 15 - 30 minutes for a panel discussion with the presentation speakers of that session. The symposium will start with an overview of the full-day session and conclude with closing remarks that wrap up and connect all of the presentations, highlighting challenges and ways forward for forecasting biological invasions. Biological invasions are kept intentionally broad in this proposal to include animals, plants, insects, and diseases. This symposium is designed to explore the state of the art in biological invasion forecasting across spatial scales from global to local, and across multiple biologically relevant stages from phenology to spatial-temporal spread dynamics.
BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) in Landscape Ecology: contributions and challenges
Contact: Anjana Parandhaman, Geography Department/Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology Program, University of Nevada, Reno
Co-organizer: Adriana Parra, PhD Candidate, Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences Department, University of Nevada, Reno
Overview: According to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCES), underrepresented minorities were awarded ~8% of all doctorates in various fields of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), despite comprising 27% of the population of the US. In particular, various ethnic minorities in the US have been excluded from ecology due to reasons such as a lack of same-race role models, less comfort in the outdoors, and a lower sense of belonging (O’Brien et al. 2020). The extent of underrepresentation of minorities in the field of landscape ecology is not clear, as we lack statistics on the number of researchers that belong to minority groups or what challenges to inclusion they face, but it likely follows a similar pattern to other STEM fields. To begin to understand and highlight the role such groups play in landscape ecology, we propose a symposium dedicated to ethnic minorities in the field. In this half-day symposium, we hope to highlight the wide-ranging work of BIPOC conducting research in landscape genetics, remote sensing, fire ecology and many other areas. We also hope to provide an open space to talk about the issues and challenges minorities face in various disciplines and discuss how we can move forward to ensure inclusivity and diversity in the landscape ecology community.
Contact: Anjana Parandhaman, Geography Department/Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology Program, University of Nevada, Reno
Co-organizer: Adriana Parra, PhD Candidate, Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences Department, University of Nevada, Reno
Overview: According to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCES), underrepresented minorities were awarded ~8% of all doctorates in various fields of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), despite comprising 27% of the population of the US. In particular, various ethnic minorities in the US have been excluded from ecology due to reasons such as a lack of same-race role models, less comfort in the outdoors, and a lower sense of belonging (O’Brien et al. 2020). The extent of underrepresentation of minorities in the field of landscape ecology is not clear, as we lack statistics on the number of researchers that belong to minority groups or what challenges to inclusion they face, but it likely follows a similar pattern to other STEM fields. To begin to understand and highlight the role such groups play in landscape ecology, we propose a symposium dedicated to ethnic minorities in the field. In this half-day symposium, we hope to highlight the wide-ranging work of BIPOC conducting research in landscape genetics, remote sensing, fire ecology and many other areas. We also hope to provide an open space to talk about the issues and challenges minorities face in various disciplines and discuss how we can move forward to ensure inclusivity and diversity in the landscape ecology community.
Temperate native broadleaved forests: Ecosystem services and forest management
Contact: Ignacio J. Diaz-Maroto, University of Santiago de Compostela, Campus Terra
Overview: Temperate forests are located in the middle latitudes in both hemispheres. The middle latitudes outside of the tropical zones have two major natural temperate broadleaves forest types, the broadleaf evergreen and the broadleaf deciduous. Oak trees are main species of many temperate broadleaved forests and play an important role for biodiversity and for people’s livelihoods such as to maintain the ecosystem services. However, oak forests are under pressure from global change, i.e. land-use changes, fragmentation, pests and pathogens and a succession replacement of oaks with more shade tolerant tree species. Human activity and other aspects have modified species composition and vegetation structure, including clearing for agriculture and pasture but the conversion of forest habitat to other uses has occurred at different rates and different moments. For instance, most of Europe and also Asia were settled millennia ago, while human occupation of the Americas began only about 18,000 years ago. Nevertheless, the transformation of land use is not unidirectional; wars, plagues, forest fires, population movement and fluctuations, and climate change cause agricultural abandonment and reversion to forests. Despite widespread human activity, old forests remnants can be found in different regions (Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and the Americas). Significant changes have occurred within the last 150 to 200 years as industrialized nations shifted from an economy based in the firewood to fossil fuels. Further changes are likely in these countries of the temperate zones, as changing policies for agriculture and nature conservation provide different incentives for land use shifts from agriculture to forest. Our objective is to study and review the ecosystem services regarding the forest management applied, both past and present. Always looking for sustainable rural development of local communities living in these lands.
Contact: Ignacio J. Diaz-Maroto, University of Santiago de Compostela, Campus Terra
Overview: Temperate forests are located in the middle latitudes in both hemispheres. The middle latitudes outside of the tropical zones have two major natural temperate broadleaves forest types, the broadleaf evergreen and the broadleaf deciduous. Oak trees are main species of many temperate broadleaved forests and play an important role for biodiversity and for people’s livelihoods such as to maintain the ecosystem services. However, oak forests are under pressure from global change, i.e. land-use changes, fragmentation, pests and pathogens and a succession replacement of oaks with more shade tolerant tree species. Human activity and other aspects have modified species composition and vegetation structure, including clearing for agriculture and pasture but the conversion of forest habitat to other uses has occurred at different rates and different moments. For instance, most of Europe and also Asia were settled millennia ago, while human occupation of the Americas began only about 18,000 years ago. Nevertheless, the transformation of land use is not unidirectional; wars, plagues, forest fires, population movement and fluctuations, and climate change cause agricultural abandonment and reversion to forests. Despite widespread human activity, old forests remnants can be found in different regions (Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and the Americas). Significant changes have occurred within the last 150 to 200 years as industrialized nations shifted from an economy based in the firewood to fossil fuels. Further changes are likely in these countries of the temperate zones, as changing policies for agriculture and nature conservation provide different incentives for land use shifts from agriculture to forest. Our objective is to study and review the ecosystem services regarding the forest management applied, both past and present. Always looking for sustainable rural development of local communities living in these lands.
Landscape ecology experiments across scales
Contact: Yolanda Wiersma, Memorial University
Overview: This virtual symposium will be a compilation of talks about manipulative landscape ecology experiments across scales. Papers will include those that describe mesocosm/ microcosm work, tracer or translocation experiments using organisms with limited dispersal, experiments that harness model systems, and larger-extent manipulations such as experimental fragmentation. Papers will come from all areas of the globe, and efforts will be made to maximize the diversity of the presenters.
Contact: Yolanda Wiersma, Memorial University
Overview: This virtual symposium will be a compilation of talks about manipulative landscape ecology experiments across scales. Papers will include those that describe mesocosm/ microcosm work, tracer or translocation experiments using organisms with limited dispersal, experiments that harness model systems, and larger-extent manipulations such as experimental fragmentation. Papers will come from all areas of the globe, and efforts will be made to maximize the diversity of the presenters.