Special Symposia
We’re pleased to announce the following special symposia will be 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.
Assessing Change in Biomass and Carbon Storage in Southern California’s Shrubland Landscapes
Organizer: Emma Underwood, University of California, Davis [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Charlie Schrader-Patton, USDA Forest Service, Western Wildlands Environmental Threat Assessment Center
The Mediterranean-type climate region of southern California is dominated by chaparral shrublands, characterized by sclerophyllous, woody vegetation and dominated by species of Ceanothus, Arctostaphylos, Adenostoma, and Quercus. Large expanses of intact shrublands exist in southern California, such as in the Los Padres and Angeles national forests, which provide vital ecosystem services to the millions of people living in close proximity to these natural areas. To date, understanding the contribution of shrublands to carbon storage for climate mitigation has been underappreciated. National and statewide spatial estimates of shrubland biomass are typically zero or low, while field research find they harbor substantial biomass both aboveground and belowground in the extensive root system of resprouting species. Furthermore, shrubland landscapes are experiencing unprecedented change owing to rapid land-use change, invasion of non-native annual grasses, increasing fire frequency with the potential for type converting shrublands to grasslands, and changing climates.
We propose to bring together some of the leading researchers and resource managers working on shrubland biomass and carbon storage to increase our understanding of the shrubland biomass and provide insight into shrubland management. Presentations will encompass: remote sensing methods for estimating shrubland biomass and quantifying different carbon pools; estimating the recovery of shrublands post-fire; exploring biomass accumulation under different climate conditions; high resolution imaging techniques for measuring shrubland biomass and biodiversity in the field; understanding the impacts of non-native annual grasses on chaparral shrublands, and challenges to restoring shrublands. In addition, we aim to highlight an online mapping tool to guide decision making for resource managers on federal lands that can assess carbon storage pre and post fire and its recovery. We believe this symposium will further our understanding and appreciation of changes occurring in shrublands from multiple stressors, and highlight techniques and tools to assist in managing shrubland landscapes in the future.
Organizer: Emma Underwood, University of California, Davis [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Charlie Schrader-Patton, USDA Forest Service, Western Wildlands Environmental Threat Assessment Center
The Mediterranean-type climate region of southern California is dominated by chaparral shrublands, characterized by sclerophyllous, woody vegetation and dominated by species of Ceanothus, Arctostaphylos, Adenostoma, and Quercus. Large expanses of intact shrublands exist in southern California, such as in the Los Padres and Angeles national forests, which provide vital ecosystem services to the millions of people living in close proximity to these natural areas. To date, understanding the contribution of shrublands to carbon storage for climate mitigation has been underappreciated. National and statewide spatial estimates of shrubland biomass are typically zero or low, while field research find they harbor substantial biomass both aboveground and belowground in the extensive root system of resprouting species. Furthermore, shrubland landscapes are experiencing unprecedented change owing to rapid land-use change, invasion of non-native annual grasses, increasing fire frequency with the potential for type converting shrublands to grasslands, and changing climates.
We propose to bring together some of the leading researchers and resource managers working on shrubland biomass and carbon storage to increase our understanding of the shrubland biomass and provide insight into shrubland management. Presentations will encompass: remote sensing methods for estimating shrubland biomass and quantifying different carbon pools; estimating the recovery of shrublands post-fire; exploring biomass accumulation under different climate conditions; high resolution imaging techniques for measuring shrubland biomass and biodiversity in the field; understanding the impacts of non-native annual grasses on chaparral shrublands, and challenges to restoring shrublands. In addition, we aim to highlight an online mapping tool to guide decision making for resource managers on federal lands that can assess carbon storage pre and post fire and its recovery. We believe this symposium will further our understanding and appreciation of changes occurring in shrublands from multiple stressors, and highlight techniques and tools to assist in managing shrubland landscapes in the future.
Broad-scale ecological drought: exposure, effects, and future vulnerabilities
Organizer: Jennifer Costanza, USDA Forest Service [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Frank Koch, USDA Forest Service; Kevin Potter, North Carolina State University; Rob Scheller, North Carolina State University
Droughts and water shortages have substantially reduced ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services. Recent and ongoing droughts in the U.S. Southwest and California, for example, have caused broad-scale forest mortality. Alone or in combination with other disturbances and drivers, drought can also, for example, cause species range shifts, alter nutrient cycles, and affect water quality. In the future as climate warms and human populations increase, droughts are expected to become more widespread and severe in many regions of North America. And in some places, higher ecological vulnerability to drought may coincide with more vulnerable human populations. Emerging frameworks of ecological drought emphasize the importance of not only exposure to drier climate conditions, but also species’ sensitivities to those conditions, the landscape context in which they occur, management actions, and human water use in determining the impacts of drought on ecosystems. Because landscape ecology is interdisciplinary by nature, the field is well-poised to contribute to ecological drought research within a multi-dimensional framework. In this symposium, we wish to highlight studies of ecological drought in a landscape context: studies that have been conducted at relatively broad spatial extents to examine the recent and/or future impacts of drought on ecosystems or ecosystem services. We encourage work that examines how, for example, the surrounding landscape context influences an ecosystem’s response to drought, or how changes in both climate land-use are expected to impact exposure to drought. Particularly relevant to the IALE-NA meeting theme of “equity, inclusion, and landscapes of change” are studies that link aspects of social vulnerability with ecological vulnerability to drought. We welcome contributions based on empirical data and/or models, and similarly, studies that examine past drought occurrences, as well as those that characterize future vulnerability. Those with application to natural resource management or policy are also encouraged.
Organizer: Jennifer Costanza, USDA Forest Service [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Frank Koch, USDA Forest Service; Kevin Potter, North Carolina State University; Rob Scheller, North Carolina State University
Droughts and water shortages have substantially reduced ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services. Recent and ongoing droughts in the U.S. Southwest and California, for example, have caused broad-scale forest mortality. Alone or in combination with other disturbances and drivers, drought can also, for example, cause species range shifts, alter nutrient cycles, and affect water quality. In the future as climate warms and human populations increase, droughts are expected to become more widespread and severe in many regions of North America. And in some places, higher ecological vulnerability to drought may coincide with more vulnerable human populations. Emerging frameworks of ecological drought emphasize the importance of not only exposure to drier climate conditions, but also species’ sensitivities to those conditions, the landscape context in which they occur, management actions, and human water use in determining the impacts of drought on ecosystems. Because landscape ecology is interdisciplinary by nature, the field is well-poised to contribute to ecological drought research within a multi-dimensional framework. In this symposium, we wish to highlight studies of ecological drought in a landscape context: studies that have been conducted at relatively broad spatial extents to examine the recent and/or future impacts of drought on ecosystems or ecosystem services. We encourage work that examines how, for example, the surrounding landscape context influences an ecosystem’s response to drought, or how changes in both climate land-use are expected to impact exposure to drought. Particularly relevant to the IALE-NA meeting theme of “equity, inclusion, and landscapes of change” are studies that link aspects of social vulnerability with ecological vulnerability to drought. We welcome contributions based on empirical data and/or models, and similarly, studies that examine past drought occurrences, as well as those that characterize future vulnerability. Those with application to natural resource management or policy are also encouraged.
Building inclusive and just practices for citizen science in the landscape
Organizer: Katherine Foo, Worcester Polytechnic Institute [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Sarah Stanlick, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Kofi Boone, North Carolina State University
Scientific and design practices have become increasingly participatory for a range of practical, philosophical, and ethical reasons. Citizen science, community science, community-based participatory research, and participatory design refer to collaborations between researchers and lay populations to increase opportunities for participation in co-inquiry, data collection, access to scientific information, and landscape design. These initiatives span academic institutions, research institutes, and non-governmental organizations, and in practice, their collaborative practices for research design, data collection, analysis, and landscape design vary widely.
This symposium examines the ways in which researchers, designers, and practitioners engage questions of justice, equity, and transformation in their project design and implementation. It investigates, on the one hand, the ways in which citizen science and participatory design initiatives strive to embody inclusive and just practices and increase their accessibility to diverse demographics, and on the other, the ways in which these place-based initiatives respond to inherited geographical and historical inequalities. This symposium will present two paper sessions, which address: (1) scientific literacy, public participatory science, and uneven development and (2) urban ecology, design justice, and landscape change. The symposium will close with a discussion among symposium organizers and include Q&A from the audience.
Organizer: Katherine Foo, Worcester Polytechnic Institute [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Sarah Stanlick, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Kofi Boone, North Carolina State University
Scientific and design practices have become increasingly participatory for a range of practical, philosophical, and ethical reasons. Citizen science, community science, community-based participatory research, and participatory design refer to collaborations between researchers and lay populations to increase opportunities for participation in co-inquiry, data collection, access to scientific information, and landscape design. These initiatives span academic institutions, research institutes, and non-governmental organizations, and in practice, their collaborative practices for research design, data collection, analysis, and landscape design vary widely.
This symposium examines the ways in which researchers, designers, and practitioners engage questions of justice, equity, and transformation in their project design and implementation. It investigates, on the one hand, the ways in which citizen science and participatory design initiatives strive to embody inclusive and just practices and increase their accessibility to diverse demographics, and on the other, the ways in which these place-based initiatives respond to inherited geographical and historical inequalities. This symposium will present two paper sessions, which address: (1) scientific literacy, public participatory science, and uneven development and (2) urban ecology, design justice, and landscape change. The symposium will close with a discussion among symposium organizers and include Q&A from the audience.
Challenges and solutions for linking remotely-sensed data to field data collection
Organizer: Jonathan Knott, USDA Forest Service [email protected]
Unprecedented access to remotely-sensed earth observation data has facilitated estimation of natural resources across spatial scales beyond the scope of traditional on-the-ground data collection. Field data (i.e., attributes derived from field crew measurements, such as tree diameter and biomass, species diversity, vegetation cover, among others) are often paired with auxiliary remotely-sensed data (i.e., metrics derived from airborne or spaceborne sensors, such as LiDAR return height, leaf area index, normalized difference vegetation index, among others) for vegetation monitoring, identifying and modeling ecological relationships, and providing estimates of ecosystem functions and resources. Subject to limiting factors (e.g., sensor resolution, sample intensity, locational accuracy), attributes can be estimated for a range of scales, from individual trees and stands to larger landscape and regional scales. However, the process of combining field data with remotely-sensed data often leads to common questions, including: are there spatial mismatches between GPS coordinates the field crew collected and the locations of the plots in remotely-sensed data? What happens when remotely-sensed data are collected at a different time than field data? The field crew said there are no trees in a plot, but remote sensing says there are trees…now what? These and other sources of missing data, outliers, and other artifacts can cause bias and uncertainty in monitoring, modeling, and estimation, which brings into question the “truth” of ground truth data. In this organized symposium, we will explore issues that arise when field observations are paired with remotely-sensed data, discuss recent improvements in the detection and attribution of these artifacts, and present case studies that explore various solutions to these problems.
Organizer: Jonathan Knott, USDA Forest Service [email protected]
Unprecedented access to remotely-sensed earth observation data has facilitated estimation of natural resources across spatial scales beyond the scope of traditional on-the-ground data collection. Field data (i.e., attributes derived from field crew measurements, such as tree diameter and biomass, species diversity, vegetation cover, among others) are often paired with auxiliary remotely-sensed data (i.e., metrics derived from airborne or spaceborne sensors, such as LiDAR return height, leaf area index, normalized difference vegetation index, among others) for vegetation monitoring, identifying and modeling ecological relationships, and providing estimates of ecosystem functions and resources. Subject to limiting factors (e.g., sensor resolution, sample intensity, locational accuracy), attributes can be estimated for a range of scales, from individual trees and stands to larger landscape and regional scales. However, the process of combining field data with remotely-sensed data often leads to common questions, including: are there spatial mismatches between GPS coordinates the field crew collected and the locations of the plots in remotely-sensed data? What happens when remotely-sensed data are collected at a different time than field data? The field crew said there are no trees in a plot, but remote sensing says there are trees…now what? These and other sources of missing data, outliers, and other artifacts can cause bias and uncertainty in monitoring, modeling, and estimation, which brings into question the “truth” of ground truth data. In this organized symposium, we will explore issues that arise when field observations are paired with remotely-sensed data, discuss recent improvements in the detection and attribution of these artifacts, and present case studies that explore various solutions to these problems.
Emerging socio-economics issues in the Wildland Urban Interface
Organizer: Jose Sanchez, USDA Forest Service [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Matt Sloggy, USDA Forest Service [email protected]
Climate change impacts continue to be an ever pressing ecological, social, and economic problem worldwide. The management, design, and restoration of coupled human-natural systems for sustainability and ecosystem processes and service provision in the wildland urban interface (WUI) is changing due to wildfires, drought conditions, and other natural disturbances. For example, fires burn millions of hectares of forest and brush lands at a significant ecological, social and economic costs annually. Worldwide over 350 million hectares are affected and thousands of lives, homes, and ecosystems are lost or converted every year. What’s more, these impacts are disproportionally affecting vulnerable human communities at a higher rate than affluent communities. However, the extent to which vulnerable and underserved communities are being impacted by climate change needs further research to understand the severity communities face in a changing world.
This symposium will bring together scientists, researchers, landscape managers, practitioners, and policy makers to communicate and improve our understanding of emerging socioeconomic and ecological issues in the WUI. Participants will discuss the dimensions of the problem and provide ideas, experiences, and potential solutions to address emerging socio-economic issues for the management, restoration, conservation, design, planning, and sustainability of landscapes as coupled human-environmental systems. Submitted abstracts should address the following topics: understanding climate change and landscape interactions; management and restoration of ecosystem processes and services; how do wildfires and other natural disturbances and disasters impact the management of landscape in WUI communities, case studies demonstrating the socio-economic or environmental justice impacts to vulnerable communities, among others.
Organizer: Jose Sanchez, USDA Forest Service [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Matt Sloggy, USDA Forest Service [email protected]
Climate change impacts continue to be an ever pressing ecological, social, and economic problem worldwide. The management, design, and restoration of coupled human-natural systems for sustainability and ecosystem processes and service provision in the wildland urban interface (WUI) is changing due to wildfires, drought conditions, and other natural disturbances. For example, fires burn millions of hectares of forest and brush lands at a significant ecological, social and economic costs annually. Worldwide over 350 million hectares are affected and thousands of lives, homes, and ecosystems are lost or converted every year. What’s more, these impacts are disproportionally affecting vulnerable human communities at a higher rate than affluent communities. However, the extent to which vulnerable and underserved communities are being impacted by climate change needs further research to understand the severity communities face in a changing world.
This symposium will bring together scientists, researchers, landscape managers, practitioners, and policy makers to communicate and improve our understanding of emerging socioeconomic and ecological issues in the WUI. Participants will discuss the dimensions of the problem and provide ideas, experiences, and potential solutions to address emerging socio-economic issues for the management, restoration, conservation, design, planning, and sustainability of landscapes as coupled human-environmental systems. Submitted abstracts should address the following topics: understanding climate change and landscape interactions; management and restoration of ecosystem processes and services; how do wildfires and other natural disturbances and disasters impact the management of landscape in WUI communities, case studies demonstrating the socio-economic or environmental justice impacts to vulnerable communities, among others.
Identifying suitable spatial frameworks for agroecosystem analysis
Organizer: Alisa Coffin, USDA [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Sarah Goslee, USDA-ARS; Zachary Hurst, USDA-ARS; Chandra Holifield Collins, USDA-ARS; Guillermo Ponce-Campos, University of Arizona; Katie Pisarello, USDA-ARS; Vivienne Sclater, Archbold Biological Station
Agroecosystems are characterized by heterogeneous environmental, economic, and societal attributes, which are inherently connected within and across systems. Here, we endeavor to identify the conditions within three agroecosystem domains (i.e., biophysical, production, and human dimensions) in the conterminous USA that influence the agroecosystem at large and can be spatially bounded to produce zones of similar behavior. Specifically, variables representative of each domain were determined through an iterative series of workshops during which expert scientists considered domain structure and concepts, spatial and temporal scale, and data availability. The resulting domain-specific variables were used in a suite of clustering techniques to establish boundaries that potentially reflect the current reality of each domain. These spatial frameworks can be used to identify areas of similar agroecosystem processes, regardless of locational proximity, which can inform the extrapolation of locally derived conclusions to data-limited areas, or in the assessment of broader agroecosystem dynamics. Conversely, this regionalization process helps to identify distinctive data-limited areas where research is therefore needed to fill knowledge gaps.
Organizer: Alisa Coffin, USDA [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Sarah Goslee, USDA-ARS; Zachary Hurst, USDA-ARS; Chandra Holifield Collins, USDA-ARS; Guillermo Ponce-Campos, University of Arizona; Katie Pisarello, USDA-ARS; Vivienne Sclater, Archbold Biological Station
Agroecosystems are characterized by heterogeneous environmental, economic, and societal attributes, which are inherently connected within and across systems. Here, we endeavor to identify the conditions within three agroecosystem domains (i.e., biophysical, production, and human dimensions) in the conterminous USA that influence the agroecosystem at large and can be spatially bounded to produce zones of similar behavior. Specifically, variables representative of each domain were determined through an iterative series of workshops during which expert scientists considered domain structure and concepts, spatial and temporal scale, and data availability. The resulting domain-specific variables were used in a suite of clustering techniques to establish boundaries that potentially reflect the current reality of each domain. These spatial frameworks can be used to identify areas of similar agroecosystem processes, regardless of locational proximity, which can inform the extrapolation of locally derived conclusions to data-limited areas, or in the assessment of broader agroecosystem dynamics. Conversely, this regionalization process helps to identify distinctive data-limited areas where research is therefore needed to fill knowledge gaps.
Landscape connectivity: science and applications from gene flow to migrations and beyond
Organizer: Erin Buchholtz, US Geological Survey - FORT Science Center [email protected]
Connectivity is a critical component of functioning, effective ecosystems. Yet, landscapes increasingly face threats from stressors such as climate change, land use and human development, fires and invasive species, and other disturbances that alter and fragment the landscape. The body of work on connectivity is rapidly growing through research on structure and function, dynamic patterns and persistence over time, animal movement and gene flow, and diverse methods for estimating connections through metrics, graphs, circuits, linkages, kernels, and more. Additionally, technological advances for data collection and computing power have made more detailed and extensive connectivity models possible, providing insights across immense spatial scales. These findings are now poised to inform conservation and management actions as connectivity emerges as a priority for land and wildlife management across levels from local to international. The goal of this symposium is to bring together people across the field of connectivity science and applications to share knowledge, present advances in connectivity research, and discuss opportunities for leveraging science into effective conservation and management action.
Organizer: Erin Buchholtz, US Geological Survey - FORT Science Center [email protected]
Connectivity is a critical component of functioning, effective ecosystems. Yet, landscapes increasingly face threats from stressors such as climate change, land use and human development, fires and invasive species, and other disturbances that alter and fragment the landscape. The body of work on connectivity is rapidly growing through research on structure and function, dynamic patterns and persistence over time, animal movement and gene flow, and diverse methods for estimating connections through metrics, graphs, circuits, linkages, kernels, and more. Additionally, technological advances for data collection and computing power have made more detailed and extensive connectivity models possible, providing insights across immense spatial scales. These findings are now poised to inform conservation and management actions as connectivity emerges as a priority for land and wildlife management across levels from local to international. The goal of this symposium is to bring together people across the field of connectivity science and applications to share knowledge, present advances in connectivity research, and discuss opportunities for leveraging science into effective conservation and management action.
Methods to analyze a time series of land cover maps
Organizer: Thomas Bilintoh, Clark University [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Professor Robert Gilmore Pontius Jr., Geography Department, Clark University [email protected]
This symposium explores frontiers in methods to analyze a time series of land cover maps. Despite the existence of long term remotely sensed datasets such as land cover maps, change detection methods are limited and often remain an obstacle to the effective use of time series datasets. Some conventions apply inappropriate metrics or fail to provide information concerning the neighborhood characteristics of a land cover class. Other conventions have yet to address features in new data formats, such as object-oriented image analysis. This symposium focuses on methods to address existing challenges and establish future practices. Interested presenters should send their titles and abstracts to the symposium co-organizer Robert Gilmore Pontius Jr at [email protected] and the symposium organizer Thomas Bilintoh at [email protected].
Organizer: Thomas Bilintoh, Clark University [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Professor Robert Gilmore Pontius Jr., Geography Department, Clark University [email protected]
This symposium explores frontiers in methods to analyze a time series of land cover maps. Despite the existence of long term remotely sensed datasets such as land cover maps, change detection methods are limited and often remain an obstacle to the effective use of time series datasets. Some conventions apply inappropriate metrics or fail to provide information concerning the neighborhood characteristics of a land cover class. Other conventions have yet to address features in new data formats, such as object-oriented image analysis. This symposium focuses on methods to address existing challenges and establish future practices. Interested presenters should send their titles and abstracts to the symposium co-organizer Robert Gilmore Pontius Jr at [email protected] and the symposium organizer Thomas Bilintoh at [email protected].
Multi-city landscape ecology: towards a better understanding of urban ecological patterns and processes
Organizer: Sara Gagne, University of North Carolina at Charlotte [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Seth Magle, Urban Wildlife Institute, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, Illinois, USA; Rachael Urbanek, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA
Widespread and rapid urbanization is a distinguishing characteristic of the Anthropocene. Small and mid-sized urban areas are increasing in human population across the globe, resulting in high rates of habitat alteration, loss, and fragmentation, increasing disturbance to wildlife populations, and changing wildlife community structure. Until recently, most urban landscape ecological studies have sought to understand ecological patterns and processes in individual cities or urban areas. However, it is unclear whether this understanding can be generalized to other urban areas, particularly given the recent evidence that characteristics of urban areas, such as their human population size, extent, and age, may influence patterns and processes at smaller, site-level spatial scales. Thus, robust investigations of ecological relationships in multiple urban areas or cities that vary in structure are critically needed to elucidate general urban landscape ecological patterns, should they exist. Such investigations also have the potential to inform scaling laws among cities, such that managers of smaller-sized cities may look to larger cities as analogs of their future selves. The objective of this symposium is to highlight cutting-edge multi-city or multi-urban area landscape ecological science that seeks to understand the generality of urban ecological relationships and how and why they may vary in relation to habitat structure and human activity at broad spatial scales. Presentations complement the theme of this year’s annual meeting by focusing on the effects of socioeconomic variation among urban areas, including variation in income and race. The symposium also seeks to foster a dialogue among those interested in the topic of multi-city landscape ecology that addresses theoretical, conceptual, and methodological issues critical to advancing understanding, including defining productive frameworks and testable hypotheses, interactions with spatial scale, and integration with planning and management.
Organizer: Sara Gagne, University of North Carolina at Charlotte [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Seth Magle, Urban Wildlife Institute, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, Illinois, USA; Rachael Urbanek, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA
Widespread and rapid urbanization is a distinguishing characteristic of the Anthropocene. Small and mid-sized urban areas are increasing in human population across the globe, resulting in high rates of habitat alteration, loss, and fragmentation, increasing disturbance to wildlife populations, and changing wildlife community structure. Until recently, most urban landscape ecological studies have sought to understand ecological patterns and processes in individual cities or urban areas. However, it is unclear whether this understanding can be generalized to other urban areas, particularly given the recent evidence that characteristics of urban areas, such as their human population size, extent, and age, may influence patterns and processes at smaller, site-level spatial scales. Thus, robust investigations of ecological relationships in multiple urban areas or cities that vary in structure are critically needed to elucidate general urban landscape ecological patterns, should they exist. Such investigations also have the potential to inform scaling laws among cities, such that managers of smaller-sized cities may look to larger cities as analogs of their future selves. The objective of this symposium is to highlight cutting-edge multi-city or multi-urban area landscape ecological science that seeks to understand the generality of urban ecological relationships and how and why they may vary in relation to habitat structure and human activity at broad spatial scales. Presentations complement the theme of this year’s annual meeting by focusing on the effects of socioeconomic variation among urban areas, including variation in income and race. The symposium also seeks to foster a dialogue among those interested in the topic of multi-city landscape ecology that addresses theoretical, conceptual, and methodological issues critical to advancing understanding, including defining productive frameworks and testable hypotheses, interactions with spatial scale, and integration with planning and management.
Novel digital approaches for the study of landscapes: gamification, immersive technologies and big data
Organizer: Derek Van Berkel, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan and [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Derek Van Berkel, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan; Mark Lindquist, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan; Victoria Elizabeth Campbell-Arvai, Environmental Studies Program, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California; Ramiro Serrano Vergel, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan; Nathan Fox, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan
The study of landscape ecology has a long tradition of utilizing cutting edge technologies (e.g., remote-sensing, simulation models) as well as, traditional field-based surveys and participatory methods for understanding how we impact and drive spatial patterns and processes. However, challenges related to accelerating urbanization, climate change, and biodiversity loss likely necessitate additional tools that capture the socio-ecological processes driving these changes. Digital technologies, gamification and big data are emerging as novel spatially explicit and engaging techniques that can address these complex sustainability issues. For example, gamification, the incorporation of video game elements or play into non-game contexts, can promote sustained stakeholder engagement in landscape-level simulations. Immersive technologies including virtual and augmented reality have likewise added greater perceptual and behavioral understanding of the landscape by facilitating increasingly realistic multisensory experiences of remote or imagined places. Big data from different social media and data science approaches (e.g., machine learning and computer vision) are increasingly being utilized at scale to better understand human-environment interactions, especially how humans perceive and benefit from landscapes. In keeping with growing interest in democratizing the design, management, and governance of landscapes, these tools can serve to sustain the involvement and input of a diverse public. Furthermore, identifying and prioritizing landscape objectives of importance to stakeholders on these virtual-, hybrid- and gamified systems, ensures that the provision of information and feedback has decision- and contextual relevance.
The talks in this session will demonstrate examples of emerging digital technologies that are of newly critical importance for landscape research. We seek and will showcase presentations by a diversity of participants, including career stage, disciplinary background, and experience in different sectors. Our goal is to encourage dialogue about how these technologies can be successfully integrated in landscape and management studies. Special attention will be placed on the subjective and perceptive measures that contribute to affective and psychological impacts of landscapes, as well as strategies for structured elicitation in game design.
Organizer: Derek Van Berkel, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan and [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Derek Van Berkel, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan; Mark Lindquist, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan; Victoria Elizabeth Campbell-Arvai, Environmental Studies Program, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California; Ramiro Serrano Vergel, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan; Nathan Fox, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan
The study of landscape ecology has a long tradition of utilizing cutting edge technologies (e.g., remote-sensing, simulation models) as well as, traditional field-based surveys and participatory methods for understanding how we impact and drive spatial patterns and processes. However, challenges related to accelerating urbanization, climate change, and biodiversity loss likely necessitate additional tools that capture the socio-ecological processes driving these changes. Digital technologies, gamification and big data are emerging as novel spatially explicit and engaging techniques that can address these complex sustainability issues. For example, gamification, the incorporation of video game elements or play into non-game contexts, can promote sustained stakeholder engagement in landscape-level simulations. Immersive technologies including virtual and augmented reality have likewise added greater perceptual and behavioral understanding of the landscape by facilitating increasingly realistic multisensory experiences of remote or imagined places. Big data from different social media and data science approaches (e.g., machine learning and computer vision) are increasingly being utilized at scale to better understand human-environment interactions, especially how humans perceive and benefit from landscapes. In keeping with growing interest in democratizing the design, management, and governance of landscapes, these tools can serve to sustain the involvement and input of a diverse public. Furthermore, identifying and prioritizing landscape objectives of importance to stakeholders on these virtual-, hybrid- and gamified systems, ensures that the provision of information and feedback has decision- and contextual relevance.
The talks in this session will demonstrate examples of emerging digital technologies that are of newly critical importance for landscape research. We seek and will showcase presentations by a diversity of participants, including career stage, disciplinary background, and experience in different sectors. Our goal is to encourage dialogue about how these technologies can be successfully integrated in landscape and management studies. Special attention will be placed on the subjective and perceptive measures that contribute to affective and psychological impacts of landscapes, as well as strategies for structured elicitation in game design.
Playing chess: Climate-driven changes in species distribution within hard conservation boundaries: Challenges for Habitat Conservation Plans
Organizer: Loralee Larios, University of California Riverside [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Dr. Lynn Sweet, University of California Riverside and Center for Conservation Biology; Dr. Kai Palenscar, San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District
Natural Community (NCCP) and Habitat Conservation Plans (HCP) form some of the most tangible management plans outside of governmental protected areas in the United States. These are agreements under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) that provide for partnerships with non-federal parties to contribute to species recovery. Several key plans, in San Diego, Western and Eastern Riverside Counties in California, served as early examples of HCP’s, where they have navigated compromises between governments, private developers and environmental advocates and conservation nonprofits, for the protection of species. These plans, approved by local municipalities, provide regional conservation authority to entities that are charged with protecting an agreed-upon list of species or communities within hard boundaries. While landscape ecology tools such as habitat suitability modeling have been used to design areas for protection and conservation, the impacts of climate change were not explicitly included in many plans. With the effects of climate change becoming more evident to land managers and the public, there are now new calls for accommodating climate resiliency, that is, to what degree will these plans function in the future to protect listed species within plan boundaries? Speakers will address how concepts from landscape ecology may be used to help steer plan efforts into the era of climate change covering concepts such as invasive species management, restoration, and policy.
Organizer: Loralee Larios, University of California Riverside [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Dr. Lynn Sweet, University of California Riverside and Center for Conservation Biology; Dr. Kai Palenscar, San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District
Natural Community (NCCP) and Habitat Conservation Plans (HCP) form some of the most tangible management plans outside of governmental protected areas in the United States. These are agreements under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) that provide for partnerships with non-federal parties to contribute to species recovery. Several key plans, in San Diego, Western and Eastern Riverside Counties in California, served as early examples of HCP’s, where they have navigated compromises between governments, private developers and environmental advocates and conservation nonprofits, for the protection of species. These plans, approved by local municipalities, provide regional conservation authority to entities that are charged with protecting an agreed-upon list of species or communities within hard boundaries. While landscape ecology tools such as habitat suitability modeling have been used to design areas for protection and conservation, the impacts of climate change were not explicitly included in many plans. With the effects of climate change becoming more evident to land managers and the public, there are now new calls for accommodating climate resiliency, that is, to what degree will these plans function in the future to protect listed species within plan boundaries? Speakers will address how concepts from landscape ecology may be used to help steer plan efforts into the era of climate change covering concepts such as invasive species management, restoration, and policy.
Protected Areas: Measuring their Impact and Forecasting the Future
Organizer: Amy Frazier, Arizona State University [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Peter Kedron, Arizona State University
Protected areas are the primary instrument for biodiversity conservation and one component of larger efforts to slow the impending Sixth Mass Extinction of wildlife and curb global warming. Recently, organizations such as Conservation on Biological Diversity, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and other member organizations have recommended protecting at least 30% of lands and waters by 2030. The United States has also embraced this target with the President signing an executive order in January 2021 for the protection of 30% of U.S. lands and ocean waters by 2030. Achieving the desired outcomes from these targets, such as biodiversity conservation and climate gains, requires protected areas to be ecologically representative and effectively managed, but there are a host of technical, administrative, governance, and equity issues that make these goals difficult to achieve. Additionally, there are myriad landscape considerations such as how to monitor protected areas, where to locate new protected areas, and how landscape connectivity can be fostered through protection efforts. This symposium invites a broad range of presentations related to the protection of land and waters around the world, especially understanding how landscape ecology can help in monitoring and measuring the impact of these areas as well as forecasting the future of these critical landscapes.
Organizer: Amy Frazier, Arizona State University [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Peter Kedron, Arizona State University
Protected areas are the primary instrument for biodiversity conservation and one component of larger efforts to slow the impending Sixth Mass Extinction of wildlife and curb global warming. Recently, organizations such as Conservation on Biological Diversity, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and other member organizations have recommended protecting at least 30% of lands and waters by 2030. The United States has also embraced this target with the President signing an executive order in January 2021 for the protection of 30% of U.S. lands and ocean waters by 2030. Achieving the desired outcomes from these targets, such as biodiversity conservation and climate gains, requires protected areas to be ecologically representative and effectively managed, but there are a host of technical, administrative, governance, and equity issues that make these goals difficult to achieve. Additionally, there are myriad landscape considerations such as how to monitor protected areas, where to locate new protected areas, and how landscape connectivity can be fostered through protection efforts. This symposium invites a broad range of presentations related to the protection of land and waters around the world, especially understanding how landscape ecology can help in monitoring and measuring the impact of these areas as well as forecasting the future of these critical landscapes.
Regional analysis of landscape and forest change towards practical landscape management
Organizer: Kristen Emmett, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education; USDA Forest Service [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Lars Pomara, USDA Forest Service; Kurt Riitters, USDA Forest Service
Regional scale forest planning is increasingly necessary to navigate multiple environmental stressors that transcend political, administrative, and other societal boundaries. Land use change including increasing development and abandonment of agricultural land are changing the landscape context of forests across North America. Regional climate change poses multiple threats to forests, driven by warming temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and increases in extreme events such as drought and flooding. Interactions between climate change and other disturbance agents such as insects, pathogens, and fire are exacerbating stresses on forests at large scales. To address this need, researchers are producing regional scale analyses of landscape, disturbance, and forest change using a variety of approaches. By forming collaborations that include various stakeholder groups, researchers are fostering shared ownership over scientific products and advancing practical applications of landscape ecology. This symposium aims to highlight ongoing inclusive research collaborations that address changing forested landscapes at regional scales. Speakers will present spatial pattern analysis, multicriteria analysis, spatial optimization, structured decision-making, and other approaches to integrating remotely sensed, field-based, and human dimension information and advancing management integration and application.
Organizer: Kristen Emmett, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education; USDA Forest Service [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Lars Pomara, USDA Forest Service; Kurt Riitters, USDA Forest Service
Regional scale forest planning is increasingly necessary to navigate multiple environmental stressors that transcend political, administrative, and other societal boundaries. Land use change including increasing development and abandonment of agricultural land are changing the landscape context of forests across North America. Regional climate change poses multiple threats to forests, driven by warming temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and increases in extreme events such as drought and flooding. Interactions between climate change and other disturbance agents such as insects, pathogens, and fire are exacerbating stresses on forests at large scales. To address this need, researchers are producing regional scale analyses of landscape, disturbance, and forest change using a variety of approaches. By forming collaborations that include various stakeholder groups, researchers are fostering shared ownership over scientific products and advancing practical applications of landscape ecology. This symposium aims to highlight ongoing inclusive research collaborations that address changing forested landscapes at regional scales. Speakers will present spatial pattern analysis, multicriteria analysis, spatial optimization, structured decision-making, and other approaches to integrating remotely sensed, field-based, and human dimension information and advancing management integration and application.
Remote Sensing of Landscape Change and Disturbance
Organizer: Steve Norman, USDA Forest Service [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Jitendra Kumar, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; William W. Hargrove USDA Forest Service; Forrest M. Hoffman, Oak Ridge National Laboratory ; Venkata Shashank Konduri, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Remote sensing has been a foundational tool for landscape ecology for decades, and it has been particularly critical for tracking disturbance and change over time. New platforms, sensors, and rapidly-evolving computational approaches have led to continuous scientific progress, and progress is especially important as rates of disturbance and change are increasingly reshaping landscapes in predictable and novel ways. From national products and datasets, to monitoring landscape dynamics in near-real-time, to the integration of remote sensing with other datasets, remote sensing has carved out a pivotal role. While adoption of tools, approaches and technologies continues to lag cutting edge research, this divide presents opportunities for further research and collaboration. This IALE-NA symposium invites all practitioners to share their approaches and experiences using remote sensing methods to understand, detect, describe and monitor landscape change and disturbances through time. These dynamics include land surface phenology in addition to the abiotic and biotic effects of wildfire, drought, flooding, insects and diseases, wind, and human activities.
Organizer: Steve Norman, USDA Forest Service [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Jitendra Kumar, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; William W. Hargrove USDA Forest Service; Forrest M. Hoffman, Oak Ridge National Laboratory ; Venkata Shashank Konduri, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Remote sensing has been a foundational tool for landscape ecology for decades, and it has been particularly critical for tracking disturbance and change over time. New platforms, sensors, and rapidly-evolving computational approaches have led to continuous scientific progress, and progress is especially important as rates of disturbance and change are increasingly reshaping landscapes in predictable and novel ways. From national products and datasets, to monitoring landscape dynamics in near-real-time, to the integration of remote sensing with other datasets, remote sensing has carved out a pivotal role. While adoption of tools, approaches and technologies continues to lag cutting edge research, this divide presents opportunities for further research and collaboration. This IALE-NA symposium invites all practitioners to share their approaches and experiences using remote sensing methods to understand, detect, describe and monitor landscape change and disturbances through time. These dynamics include land surface phenology in addition to the abiotic and biotic effects of wildfire, drought, flooding, insects and diseases, wind, and human activities.
Rural-periurban forests as landscapes of change: sustainable management of the verges
Organizer: Ignacio J. Diaz-Maroto, Higher Polytechnic School of Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela [email protected]
Co-Organizers: 1) Fekete, Albert, Faculty of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism, Szent István University, Hungary, [email protected]; 2) Salas, Raúl, Escola Superior Agrária de Coimbra, IPC, Portugal, [email protected]; 3) Peña, Karen, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y de Conservación de la Naturaleza, Universidad de Chile, [email protected]; 4) Martin, Timothy A., School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, [email protected]
Rural-periurban forests and their verges have diverse functions, from offering people leisure breaks, the opportunity to practice different sports, to the well-being that happens from enjoying nature close to the urban environment. These ecosystems play a fundamental role in increasing green infrastructures for the sustainable development of cities. To achieve this, they must face a great challenge due to: i) a changing environment, ii) the need for different means to analyze and evaluate their ecological problems, and iii) a generally positive social perception. Know-how to right planning the potential of these forests should be the focus of our research inside a scenario where urban pressure is growing. Our aim is to generate a rational debate analyzing their socioeconomic importance as areas of particular significance for biodiversity conservation. Scientific perspective of how rural-periurban forests and green spaces benefit people has increased in latest years to include social, environmental, and economic aspects. However, there is a delay in the response of the municipality policies. These ecosystems and their changing landscapes could be seen as green infrastructures. Research has confirmed their benefits are optimized by long-term management, so these forests reach their maximum efficiency. There is a full awareness about how forest resources and land use enables planning of the multifunctional use to develop economic returns. For instance, areas dedicated to other infrastructures, such as power lines, can be managed to grow products for nearby neighborhoods, from fuel wood to food. For example, in Japan, rural-periurban green spaces are planned for both recreational use and areas for disaster relief services.
Organizer: Ignacio J. Diaz-Maroto, Higher Polytechnic School of Engineering, University of Santiago de Compostela [email protected]
Co-Organizers: 1) Fekete, Albert, Faculty of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism, Szent István University, Hungary, [email protected]; 2) Salas, Raúl, Escola Superior Agrária de Coimbra, IPC, Portugal, [email protected]; 3) Peña, Karen, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y de Conservación de la Naturaleza, Universidad de Chile, [email protected]; 4) Martin, Timothy A., School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, [email protected]
Rural-periurban forests and their verges have diverse functions, from offering people leisure breaks, the opportunity to practice different sports, to the well-being that happens from enjoying nature close to the urban environment. These ecosystems play a fundamental role in increasing green infrastructures for the sustainable development of cities. To achieve this, they must face a great challenge due to: i) a changing environment, ii) the need for different means to analyze and evaluate their ecological problems, and iii) a generally positive social perception. Know-how to right planning the potential of these forests should be the focus of our research inside a scenario where urban pressure is growing. Our aim is to generate a rational debate analyzing their socioeconomic importance as areas of particular significance for biodiversity conservation. Scientific perspective of how rural-periurban forests and green spaces benefit people has increased in latest years to include social, environmental, and economic aspects. However, there is a delay in the response of the municipality policies. These ecosystems and their changing landscapes could be seen as green infrastructures. Research has confirmed their benefits are optimized by long-term management, so these forests reach their maximum efficiency. There is a full awareness about how forest resources and land use enables planning of the multifunctional use to develop economic returns. For instance, areas dedicated to other infrastructures, such as power lines, can be managed to grow products for nearby neighborhoods, from fuel wood to food. For example, in Japan, rural-periurban green spaces are planned for both recreational use and areas for disaster relief services.
Stewarding forest ecosystems toward desirable futures with co-produced actionable science
Organizer: Tyler Hoecker, Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Dr. Kim Davis, Research Scientist, University of Montana
The persistence of historical vegetation in forested ecosystems across western North America is threatened by rapid changes in climate and disturbance regimes. Rates of fire activity are increasing as a result of management legacies and increasingly fire-conducive weather; tree regeneration is constrained by arid conditions; the frequency, duration and intensity of droughts is driving forest dieback; and silvicultural planning is challenged by shifts in climatic suitability. Abrupt shifts in forest vegetation that these changes are driving impose significant uncertainty for resource managers and scientists around ecosystem trajectories and the efficacy of stewardship approaches, and for Indigenous and local communities whose expertise is often overlooked. Stewarding ecosystems toward socially equitable and ecologically desirable futures requires close collaboration between researchers, land managers, and community stakeholders. Actionable science co-production meets this challenge by incorporating diverse skill sets and experiences, identifying tools for ecosystem stewardship that may increase the likelihood of desirable outcomes. However, this model of knowledge production is relatively new and sharing stories of successes and challenges is needed. Our session asks: How can knowledge co-production be used to better understand climate impacts on ecosystems and communities and direct trajectories of change toward desirable and equitable outcomes? This session will include talks around the practice of science co-production and case studies of its application in forest ecosystems of western North America. We include talks about co-production activities investigating climate adaptation frameworks, adaptive silviculture, drought-related forest mortality, fire-driven vegetation transitions, and incorporation of indigenous ways of knowing. Presenters represent researchers and practitioners from federal agencies and universities (we hope to also include speakers representing indigenous groups). Our session is well aligned with this year’s theme, Equity, Inclusion, and Landscapes of Change, because it focuses on an approach to landscape ecology that elevates historically unheard voices and is centered on equitable adaptation to global change.
Organizer: Tyler Hoecker, Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center [email protected]
Co-Organizers: Dr. Kim Davis, Research Scientist, University of Montana
The persistence of historical vegetation in forested ecosystems across western North America is threatened by rapid changes in climate and disturbance regimes. Rates of fire activity are increasing as a result of management legacies and increasingly fire-conducive weather; tree regeneration is constrained by arid conditions; the frequency, duration and intensity of droughts is driving forest dieback; and silvicultural planning is challenged by shifts in climatic suitability. Abrupt shifts in forest vegetation that these changes are driving impose significant uncertainty for resource managers and scientists around ecosystem trajectories and the efficacy of stewardship approaches, and for Indigenous and local communities whose expertise is often overlooked. Stewarding ecosystems toward socially equitable and ecologically desirable futures requires close collaboration between researchers, land managers, and community stakeholders. Actionable science co-production meets this challenge by incorporating diverse skill sets and experiences, identifying tools for ecosystem stewardship that may increase the likelihood of desirable outcomes. However, this model of knowledge production is relatively new and sharing stories of successes and challenges is needed. Our session asks: How can knowledge co-production be used to better understand climate impacts on ecosystems and communities and direct trajectories of change toward desirable and equitable outcomes? This session will include talks around the practice of science co-production and case studies of its application in forest ecosystems of western North America. We include talks about co-production activities investigating climate adaptation frameworks, adaptive silviculture, drought-related forest mortality, fire-driven vegetation transitions, and incorporation of indigenous ways of knowing. Presenters represent researchers and practitioners from federal agencies and universities (we hope to also include speakers representing indigenous groups). Our session is well aligned with this year’s theme, Equity, Inclusion, and Landscapes of Change, because it focuses on an approach to landscape ecology that elevates historically unheard voices and is centered on equitable adaptation to global change.