Special Lecture

NRESi will be welcoming two special guests who will present some of their research:

Experimental Disturbance Ecology: Extreme Weather Events and Ecosystem Functions – Dr. Anke Jentsch, University of Bayreuth, Germany

Studying the effects of extreme climatic events such as drought, heat waves and heavy rain spells on biodiversity and ecosystem functions is one of the most important facets of experimental disturbance ecology and climate change research. In particular, primary production of grassland vegetation is amounting to the common currency in field experiments worldwide. Rarely, however, are multiple ecosystem functions measured in a single study, in order to address general patterns across different categories of responses to climate extremes. Additionally, new approaches include coordinated distributed experiments and surveys, in which a network of scientists or sites apply a standardized research design to tackle questions across gradients and global hypotheses in ecology using the power of replication distributed geographically.

The Ecology of Landslides - Guest Presenter: Dr. Lawrence R. Walker, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Landslide ecology is an emerging discipline that examines the post-erosion environment. It addresses ecosystem, population, community, and restoration topics, thereby clarifying the role of spatial heterogeneity at landscape levels in maintaining biodiversity and landslide impacts on carbon sequestration. Landslides, often of anthropogenic origin, are increasing in frequency so it is imperative to improve our understanding of how ecology can help predict, mitigate, and restore unstable slopes. Plant succession integrates many themes of landslide ecology and can be manipulated to improve ecological resiliency and reduce restoration costs.

A recording of the talks will be uploaded to NRESi's video archive following the presentations.