OOS 26
Climate Change in Wildlands: Pioneering Applications of Science to Management in the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains

Tuesday, August 11, 2015: 1:30 PM-5:00 PM
315, Baltimore Convention Center
Organizer:
Andrew Hansen
Co-organizers:
Jeffrey T Morisette and William Monahan
Moderator:
David Roberts
Climate change is already apparent and accelerating in many ecosystems, resulting in a cascade of ecological responses that challenge the ability of scientists and managers to understand and steward these rapidly changing systems. Challenges stem from the very nature of human-induced climate change. It is manifest over time periods that are long relative to scientific study and resource management horizons. It occurs across areas larger than the spatial domains of federal land jurisdictions, necessitating interagency collaboration. It is intertwined with natural climate variation, sometimes making directional effects difficult to elucidate. Wildland ecosystems in wilderness areas and national parks are by definition relatively natural. These “natural” systems are often considered to be more resilient to climate change than more human-altered systems The traits that distinguish wildlands, however, create additional challenges for integrated science and management. Scientific experimentation and management manipulations are limited by philosophical, logistical, and legal constraints. Difficulty of access limits data collection and the feasibility of active management. Moreover, U.S. wildlands are disproportionately located at the high, dry, and cold ends of biophysical gradients, such as mountain tops, where there may be fewer options for adaptation to changing conditions. Thus, our iconic wildland ecosystems such as Yellowstone or Great Smoky Mountains National Parks present particularly difficult challenges to ecologists and managers. This oral session reports on a unique collaboration among scientists and resource managers to address the challenges described above and to enhance knowledge on ecological response to climate change and serve decision support products to resource managers. Our goal is to demonstrate an effective approach for integrating science and management to cope with climate change in the wildland ecosystems of the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachians. Speakers will provide: • A guiding conceptual framework; • The latest theory and tools for climate scenario downscaling, ecological forecasting, species distribution modeling and vulnerability assessment; • The challenges of linking science to management in the context of socioeconomic systems; • Compelling examples of climate adaptation planning among federal agencies. Now in its 100th year, the ESA has championed the role of ecological knowledge in environmental decision making. This session will be of interest to ESA members that seek a better understanding of the long-term ecological impacts of climate change over large wildland ecosystems and how to best use science to inform decisions on the management of natural resource in the face of rapid climate change
1:30 PM
Climate adaptation for wildlands
John Gross, National Park Service; Andrew Hansen, Montana State University; Tony Chang, Montana State University; Tina A. Cormier, Woods Hole Research Center; Scott Goetz, Woods Hole Research Center; Kevin Guay, Woods Hole Research Center; Alberto Guzman, NASA ARC-CREST; Patrick Jantz, Woods Hole Research Center; Virginia Kelly, Yellowstone National Park and Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee; Forrest Melton, NASA ARC-CREST; William Monahan, National Park Service; Tom Olliff, National Park Service - Intermountain Region; Dave Theobald, Conservation Science Partners; Weile Wang, NASA ARC-CREST; Brendan Rogers, Woods Hole Research Center
1:50 PM
Modeling impacts of climate and land use change on ecosystem processes to quantify exposure to climate change in two Landscape Conservation Cooperatives
Forrest Melton, NASA ARC-CREST, California State University Monterey Bay; Weile Wang, NASA ARC-CREST, California State University Monterey Bay; Jun Xiong, Northern Arizona University; Alberto Guzman, California State University Monterey Bay; Cristina Milesi, NASA Ames Research Center; Rama Nemani, NASA Ames Research Center; Scott Goetz, Woods Hole Research Center; John Gross, National Park Service; Patrick Jantz, Woods Hole Research Center; Andrew Hansen, Montana State University; William Monahan, National Park Service; Dave Theobald, Colorado State University
2:10 PM
2:30 PM
Modeling response of Appalachian forests to climate change in greater park ecosystems
Tina A. Cormier, Woods Hole Research Center; Patrick Jantz, Woods Hole Research Center; Kevin Guay, Woods Hole Research Center; Brendan Rogers, Woods Hole Research Center; Forrest Melton, NASA ARC-CREST; Scott Goetz, Woods Hole Research Center
2:50 PM
Vegetation vulnerability to climate change in the Appalachians
Patrick Jantz, Woods Hole Research Center; Tina A. Cormier, Woods Hole Research Center; Brendan Rogers, Woods Hole Research Center; Kevin Guay, Woods Hole Research Center; Andrew Hansen, Montana State University; Forrest Melton, NASA ARC-CREST; Scott Goetz, Woods Hole Research Center
3:10 PM
3:20 PM
Fitness implications of seasonal climate variation in Columbian ground squirrels
F. Stephen Dobson, Auburn University; Jeffrey E. Lane, University of Saskatchewan; Matthew Low, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; Jan O. Murie, University of Alberta
3:40 PM
Adaptive capacity of socioecological systems under climate change in north central United States
Dennis Ojima, Colorado State University; Shannon McNeeley, Colorado State University; Jeffrey T. Morisette, U.S. Geological Survey
4:00 PM
Elements of success for climate adaptation planning: A USGS perspective
Jeffrey T Morisette, North Central Climate Science Cente; Dennis Ojima, Colorado State University; Andrew Hansen, Montana State University; Imtiaz Rangwala, University of Colorado, Boulder; Joseph Barsugli, University of Colorado, Boulder; Shannon McNeeley, Colorado State University; Arjun Adhikari, Montana State University; Marian Talbert, North Central Climate Science Cente; Colin Talbert, U.S. Geological Survey
4:20 PM
Elements of success for climate adaptation planning: A National Park Service perspective
William Monahan, National Park Service; Tom Olliff, National Park Service - Intermountain Region; Nicholas Fisichelli, National Park Service; Ben Bobowski, National Park Service