This is a past event.

Dr. Julia Burton
Associate Professor of CFRES
Michigan Technological University

Modeling and managing forest ecosystems through the lens of plant functional traits

Abstract: Trait-based models of ecological communities can provide for a mechanistic and generalizable understanding of linkages among species composition, underlying environmental gradients, and ecosystem services. Here I will provide an overview of recent and ongoing research in my lab that focuses on developing trait-based models of forest vegetation to project changes in species composition and ecosystem services due to climate change. Recent work has focused primarily on interspecific trait correlations and intraspecific variability. Ongoing work at the community level focuses on the role of disturbance and silvicultural management in sustaining ecosystem services including climate change mitigation, Indigenous cultural ecosystem services and early-seral wildlife habitat.