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Are conservation organizations configured for effective adaptation to global change?

Wednesday, June 10, 2015 | 11:30 am
134 Morrill Science Center Conference Room (speaker will present remotely)
Paul Armsworth, Univ Tennessee Paul Armsworth, Univ Tennessee
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee

As the climate warms and other global changes progress, species move outside their historical ranges, new ecological communities form and ecosystems transition to new states. To cope, conservation organizations will need to adapt. But to what extent are conservation organizations configured in a way that positions them to adapt effectively and what steps can they take to enhance their adaptive capacity? Paul will examine these questions, discuss new resources to help conservation practitioners assess their adaptive capacity and explore new hypotheses about how the configuration of different organizations enables them to protect particular conservation targets and manage for particular biophysical changes that require coordinated management actions over different spatial and temporal scales.

Paul Armsworth is an Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His research examines how ecology and economics can be integrated to inform more effective conservation and natural resource management strategies. His research group collaborates closely with partners around the world drawn from public agencies, nonprofits and for profits as well as academics from a range of disciplines. Paul has authored over 90 peer reviewed publications and participated in a variety of national and international science panels.