Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory

15 Jul, 11 AM - 19 Jul, 01 AM

The Chicago Botanic Garden's science programs have evolved in response to the urgent environmental issues of the 21st century. According to the IUCN: World Conservation Union, the U.S. flora is the 4th most threatened in the world and is home to global hotspots with very high numbers of threatened plant species. Several studies have found that climate change has already been responsible for species distribution shifts and may imperil plant populations as it outpaces plants' natural ability to adapt. In the face of the enormity of this potential, the Garden has made science and conservation research a priority and has invested heavily in raising its capacity to address these issues. This project will undertake a climate change impact assessment, utilizing a combination of GIS-based spatial analysis and species distribution models (SDM), on up to 400 species of rare and common plants of the western U.S.. Our analysis will use SDM algorithms and several climate change scenarios to explore species range shifts in response to climate change. We will also undertake GIS-based habitat matching for each species to analyze potential future habitat availability for the species on BLM lands. Finally, we will conduct ground-truth activities in studies on several of the species to ensure adequate model validation. We will also complete SDM's as described for some species of cacti that occur on BLM lands, as the cacti are also being assessed by NatureServe, using their climate vulnerability index methodology. This project will allow us to compare results from these very different assessment protocols, informing and improving both.

Visit #28983 @Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory

Approved

Under Project # 25514 | Research

Species distribution modeling of rare plants in the west

professional - Chicago Botanic Garden

Reservation Members(s)

Group of 2 Research Scientist/Post Doc Jul 15 - 19, 2012 (5 days)

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