Guest Lecture seminars by A/Prof Jessica Hellmann from University of Notre Dame
Title: Local Adaptation As A Constraint On Species' Range Change Under Climate Change: Studies In Genomic Biology And Ways That Humans Might Help Ecosystems Tolerate The Effects Of Climate Change
Abstract: We know that many species changed their geographic ranges in response to past climatic change, but we know very little about the factors that affected that process. We also know very little about rarer species that may not have shifted at all. Where species do not shift or shift slowly, population declines or species extinction may occur, presenting a significant conservation dilemma. Using experiments with insects and plants, I show how local adaptation, dispersal, and specialization may slow or prevent geographic range shifts under human-caused climate change. Using custom microarray data for two species that contrast ecologically, I also examine the genetic basis of population differences in climatic tolerance. These results suggest that populations within a species' range may respond in distinct ways to climatic change and undermine the likelihood of a simple range shift. Finally, I will discuss a number of possible conservation actions that managers might take to help species that decline under climate change, including discussion about movement of species by humans, called "managed relocation."
More information available at:
www.nccarf.edu.au/node/539
Seminar locations
Sydney:
When: Friday 12th November 2010
Time: 1.00-2.00pm
Location: Building E6A Room 102 (Q,24 on map), Macquarie University
Audience: Academics, students and government
RSVP essential to :
www.mq.edu.au/climatefutures
Perth:
When: Friday 19th November 2010
Time: 1.00 - 200pm
Location: Jennifer Arnold Lecture Theatre (G.10), University of Western Australia
RSVP essential to :
hellmannperth.eventbrite.com
Bio: Jessica Hellmann is Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, USA. She studies the impacts of climate change on species and species interactions using field experiments, genomic biology, mathematical models, and policy analysis. Her research is published in leading journals including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Conservation Biology, and Ecology. Her work has informed much of the debate about "managed relocation" (or "assisted migration"), a topic that she and colleagues were among the first to analyze. Hellmann was recently awarded a grant to establish an interdisciplinary research centre on climate change adaptation at Notre Dame, and she advises the City of Chicago and the Province of British Columbia, among others, on the impacts of climate change and endangered species conservation.
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