Great Lakes islands provide critical habitat for native biodiversity and support rare and endemic species and natural communities. Many of these islands are remote, difficult to access, and challenging to survey. Despite limited access, they face a variety of threats including establishment and spread of invasive species and the impacts of climate change. Data about these islands is limited or outdated, which hinders effective decision-making and management. Over the past several years, Michigan Natural Features Inventory has collaborated with conservation partners to address this critical information gap by collecting baseline information on the current status of ecosystems on islands to help guide conservation planning and biodiversity stewardship. In this presentation, we highlight notable discoveries, discuss research opportunities, provide a framework for prioritizing biodiversity stewardship, and share the joys as well as the trials and tribulations of island hopping.
Thursday, February 2, 2023
4:40 pm - 5:30 pm
Presenters

Michigan Natural Features Inventory
Joshua Cohen has worked for the past 23 years as an ecologist with Michigan Natural Features Inventory. His primary duties involve refining and revising the natural community classification through ecological inventory and sampling, literature research, and data analysis. He is responsible for classifying conservation targets and prioritizing areas for conservation and restoration; creating and delivering biodiversity and ecosystem management trainings; and designing and conducting vegetative sampling, ecological mapping and modeling, monitoring, and surveys for natural communities and rare species. Cohen is the lead author of A Field Guide to the Natural Communities of Michigan and a recent article in Diversity entitled “Assessing the Ecological Need for Prescribed Fire in Michigan Using GIS-Based Multicriteria Decision Analysis: Igniting Fire Gaps”. His presentation focuses on Great Lakes islands surveys, which have been some of the most amazing and challenging of his career.