Natural area stewards face diverse and increasing numbers of invasive species, while climate change also places stress on local ecosystems. Individually, invasive species and climate change are major threats. Taken together, and interacting, they pose major challenges. In the face of this, managers can choose among 3 basic strategies: 1) Resist change and try to main local ecosystems as they are; 2) Accept/direct change, acknowledging that conditions might be so transformed that natural communities can no longer maintain the same species; or 3) Manage for resilience, with a focus on maintaining ecosystem processes and functions while accepting that some species might change. This session will encourage participants to focus on the brief paper from Bradley et al. 2019 (“Double Trouble,” https://doi.org/10.7275/djdw-cm44) to consider different approaches and management strategies, looking at specific examples of whether, when, and how we decide to resist, adapt, or transform.
Tuesday, January 30th, 2024
1:50 pm - 2:50 pm
Presenters

NatureWrite LLC
Jacqueline Courteau is President and Senior Ecologist of NatureWrite, LLC. She earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan. She has monitored and assessed deer impacts in 20+ parks and natural areas in southeast Michigan, which continues to be her focus. She has also worked with the Huron River Watershed Council to develop their rapid ecological assessment; taught at University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University, including restoration ecology and field ecology; written plant species overviews for the Smithsonian Encyclopedia of life; contracted for Michigan Natural Features Inventory; and is working with private land-owners to develop forest stewardship plans. Her side gig is collecting acorns and growing oak trees, with the goals of growing all 13 of Michigan’s native oak species and preserving the genetics of big trees.
Sheila Schueller
University of Michigan, School of Environment and Sustainability

University of Michigan, School of Environment and Sustainability
Sheila completed her MS and PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan, and currently teaches graduate level courses in Ecology, Conservation, and Restoration at UM School for the Environment and Sustainability (SEAS). She has served as a consultant in adaptive management and currently pursues collaborative applied research on sustainable approaches to invasive species management and on the ways managed and built environments (from farms to yards) can support biodiversity and ecosystem function and services. In all endeavors, she seeks to integrate academic activities with the real-world data needs and challenges of natural resource planners and managers. |