ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION BIOLOGY FACULTY THEME GROUP UTILIZING A LANDSCAPE SCALE APPROACH IN SOLVING COMPLEX ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

ANOXIA IN THE GULF OF MEXICO IS BELIEVED TO BE CAUSED BY EXCESS NITROGEN AS A RESULT OF AGRICULTURAL RUNOFF FROM SIX DIFFERENT RIVER BASINS. FARMERS IN IOWA IMPACT LOUISINA SHRIMPERS. CLEARLY, AN ECOSYSTEM WIDE APPROACH IS APPROPRIATE FOR THIS COMPLEX ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM. Why do we need an ecosystem and landscape-scale approach? “Dead Zone”

Associated Faculty David AllanAquatic Ecosystems Burt BarnesForest and Landscape Ecology Kathleen BergenGIS, Remote Sensing Dan BrownGIS, Remote Sensing Terry BrownLand Use Planning, Landscape Architecture Donna EricksonLand Use Planning, Landscape Architecture Bob GreseEcological Restoration Michael MooreEnvironmental Economics, Aquatic Ecosystems Joan I. NassauerLand Use Planning, Landscape Architecture Ivette PerfectoTerrestrial Ecosystems, Environmental Justice Dorceta TaylorEnvironmental Justice John WitterTerrestrial Ecosystems, Forest Entomology Julia WondolleckCollaboration & Decision-Making Steve YaffeeEnvironmental Policy, Collaboration & Decision-Making Donald ZakTerrestrial Ecosystems Adam BlockGraduate Student Research Associate

WHAT IS ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT? Ecosystem management uses an ecosystem-based approach to resource management in order to address the myriad challenges that arise from fragmented landscapes and diverse management strategies. In our view, an ecosystem management approach has five key elements. Ecosystem management: Requires consideration of geographic areas defined by ecological boundaries Requires managers to take into account the complexity of natural processes and social systems Incorporates explicit definition of biological and social goals at both the national and local scales Emphasizes collaborative decision making to deal with a landscape owned by many individuals and organizations with different values, interests and capabilities Uses a process of adaptive management to account for uncertainty

WHAT IS CONSERVATION BIOLOGY? The study and practice of evaluating the status of extant organisms and developing techniques to manage these populations for future sustainability, including methods to bring endangered organisms back from the threat of extinction.

EMCB’s FIVE MAIN RESEARCH AREAS: 1.ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE, FUNCTION, AND COMPOSITION 2.SPATIAL ANALYSIS AND ECOSYSTEM CLASSIFICATION 3.ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND RESTORATION 4.LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY, PLANNING, AND DESIGN 5.COLLABORATION AND DECISION MAKING

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS: Project SLUCE Spatial Land Use Change and Ecological Effects at the Rural-Urban Interface: Agent-Based Modeling and Evaluation of Alternative Policies and Interventions Dan Brown and Joan I. Nassauer, Co-PIs; with multiple collaborators Project SLUCE seeks to understand the individual decision-making that drives land use decisions and to formulate and test alternative policies and interventions that could reduce environmental costs and enhance environmental benefits. A multidisciplinary team will develop, evaluate, and apply agent-based models of land use and cover change processes and assess the interactions with ecosystem structure and function. Results will have direct implications for understanding social and landscape dynamics within an urban system and at the urban-rural fringe.

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS: This research demonstrates that warblers are inseparable parts of landscape ecosystems. The summer breeding ground of the rare and endangered Kirtland's Warbler is in northern Lower Michigan in ecosystems dominated by jack pine. Creating new warbler habitat is a primary recovery issue. Traditionally, the primary focus in recovery has been on the warbler itself. However, studies of landscape ecosystems revealed that changes in location of warbler populations over 13 years were closely associated with ecosystem features of topography, microclimate, and soil. Therefore, by understanding ecosystems, managers can locate new warbler habitat that can at least triple the duration of warbler occupancy. Landscape Ecology and the Conservation of the Kirtland's Warbler (Burton Barnes and Wayne Walker)

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS: LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE: A NATIONAL RESOURCE FOR COLLABORATION AND PARTNERSHIPS DEVELOPED THROUGH A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THE ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE AND THE U.S. FOREST SERVICE Learning from Experience is a website of natural resource collaboration and partnership case studies and lessons that are designed to inspire and inform people engaged in partnership development.

QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS PLEASE CONTACT EITHER OF THE TWO EM-CB FACULTY THEME LEADERS STEVE YAFFEE J. DAVID ALLAN