Event Details

Speaker:  Christine Sierra O'Connell, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies Dept., Macalester College

Terrestrial ecosystems are experiencing two related global change impacts – climate change and widespread land-use/land-cover change, much of which is driven by agricultural expansion and management. As global change continues, determining how to utilize dynamic landscapes while minimizing ecological disruption will be key to sustainability. This seminar investigates two case studies in order to ask the question: how will terrestrial global change impact ecosystems? We'll first discuss the ecological consequences of agriculture in the Amazon rainforest, and subsequently explore how two severe climate change-driven events, the historic 2015 Caribbean drought and 2017’s Hurricane Maria, impacted a wet tropical forest in Puerto Rico.

Christine Sierra O'Connell is an ecosystem ecologist who has worked in tropical ecosystems studying global change for over a decade. Additionally, Christine is the newest faculty member in the Environmental Studies department, and during her seminar will highlight future research plans - including opportunities for collaboration with Mac students! - and some of the courses that she will be teaching this year and next.

Refreshments provided.

This EnviroThursday is co-sponsored by the Environmental Studies and Biology Departments.