Dr. Sommer: Bio-diversity & Climate

Dr. Stefan Sommer will talk on Biological Diversity and Climate Change. NAZCCA offers these monthly talks welcoming residents of Flagstaff to deepen their knowledge of the impacts and causes of climate change. Join us for this Wednesday evening. Invite friends!

Who is Dr. Stefan Sommer? Dr. Stefan Sommer, Director of the Colorado Plateau Biodiversity Center (CPBC) at Northern Arizona University, has been involved creatively in biodiversity and environmental sustainability research and education for more than 30 years. His most recent research and teaching interests are about the importance of biodiversity to the healthy functioning of ecosystems and how global change, including climate change and invasive species are
affecting ecosystem services. My colleagues and I have also been studying how plant genotypes are adapted to different climates across the range of a plant species. By studying the genetic variants of cottonwoods and other plant species in an array of research gardens
from Canada to southern Arizona we can determine which genotypes will grow best in a
particular location given what its climate will be 25, 50, or 100 years from now. As climate change progresses, we can use this understanding to carry out assisted migration of plant
species in such a way as to maximize their success and to maintain ecosystem services. We are also beginning to identify plant genotypes that are more successful in competing with invasive species. Large tracts of land in the western United States have been disturbed by a
variety of land use practices. Many large-scale restoration efforts have failed. This new understanding is already improving the success of restoration projects and we are calling this new approach: Global Change Adaptive Restoration Ecology (GlobalCARE).