Autumn 2013 SENR Seminar Series

The SENR Seminar Series welcomes Dr. Volker Bahn, Associate Professor, Wright State University Department of Biological Sciences, who will present Predicting Tree Distributions: Moving Towards More Mechanistic Models.

 

Predicting how climate change will influence tree species distributions requires understanding abiotic constraints on species as well as biotic interactions such as competition and disease. So far, predictions have been largely based on abiotic conditions because biotic interactions are notoriously difficult to understand and predict, as well as expected to vary across species’ ranges. A classic expectation is that species are limited by climate, namely cold temperatures and/or arid conditions, at some range edges, while at other edges, in the absence of abiotically harsh limits, biotic interactions, such as competition, limits species’ ranges. Insights into the nature of constraining factors at range edges will improve predictions of range shifts under climate change.

 

The SENR Seminar begins at 4:10 p.m in 103 Kottman Hall with a video link to 123 Williams Hall on the Wooster campus.