Sponsor: Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshop on Urban Sustainability & Resilience

Co-sponsor: Conservation Ecology Seminar

Abstract: Adaptive management and resilience are two concepts with origins in ecology that have had substantial influence on researchers and practitioners working across a diverse suite of social and ecological systems. The onset of climate change in particular has increased the salience of these ideas and expanded the range and importance of their application. However, as the usage of these concepts proliferates their meaning has become more obscured and their practical relevance uncertain. Drawing on examples from decades of research on the adaptive management and resilience of socioecological systems, Dr. Craig Allen will trace the history of these concepts and share insights about how and in what contexts they can usefully be employed moving forward. Dr. Allen will share examples from his diverse worksites, including urban systems, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and management.

About the Speaker: Dr. Craig Allen is leader of the U.S. Geological Survey - Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit and Professor at the School of Natural Resources at University of Nebraska. Prior to coming to UNL in July 2004, Craig was leader (2002 - 2004) and assistant leader (1998-2001) of the South Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Clemson University. Currently, Craig’s primary research focus is understanding the links between land use or land cover change, biological invasions and extinctions. Additionally, Craig is interested in how invasions can affect the resilience of ecosystems and other complex systems. Craig sits on the Board of Directors for the Resilience Alliance.