The Department of Geography Colloquium Series presents a talk by Michelle Mack on “Changing Disturbances, Ecological Legacies, and the Future of the Alaskan Boreal Forest.”

Mack is a Regents’ Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society at Northern Arizona University, and the lead PI of the Bonanza Creek  Long-Term Ecological Research Program located in the Alaskan boreal forest. She is an ecosystem ecologist who studies the impacts of climate and disturbances, such as wildfire and abrupt permafrost thaw, on the dynamics of Arctic and boreal ecosystems. She is a fellow of the Ecological Society of America and the American Geophysical Union.

“Climate warming is intensifying wildfires in Alaska’s boreal forests, fundamentally altering how these ecosystems recover. Forest resilience often depends on “ecological memory,” including legacies such as seed banks and permafrost that support regeneration and stabilize ecosystem processes. However, increasingly severe fires are degrading or eliminating these legacies, making recovery more difficult, and altering ecosystem dynamics. In this talk, I will present research from the Bonanza Creek Long Term Ecological Research program that examines how the loss of ecological memory is reshaping boreal forests, as well as the implications for the people and systems that depend on them. I will also discuss how this work can inform strategies for adapting to climate-driven environmental change.”