2024 Awardees
Find information about the project leads, group members, and project descriptions below.
- T-SECA: Transdisciplinary Social-Ecohydrology for Community Adaptation in the Brazilian Amazon
- Harnessing the Power of AI and Decision Science to Make Ecological Forecasting Data More Accessible and Impactful
- Leveraging Economics for Invasion Impact Forecasting through Evolutionary Dynamics
- Forecasting LA County Oak Forest Regeneration Potential in Community
- Advancing Social-ecological Forecasting in Puerto Rico: Integrating Social Dimensions to Support Decision-Making around Climate Adaptation
T-SECA: Transdisciplinary Social-Ecohydrology for Community Adaptation in the Brazilian Amazon
Principle Investigators:
Evan Bowness (The University of Western Ontario)
Magali Nehemy (Trent School of the Environment)
Group Members:
Catherine M. Febria (University of Windsor), Rodolfo Nobrega (University of Bristol), Genevieve Metson (The University of Western Ontario), Lewis Williams (The University of Western Ontario), Cortney Golkar-Dakin (Sâkihitowin Awâsis) (The University of Western Ontario), Marina Hirota (Federal University of Santa Catarina)
Project Description: Ethical transdisciplinary sustainability research is vital to support communities in the Brazilian Amazon, home to the world’s largest tropical forest and over 28 million people. Severe hydrological events, worsened by climate change, threaten these communities. T-SECA is co-led by the Indigenous Mundurukú community and will develop strategies for adapting to increasing threats of drought. Combining visual social science and ecohydrology, the project assesses vulnerabilities, identifies policy gaps, and co-develops pathways for community resilience.
Harnessing the Power of AI and Decision Science to Make Ecological Forecasting Data More Accessible and Impactful
Principle Investigators:
Melissa Kenney (Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota)
Apoorva Joshi (Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota)
Group Members:
Sean Dorr (University of Minnesota), Carl Boettiger (University of California – Berkeley), Jacob Zwart (U.S. Geological Survey), Cee Nell (U.S. Geological Survey), Emily Read (U.S. Geological Survey)
Project Description: Our multidisciplinary group brings together principles of design justice, decision science, and visual science communication to develop a prototype AI-powered decision support tool that empowers users to access and interpret complex ecological forecasting data. By leveraging large language models (LLMs) to translate plain language user queries into computer code, we will create and test a flexible system that makes ecological forecasting data more usable, accessible, and actionable; using this proof-of-concept to develop competitive grant proposals.
Leveraging Economics for Invasion Impact Forecasting through Evolutionary Dynamics
Principle Investigators:
Melina Kourantidou (University of Southern Denmark)
Group Members:
Ross Cuthbert (Queen’s University Belfast), Daniel Pincheira-Donoso (Queen’s University Belfast), Thomas Bodey (University of Aberdeen), Anna Miall (Queen’s University Belfast)
Project Description: Our group will convene to explore and develop novel research questions and proposals, building on recently established concepts that incorporate evolutionary dynamics into invasion biology to forecast economic impacts. We aim to bring together interdisciplinary expertise in economics, ecology and evolution, to advance this innovative approach. Our collaboration will focus on refining methodologies and frameworks that bridge natural and social perspectives encompassing trait evolution and monetary costs, paving the way for impactful research across sectors and tangible funding applications.
Forecasting LA County Oak Forest Regeneration Potential in Community
Principle Investigator:
Alana Rader (Lewis & Clark College)
Group Members:
Rosi Dagit (Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains), Alyssa Morgan (Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains)
Project Description: We will forecast oak regeneration potential following wildfires in LA County, building from measured oak forest dynamics (growth, decline, regeneration) over a period encompassing the Woolsey Fire. Participatory modelling workshops will bring land managers, users, and owners together to highlight how diverse actions and needs for damaged trees following wildfire feedback with post-fire forest cover. Resulting is a post-fire oak regeneration forecast that incorporates previously un-documented safety, value, and esthetic considerations at work in regenerating urban forests.
Advancing Social-ecological Forecasting in Puerto Rico: Integrating Social Dimensions to Support Decision-Making around Climate Adaptation
Principle Investigator:
Luis Rodríguez-Cruz (University of Puerto Rico at Utuado/USDA Caribbean Climate Hub)
Group Member:
Diana K. Guzmán-Colón (USDA Caribbean Climate Hub)
Project Description: Our team aims to evaluate the extent to which social dimensions are considered in ecological forecasting in Puerto Rico. We will explore how these dimensions can enhance model accuracy and reliability, and ultimately explore the limitations. The main outcome of our group will be a bilingual, open access white paper outlining research priorities, best practices, and funding opportunities to address food security, climate resilience, biodiversity, and natural resource conservation in Puerto Rico through improved ecological forecasting.