21 June 2021, 16:00 GMT+2 - - Windscape connectivity modeling for biogeography

Matthew Kling   http://matthewkling.net/

     Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley

Many species disperse by wind, and wind speed and direction exhibit strong geographic trends that may be important in shaping spatial biodiversity patterns. Yet there is limited understanding of how wind patterns affect spatial ecology and biogeography, due in part to a scarcity of modeling tools for estimating wind dispersal potential over large spatiotemporal scales. In this talk I'll present a "windscape connectivity" modeling framework that aims to address this gap by combining network-based landscape connectivity approaches with long-term, high-frequency wind data to estimate the relative ease of wind dispersal among distant locations. I'll discuss modeling methods as well as two applications of the approach, including an analysis of how winds shape forest landscape genetic patterns and a study of how they may influence patterns of ecological resilience to future climate change.

For more details see: Kling and Ackerly 2020. Global wind patterns and the vulnerability of wind-dispersed species to climate change. Nature Climate Change