Impact of Climate Change on Western North American Ecosystems
Climate change is having widespread impacts across the globe and on western North American ecosystems in particular. Current climate models predict that these impacts will intensify into the foreseeable future. This one-day virtual symposium hosted by Utah Valley University and sponsored by Western North American Naturalist will highlight research being done across several disciplines to help us understand and mitigate these impacts in our region. Scientists at all career stages are welcome to participate both as presenters and audience members. Plan on attending!
Keynote Speaker

David Inouye
University of Maryland
Dr. Inouye has worked with bumblebees, euglossine bees, pollinating flies, tephritid
flies, hummingbirds, and wildflowers, on topics including pollination biology, flowering
phenology, plant demography, and plant-animal interactions such as ant-plant mutualisms,
nectar robbing, and seed predation. He has worked in Australia, Austria, Central America,
and Colorado, where he has spent summer field seasons since 1971 at the Rocky Mountain
Biological Laboratory (RMBL). His long-term studies of flowering phenology and plant
demography are supported by the National Science Foundation and are being used now
to provide insights into the effects of climate change at high altitudes.
Dr. Inouye taught courses in ecology and conservation biology at the University of
Maryland, and has also taught at the University of Colorado's Mountain Research Station,
the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, and with the Organization for Tropical Studies.
He is the founder and moderator for the Ecological Society of America's ECOLOG-L listserv
list, and serves on the Board of the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign.
He is Past-President of the Ecological Society of America, and a Lead Author on the
report on pollinators produced by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and
Ecosystem Services.
Preliminary Schedule
Keynote session
9:00 am: Welcome
9:10 am: Keynote Address by David Inouye (University of Maryland)
Morning General Session
9:45: Mitch Powers (University of Utah)
10:00: Heath Ogden (Utah Valley University)
10:15: Ben Abbott (Brigham Young University)
10:30: Tara Bishop (US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station)
10:30-10:45 break
10:45: Michael Dillon (University of Wyoming)
11:00: Ashley Egan (Utah Valley University)
11:15: Robert De Rose (Utah State University)
11:30: Michael Stevens (Utah Valley University)
11:45: Discussion
Noon - 1 pm: LUNCH BREAK
Afternoon Concurrent Sessions
To include posters, lightning talks, and 15-minute talks (TBD)
Proceedings
Research presented at the symposium will be published in a special issue of Western North American Naturalist. Please contact a member of the Symposium organizing committee for information about publishing in the special issue.
Symposium Organizing Committee



