EVENTS

Webinar Details:

Title: Whereto for manu? A new approach to conservation introduction site selection

Webinar Description:

In the face of climate-driven disease spread threatening the critically endangered ‘ākohekohe, managers are exploring innovative solutions, including relocating populations to higher elevations on the Island of Hawai’i. This talk presents a study that combines lidar-based habitat suitability models and population viability analyses to evaluate potential conservation introduction sites. By integrating these advanced techniques, we identify optimal release sites and assess the minimum number of birds needed for a stable or increasing population over a 20-year period. This research demonstrates the value of lidar remote sensing combined with species-specific models to enable rapid, quantitative assessments that can inform the increasing consideration of time-sensitive conservation introductions.

Speaker details:

Erica Gallerani received her B.A. from UNC-Chapel Hill in Environmental Science and went on to work with the Kauaʻi Forest Bird Recovery Project for 2 years. She later received her M.A. in Geography at UCLA on the use of lidar data to model suitable translocation habitat for endangered forest birds. She is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at UCLA exploring varied applications of remote sensing in biodiversity conservation in Hawaiʻi.

Dr. Lucas Berio Fortini is a research ecologist at the United States Geological Survey, Pacific Islands Ecosystem Research Center. He is a global change ecologist interested in using quantitative methods, including simulation modeling and landscape ecology tools to make conservation and management efforts more science-based. His research interests are focused on how the spatio-temporal dynamics of landscapes, communities and species shape the opportunities for conservation and management of biodiversity under environmental change.