In this paper we synthesize the landscape ecology literature to propose key characteristics of multifunctional landscapes that provide production value while maintaining biodiversity

Our meta-analysis revealed that protected areas always slow vertebrate population declines compared to populations in unprotected locations, and in some cases even reverse those declines, though the positive impacts of protected areas depend strongly on good governance.

This paper emerged from a class project, led by graduate student Catalina Valderrama Robles and Environmental Science undergrad Molly Russell. We found that salamanders exposed (acclimated) to high temperatures for two days had the same ability to tolerate high temperatures as salamanders experiencing high temperatures for a whole month, suggesting that different degrees of acclimation had little effect on thermal tolerance in this species.

This field project, led by MS student Andrew Veselka, found that amphibians and reptiles with low tolerance to high temperatures were found further from forest edges in a Colombian rainforest than species able to tolerate higher temperatures. Andrew’s work provides further evidence that the interaction between species traits and variation in the thermal landscape is a key determinant of species distributions.