12:45 PM - 1:45 PM - FLCC Canandaigua Campus, Room: 2755
Ecologists, geographers, and historians have long debated the relative influence of climate and Indigenous land use in maintaining oak-dominated forests of the eastern U.S. This talk introduces this debate and its significance.
Some argue that Indigenous land use was negligible and that climatic changes largely explained the changing abundance of oak forests over millennia. Others argue that widespread cultural burning of forests maintained oak and other fire-adapted vegetation. The debate is highly relevant today as oak-dominated forests are failing to regenerate, with significant ecological and economic impacts: understanding drivers of oak forest dynamics can help us manage oak forests sustainably. This talk by Stephen Tulowiecki of SUNY Geneseo introduces this debate and its significance, along with the materials and methods of assessing various factors shaping the geographic distribution of oak forests historically. Drawing examples from local studies of the Finger Lakes region, research suggests that present-day oak forests are perhaps the legacies of past Indigenous land management.
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| Dr Stephen Tulowiecki |
