The Nature Conservancy and BioMap2: Protecting Resilient Ecosystems

Andy Finton:  Director of Conservation Science for The Nature Conservancy - Massachusetts.

Species and ecosystems across the globe, as well as in Massachusetts, are under threat from habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, pollutants, invasive species, and unsustainable management. Compounding and adding to these stresses is climate change, which threatens to fundamentally alter ecosystems and populations of native species.  One set of strategies to abate these threats focuses on identifying resistant and resilient places that will best support biodiversity over time, even with projected uncertainties associated with a changing climate.

The Nature Conservancy has developed methods of identifying resilient ecosystems and in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, developed BioMap2, which provides a spatial framework to address this conservation issue.   Please join the Conservancy’s Andy Finton for a presentation and discussion about this important tool and The Nature Conservancy’s efforts to protect resilient habitats of rare and vulnerable species, intact ecosystems, and connected landscapes across Massachusetts.

Andy Finton is Director of Conservation Science for The Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts, responsible for defining conservation goals, assessing threats, and implementing conservation strategies.  He is also a principal of the Biomap 2 Project.  Andy  holds a B.S. from Cornell University and an M.S. from the University of Massachusetts.