Globally, catastrophic wildfires are both a cause and a consequence of the rapidly changing climate, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to managing fires and preserving forest biodiversity.

In the various landscapes and ecosystems of California, the most devastating fires of recent years have occurred in the dry mixed conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada – the ecosystem, from which fire has been excluded for the last hundred years. As a result of this fire suppression policy, the forests in California have become much denser and the understory plant communities have been homogenized. The closed canopies of such forests don’t allow the sunlight to reach the forest floor and the increased competition from the shade-tolerant trees prevents new seedlings from establishing. The consequences of fire exclusion on forest biodiversity can be devastating – the homogenized landscape might act as the strongest evolutionary force, favoring only specific plant species and plant genotypes, and thus limiting the gene pool and the potential for plants to adapt to the changing environmental conditions.

In her online talk on January 31 at 7:00-8:00 PM MSK, Sasha Nikolaeva, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at University of California, Berkeley, will talk about how fire suppression in forests of California have influenced the diversity of plant communities and what lessons can be learned from the past management of these forests. She will also explain the controversies that exist between the United States and Russia in their approaches to prescribed burning and talk about the development of forest fire science in both countries.

About the guest-speaker: Sasha Nikolaeva, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at University of California, Berkeley. Sasha holds a Master of Forestry degree from UC Berkeley, and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from St. Petersburg State University in Russia.

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ALL AMERICAN CENTER IN MOSCOW EVENTS ARE FREE OF CHARGE / ВСЕ МЕРОПРИЯТИЯ АМЕРИКАНСКОГО ЦЕНТРА В МОСКВЕ БЕСПЛАТНЫ

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This event will be live-streamed on the American Center in Moscow’s YouTube channel as part of the AMC Online programming. When registering below, please submit your valid email address to receive a link to the live stream of this event 30 minutes before it begins. To join other AMC Online programs, please check the American Center’s website and TimePad calendars.

#biodiversity

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Photo by Zachary Domes on Unsplash