Seminar: Dr. Matthew Baker on Distinguishing Forest Patches

This past event was recorded live on WebEx and can be viewed here.

The GES Department cordially invites you to join us for the next seminar of Spring 2023.

Topic: Seeing Forests for the Trees: Distinguishing Patches of Forest Within Urban Tree Canopy

Speaker: Dr. Matthew Baker, Professor, Geography & Environmental Systems Department, and Associate Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, UMBC

Email: mbaker@umbc.edu

Abstract: As urban landscapes continue their global expansion, urban woodlands have received increased attention for their inherent value as remnants and the ecosystem services they provide. Indeed, development of high-resolution urban tree canopy (UTC) maps and targeted sampling campaigns have focused attention on the distribution and condition of urban canopies, but uneven and inequitable distribution of their benefits has made it clear that such efforts, while important and useful, are insufficient for guiding broad policy and site-specific management decisions. Such limitations highlight the need for objective mapping protocols that allow cities to quantify the extent and condition of urban forest patches--and their distinct ecosystem services--from other forms of urban canopy, making their definition more than just a semantic concern. I will describe a rapid, objective, and repeatable method for distinguishing forest patches, including "groves" and "forested natural areas", from other forms of UTC in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. I hypothesized that forests have interior spaces that were structurally and functionally different from edges. I expected heightened resistance to exotic invasion, relatively well-developed and functional soil profiles, more complex vertical structure, and evidence of natural reproduction. I found significant differences in tree height, mean canopy dimensions, and developed capacity to make diagnostic characterizations of woodland conditions. I highlight the potential for mapping segments of UTC that allows for improved quantification of attributes, assessment of ownership and equity, and ecosystem services that can be used to direct and refine management policy.

Speaker Bio: Dr. Matthew Baker joined the Department of Geography & Environmental Systems in 2008 and the CAHSS Dean’s office in 2021, but he has been hugging trees as long as he can remember.  He graduated with a BA (1992) in English and Ecology from Emory University, a MS (1996) in Terrestrial Ecology from the University of Michigan, and a PhD (2002) in Aquatic Ecology from the University of Michigan. Dr. Baker’s expertise includes basic and applied research in applied ecology, quantitative analysis, hydrology, as well as geographic information systems and remote sensing. He serves as Associate Editor of the journal Freshwater Science and has held appointments as a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, as a Research Professor for the US Geological Survey, and as a Maryland Fellow at the National Center for Socioecological Synthesis. At UMBC, he has taught courses in Physical Geography, Watershed Science and Management, Watershed Analysis Modeling, Forest Ecology, Riparian Ecology, and Graduate Research Methods.