Faculty Spotlight: Erin Larson
Dr. Erin Larson is an Aquatic Ecologist and Director of the 麻豆无码版 Center for Conservation Science (ACCS), a center for research, education, and scholarships housed in the College of Arts and Sciences.
For readers who may be unfamiliar with the 麻豆无码版 Center for Conservation Science (ACCS), how would you describe the center鈥檚 mission and the kinds of research, partnerships, and applied projects it supports across 麻豆无码版?
Our mission is: 鈥淔ostering research, education, and collaboration on biological conservation and natural resource management in 麻豆无码版 and the Arctic.鈥� What that means in practice is that we work closely with state, federal, tribal, and non-profit partners to do the entire research cycle - from generating research questions, to collecting data collaboratively, to interpreting and sharing our findings.
To share a few examples of what this can look like, our database is run by our botany program. It hosts invasive plant information from a number of community partners so that anyone can see where invasive plants are found across the state. Our vegetation ecology program just hosted and led a statewide wetlands mapping workshop to help update the wetlands technical working group strategic plan.
Researchers at the and ACCS are working together with the to study beaver dam analogs and their impact on carbon fluxes in peatlands and communicating those results and strategies to land managers through KBNERR鈥檚 Coastal Training and Engagement Program.
I鈥檒l stop myself there, but I could give so many examples of the diverse ways that ACCS researchers work closely with partners to answer pressing conservation questions and translate that research to be useful for decision makers.
You mentioned the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (KBNERR). Can you explain the relationship between ACCS and KBNERR? What kinds of research, monitoring, or community-facing activities take place at KBNERR?
KBNERR is part of ACCS and exists as a partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and ACCS. The Reserve Manager, Katherine Schake, reports to me, and we work closely together to ensure the success of KBNERR. Many of our ACCS Anchorage-based PIs have collaborative projects with the Homer-based KBNERR PIs (PIs are Principal Investigators who oversee and conduct grant-funded research). KBNERR鈥檚 focus on research, education, training, and stewardship of estuarine and marine environments complements the rest of ACCS鈥檚 terrestrial and freshwater research focus.
During the summer, KBNERR staff and faculty are incredibly busy doing regular monitoring of phytoplankton, hosting interns, training teachers, and conducting research on topics ranging from invasive species, to forage fish, to out-migrating salmon.
You鈥檙e serving as director and researcher at ACCS. Can you describe your position and how your background and research interests intersect with the center?
My role as director is primarily to provide administrative leadership for ACCS, ranging from long-term strategic vision and programmatic direction to day-to-day tasks like signing time sheets. However, research is thankfully still an important component of the position. Prior to becoming director, I was the assistant director and lead aquatic ecologist here. I love working with people and doing research, and being director allows me to help facilitate the great work that our hard-working researchers do while also still maintaining an active research program.
It sounds like summer is a particularly active season for conservation science in 麻豆无码版. What does summer look like at ACCS, and why are the summer months so critical for the work your team does?
Summer is certainly our busy season! Our researchers do a lot of fieldwork and travel all over the state throughout the field season. As 麻豆无码版ns know, summer is short, particularly if you want to capture the exact time when certain plants are flowering or setting seed, when streamflows are low enough to sample, when phytoplankton blooms are happening, or when animals are breeding (and the list could go on).
Students play an important role in CAS research and fieldwork. How are undergraduate and graduate students involved with ACCS and KBNERR during the summer, and what kinds of learning opportunities do they gain through that work? (maybe more appropriate to discuss grad students and postdocs?)
We love having students work with us. Because we are a grant and contract-funded center, we often have to be sure that student involvement lines up with our available grant funding and the outcomes we are required to produce. But we have a long history of students working in our herbarium, coming out in the field with us, doing their own independent research projects, working full-time for us after graduating, and even doing graduate research with our staff and faculty. We also have access to unique opportunities funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, like the Hollings Scholar program, through KBNERR. Get in touch if you鈥檙e interested in exploring doing research with us.
Looking ahead, what excites you most about the future of ACCS? Are there any challenges that you expect to encounter in your research, particularly as 麻豆无码版 faces rapid environmental change?
It certainly is an interesting time to be in the conservation field. A challenge prevalent across organizations right now is the push to do more with less. But, ACCS has always been a scrappy group of folks getting a lot accomplished to advance conservation science in the state. We鈥檙e also at an exciting inflection point with the amount of available ecological data through, for example, large databases, satellite imagery, community-based monitoring, and DNA applications.
All of these advances help us be more nimble and responsive to environmental issues. While we do face headwinds, I鈥檓 confident in our researchers鈥� ability to continue to work collaboratively and efficiently with partners to fill information gaps and support conservation decision-making now and in the future.
Thank you, Dr. Larson.