Defense Presentation Title: What’s all this then?: Managing Piedmont forests for balanced ecosystem service delivery

Advisor: Dr. Robert Scheller, faculty fellow and associate dean for research in the College of Natural Resources

Abstract: Ecosystem services are the goods and services that nature provides to society and the wider ecosystem. Tradeoffs are inherent in any ecosystem, but attempts at balancing ecosystem services are of particular interest to forest land managers. This dissertation seeks to understand the combined influences of management, climate, and disturbance intensity on the balance and delivery of ecosystem services within North Carolina Piedmont forests. Future scenarios were simulated using LANDIS-II to understand if climate-adaptive management interventions can deliver minimized tradeoffs. Results show a divergence among climate, management, and disturbance intensity in fostering a low tradeoff landscape, providing multiple management options for the remainder of the century. These scenarios describe plausible futures for Piedmont forests and provide guidelines for future land management.