Alpine plants as a model system for biodiversity dynamics in a warming world

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC | Bennington faculty member Caitlin McDonough-MacKenzie will talk about her recently funded research exploring alpine plant communities in New England and their persistence throughout the Holocene and recent anthropogenic climate change. These tough little organisms grow in incredibly harsh habitats scattered across the mountain summits of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Understanding the ecology of alpine plants and their population dynamics in the face of dramatic climatic changes will help conservation practitioners protect biodiversity across all kinds of ecosystems.