College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Forestry

Education

PhD, Terrestrial Ecology, 2002, University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment, Ann Arbor, MI
MS, Conservation Biology, 1996, University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment, Ann Arbor, MI
BA, Biology and Environmental Studies, 1989, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

Research

I am the Great Lakes Climate Change Ecologist for The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and am based in TNC’s office in Lansing, Michigan.   My work focuses on assessing climate change impacts, and working with TNC’s Great Lakes Project staff and partners to update our conservation strategies and priorities so that our efforts are efficient, effective, and promote protection and restoration of forests and other systems that are able to adapt to changes in climate.   Prior to joining TNC in 2008, I conducted research focused on understanding connections between forest conditions (species composition, structure, deer browse impacts) and habitat quality for migratory songbirds. 

The Nature Conservancy’s Great Lakes Project works with partners to restore and maintain the Great Lakes system, with the goal of protecting biodiversity, and sustaining the societal benefits that these systems provide, including drinking water for 40 million people.   As part of the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy team I work with other TNC staff and partners to ensure that our actions and strategies for attaining this goal are designed, prioritized, implemented, and monitored in “climate smart” ways.  Our approach focuses on providing information to practitioners and decision-makers across the basin in ways that help empower, motivate, and catalyze cooperative actions that will enhance the adaptive capacity of the ecological systems, and people, of the region.   Key activities include:

1. synthesizing climate change impact and vulnerability information, and integrating it into our work and sharing with partners;
2. getting to know the needs of our partners by administering a survey on impacts and adaptation in our region that was completed by almost 500 practitioners;
3. sharing what we learn by developing in-depth case studies that describe the logic behind how our projects and processes are being updated;
4. connecting people with each other and key resources in “climate clinics”; and
5. engagement in knowledge, tool, and guidance development, including the Climate Adaptation Collaboratory (in partnership with the University of Notre Dame).    

Our website is: http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/areas/greatlakes/explore/adapting-to-climate-change-in-the-great-lakes.xml

My work also extends beyond TNC’s work in the Great Lakes – for example, I was invited to write the “Biodiversity and Ecosystems” technical document for the Midwest Chapter of the ongoing National Climate Assessment, and have a biodiversity-focused chapter in a recent book on climate change in this region (edited by Dietz and Bidwell at MSU).    I have also contributed to NatureServe’s Climate Change Vulnerability Index, and to updates of TNC’s guidance on how to conduct regional-scale conservation planning, and am part of a group organized by the National Wildlife Federation to develop guidance on best practices in climate change adaptation. 

Selected Publications

Legge, J., P.J. Doran, M. Herbert, J. Asher, G. O’Neil, S. Mysorekar, S. Sowa and K. Hall.  In Press.  From model outputs to conservation action:  Prioritizing locations for implementing agricultural best management practices in a Midwestern Watershed.  Journal of Soil and Water Conservation.

Young, B.E, K.R. Hall, E. Byers, K. Gravuer, G. Hammerson, A. Redder, and K. Szabo.  In Press.  A Natural History Approach to Rapid Assessment of Plant and Animal Vulnerability to Climate Change  In: Conserving Wildlife Populations in a Changing Climate, J. Brodie, E. Post, and D. Doak, editors.  University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.

Groves, C.R., E.T. Game, M.G. Anderson, M. Cross, C. Enquist, Z. Ferdana, E. Girvetz, A. Gondor, K.R. Hall, J. Higgins, Rob Marshall, K. Popper, S. Schill, and S.L. Shafer.  2012.  Incorporating climate change into systematic conservation planning.  Biodviersity and Conservation [online open access at doi 10.1007/s10531-012-0269-3]

Hall, K.R. and T.L. Root.  2012.  Climate Change and Biodiversity in the Great Lakes Region:  From “Fingerprints” of Change To Helping Safeguard Species.  Chapter 4 in Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region, Navigating an Uncertain Future,  T. Dietz and D. Bidwell, editors.  Michigan State University Press, East Lansing, MI.

Ewert, D.N., K.R. Hall, J.M. Wunderle, Jr., D. Currie, S.M. Rockwell, S. Johnson, and J.D. White.  2012.  Spring migration of Kirtland’s Warblers:  How long and at what rate?  The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 124:  9-14.

Millington, J.D.A, M.B. Walters, M.S. Matonis, E.J. Laurent, K.R Hall, and J. Liu.  2011.  Combined long-term effects of variable tree regeneration and timber management on forest songbirds and timber production   Forest Ecology and Management 262 718-729 [doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2011.05.002]

Holmes, S.A., L.M. Curran, and K.R. Hall.  2008.  White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) alter herbaceous species diversity and understory forest structure in the Hiawatha National Forest, Michigan, USA.  American Midland Naturalist 159: 83-97.

Hall, K.R.  2008.  Comparing geographic boundaries in songbird demography data with vegetation boundaries: A new approach to delineating habitat quality.  Environmental and Ecological Statistics 15:491-521.

Kearns, L., E. Silverman, and K.R. Hall.  2006. Black-throated blue warbler and Veery abundance in relation to understory composition in northern Michigan forests.  The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 118: 461-470.

Shi, H., E.J. Laurent, J. LeBouton, L. Racevskis, K.R. Hall, M. Donovan, R.V. Doepker, M.B. Walters, F. Lupi, and J. Liu.  2006.  Local spatial modeling of white-tailed deer distribution.  Ecological Modelling 190: 171-189.

Root, T.L., J.T. Price, K.R. Hall, S.H. Schneider, C. Rosenzweig, and J.A. Pounds.  2003.  “Fingerprints” of global warming on animals and plants around the globe.  Nature 421: 57-60.

Hall, K.R., and S.L. Maruca.  2001.  Mapping a forest mosaic:  A comparison of vegetation and bird distributions using geographic boundary analysis.   Plant Ecology 156: 105-120.