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At the American Association of Geographers (AAG) annual conference being held in Denver this year, April 6-10, there will be two paper sessions of Geography Professor Tom Veblen's former students and postdocs titled "The effects of disturbance on Northern and Southern Hemisphere Forests. Recognizing and honoring the contributions of Thomas T. Veblen in Biogeography"

Sessions I & II Description

Natural disturbances are fundamental drivers of forest change and disturbance regimes vary widely among forest ecosystems. Disturbance regimes range from frequent, low-severity, smallscale (e.g., gap forming) disturbances to infrequent, large-scale, high-severity events that markedly alter forest structure and function. Disturbances also generate a material legacy that can amplify or buffer future forest response to disturbance via vegetation-disturbance feedbacks. Tom Veblen’s research on the role of disturbance and disturbance regimes on forest development was foundational and lead to a paradigm shift from an equilibrium to a non-equilibrium perspective in ecology. In this session, speakers who are former students, colleagues, and students of former students will present research on disturbance as a driver of forest change in Northern and Southern Hemisphere forests that exemplifies the research Tom established and lead over 45 years at the University of Colorado.