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Abstract: In recent years, local, domestic, and global-scale efforts have been made to increase urban canopy cover. The motivation behind these initiatives is clear: trees provide a vast array of highly valued ecosystem services, including stormwater mitigation. As the reliance upon trees to help manage stormwater increases, so does the need to employ strategic selection of urban trees, so as to maximize the degree to which they aid in reducing runoff. Such selection processes require two key things: an expanded knowledge of how individual tree species redistribute precipitation, and effective means by which to transfer this insight to urban forestry professionals tasked with selecting and caring for urban trees. In this talk, Dowtin will explore how the structural characteristics of select Quercus (oak) species influence their respective abilities to intercept precipitation, thereby aiding in urban stormwater management. She will also discuss how connectivity (or lack thereof) between urban forestry scholars and practitioners may influence the research-implementation gap with respect to the strategic use of urban trees for optimized runoff reduction. Her findings are intended to help guide initiatives that aim to maximize stormwater mitigation through the targeted selection of urban trees.
Bio: Asia Dowtin is an Assistant Professor of Urban and Community Forestry in Michigan State University’s Department of Forestry. Her work explores the relationships that exist between urban canopy structure, spatial context, and plant-water interactions and is intended to broaden our understanding of the influence of species composition and surrounding land use on urban forest function. A major goal of Dowtin’s work is to utilize this knowledge to inform the development of urban forest management plans, specifically those intended to optimize yield of select regulating and supporting ecosystem services by municipal trees. She holds a partial extension appointment, which she uses, in part, to aid in the development of arboriculture and urban forestry educational materials for K-12 curriculum and continuing education programming. She earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Delaware, and a B.S. in Meteorology from the State University of New York College at Oneonta.