Managing Landscapes for Change

Dr. Scheller is Professor of Landscape Ecology at North Carolina State University in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources and the Director of the Dynamic Ecosystems and Landscapes Lab. He is the President of the International Association for Landscape Ecology and he is a member of the Emerging Plant Diseases and Global Food Security Cluster at NCSU. He grew up in Minnesota and received his B.S. in Biology from the University of Minnesota and Masters and Doctoral degrees in Forest Ecology from the University of Wisconsin. His research focuses on how landscapes have changed, how they will change, and why it matters. Anthropogenic change will radically alter many landscapes in the coming decades, in ways that exceed our imaginations. To understand and forecast landscape change, his research group studies diverse processes including human actions and management, land use change and history, forest ecology, climate change, etc. These processes inform advanced forecasting tools that incorporate many drivers of change, enabling local and regional decision-makers to assess the potential to manage for landscape change. Robert has published more than 100 manuscripts and book chapters.