Landslides and ecology in the central Appalachians

In the mountains of western Virginia and the Appalachian region, landslides pose significant hazards and have dramatically reshaped hillslopes in recent decades. These landslides instantly create wholesale ecological disturbances that ramify over decades, and remain incompletely understood. We are collaborating with Dr. Carolyn Copenheaver (Virginia Tech) on a pilot study that will use field-based vegetation sampling and geomorphic mapping to test how hillslope disturbance advantages and/or hinders tree species biodiversity, while leveraging a field site protected since widespread landslides in 1969. The work seeds a broader research agenda to unravel feedbacks between Appalachian landscapes and vegetation in the context of contemporary climate change. This work is supported by the 4-VA Collaborative Research Grants Program and The Nature Conservancy.