Leland K Werden
Director of Science @ Plant-for-the-Planet | Restoration Ecologist @ ETH Zürich
Developing tools to restore tropical dry forests
Costa Rica
In collaboration with Estación Experimental Forestal Horizontes, I have developed projects using native trees to restore degraded tropical dry forests. Results thus far have enabled us to determine which tree species are suitable for restoration plantings on degraded Vertisol soils, and that ecophysiological functional traits are the best predictors of seedling performance. With these results in hand we used a functional trait-driven approach to design species mixes for 6-hectares of restoration planting which we are using to test successional and restoration theory. Haga clic aquí para una descripción en español.
Determining the impacts of abiotic conditions on restoration outcomes
Costa Rica and Hawai’i
I am currently undertaking projects focused on uncovering how abiotic conditions at reintroduction and restoration sites contribute to outcomes of Costa Rican restorations and endangered Hawaiian plant reintroductions. The goal of these projects is not only to improve restoration practice, but also to further the understanding of how environmental filtering impacts plant establishment and persistence in degraded environments.
Using UAVs for ecosystem and wildlife monitoring
Costa Rica and Minnesota
As part of an interdisciplinary team I have helped to develop best-practice guidelines for observing wildlife with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Additionally, I am currently using UAVs to collect aerial imagery of secondary forests in Costa Rica to track forest regeneration and dynamics.
For a complete list of my publications see my Google scholar profile or CV.
Leland K. Werden, Karen D. Holl, José Miguel Chaves-Fallas, Federico Oviedo-Brenes, Juan Abel Rosales, Rakan A. Zahawi. 2021. Journal of Applied Ecology 58: 1693-1704.
Leland K. Werden, Karen D. Holl, Juan Abel Rosales, Janelle M. Sylvester, Rakan A. Zahawi. 2020. Ecological Applications 30: e02139.
Leland K. Werden, Erick Calderón‐Morales, Pedro Alvarado J., Milena Gutiérrez L., Derek A. Nedveck, Jennifer S. Powers. 2020. Ecological Applications 30: e02116..
Leland K. Werden, Nellie C. Sugii, Lauren Weisenberger, Matthew J. Keir, Gregory Koob, Rakan A. Zahawi. 2020. Biological Conservation 243.
Leland K. Werden, Pedro Alvarado J., Sebastian Zarges, Erick Calderón M., Erik M. Schilling, Milena Gutiérrez L., Jennifer S. Powers. 2018. Journal of Applied Ecology 55 (2): 1019-1028.
Leland K. Werden, Justin M. Becknell, Jennifer S. Powers. 2018. Functional Ecology 32 (12): 2766-2776.
Mark A. Ditmer, John B. Vincent, Leland K. Werden, Jessie C. Tanner, Timothy G. Laske, Paul A. Iaizzo, David L. Garshelis, John R. Fieberg. 2015. Current Biology 25: 1-6.
"Study finds bears react, then habituate, to drones"
Mongabay -- January 29, 2019.
"Finding a recipe for forest restoration"
University of Minnesota Press release -- September 22nd, 2017
"Re-peeling the effects of degradation: low-tech application of orange crop waste shows potential to restore tropical forests"
Mongabay -- August 25, 2017
"Drones could be stressing out wildlife, scientists suggest"
Washington Post -- August 13, 2015.
