Toni Lyn Morelli

Feb 27, 2025 | nature.com | Toni Lyn Morelli |Uzma Ashraf |Rachel K. Luu |Rebecca Hernandez |Rae Bear |Daphne Condon | +4 more

Large-scale (e.g., > 1 megawatt capacity) wind and solar energy (hereafter, LSWS) developments are increasing to aid decarbonization. However, LSWS can also negatively affect biodiversity. Planners and other interested parties’ perceptions about the impact of LSWS on biodiversity will thus affect how trade-offs are managed during planning and buildout. We present a survey of professionals (n = 116) working at the intersection of LSWS and biodiversity protection across the United States concerning: (1) perceived environmental impacts from LSWS expansion; and (2) how these impacts compare to other land-use and land-cover change drivers. We find that practitioners perceive LSWS to impact biodiversity negatively but less so than other land-cover change drivers, including fossil fuels and agriculture. This highlights the need for increased attention to the role of practitioners in advancing renewable energy and biodiversity conservation.

Jul 19, 2024 | pubs.usgs.gov | Sarah R. Weiskopf |Susannah B. Lerman |Forest Isbell |Toni Lyn Morelli

Links More information: Publisher Index Page (via DOI) Open Access Version: Publisher Index Page Download citation as: RIS | Dublin Core Publication type Article Publication Subtype Journal Article Title Biodiversity promotes urban ecosystem functioning Series title Ecography DOI 10.1111/ecog.07366 Edition Online First Year Published 2024 Language English Publisher Nordic Society Oikos Contributing office(s) National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center, National Climate Adaptation...

Jul 18, 2024 | nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com | Sarah R. Weiskopf |Susannah B. Lerman |Forest Isbell |Toni Lyn Morelli

Introduction Human activities are leading to declines in biodiversity that are unprecedented in human history (Díaz et al. 2019). The effects of biodiversity on ecological processes can be substantial, and are expected to grow stronger at large spatial and temporal scales (Cardinale et al. 2011, Isbell et al. 2017, O'Connor et al. 2017, Loreau et al. 2022).

May 22, 2024 | nature.com | Sarah R. Weiskopf |Forest Isbell |Moreno Di Marco |Justin Johnson |Brian Miller |Toni Lyn Morelli | +1 more

AbstractNatural ecosystems store large amounts of carbon globally, as organisms absorb carbon from the atmosphere to build large, long-lasting, or slow-decaying structures such as tree bark or root systems. An ecosystem’s carbon sequestration potential is tightly linked to its biological diversity. Yet when considering future projections, many carbon sequestration models fail to account for the role biodiversity plays in carbon storage.