Rua Mordecai

South Atlantic and Southeast Conservation Blueprint

Term: 2021 - 2024

Monitoring and Assessment Team Assignment: Terrestrial Resources (Lead)

STAC Member Since: January 2013

Title: Science Coordinator

Department: Conservation Science, South Atlantic and Southeast Conservation Blueprint

Education: PhD Forest Resources, University of Georgia (2007); BS Environmental Science, Minor Zoology, University of Florida (2001)

Primary Focus Area: Conservation design that integrates terrestrial, freshwater, and marine systems

Secondary Focus Area(s): Integrated planning for natural and cultural resources, Design of online tools to support conservation decisions.

Career Experiences: I am the science coordinator for the South Atlantic and Southeast Conservation Blueprint. In that role, I focus on the technical details of integrating science and partners to inform conservation decisions and support the Conservation Blueprint's vision of landscape-scale conservation. I am particularly interested in the psychology of conservation decision-making, integrated conservation design for dynamic landscapes, and Bayesian hierarchical models of large landscape and waterscape processes. Ultimately, I hope my work will lead to improvements in the natural and cultural resources of the South Atlantic region through more coordinated conservation decisionmaking in the face of future change (climate, urban growth, sea level rise).