Joshua Lawler

About

Joshua Lawler is a professor and the Orin and Althea Soest Chair in Urban Horticulture at the University of Washington's School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. His research areas include climate change and adaptation, conservation science, landscape ecology, nature-human interactions, statistics, spatial analysis, modeling, and wildlife science. His work focuses on understanding and addressing the impacts of climate change on biodiversity, species vulnerability, and ecological processes, with particular attention to at-risk species and coastal environments. Lawler's research involves forecasting the impacts of multiple stressors, assessing climate vulnerability, and modeling sea-level rise effects in the Pacific Northwest. He has contributed to conservation planning and ecological modeling, emphasizing the importance of integrating climate change considerations into biodiversity preservation and land management strategies.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Environmental science
• Geography
• Environmental planning
• Business
• Ecology
• Environmental resource management

Selected publications

• An ecosystem service perspective on urban nature, physical activity, and health

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2021 · 239 citations

  Nature underpins human well-being in critical ways, especially in health. Nature provides pollination of nutritious crops, purification of drinking water, protection from floods, and climate security, among other well-studied health benefits. A crucial, yet challenging, research frontier is clarifying how nature promotes physical activity for its many mental and physical health benefits, particularly in densely populated cities with scarce and dwindling access to nature. Here we frame this front…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Global review on interactions between insect pests and other forest disturbances

  Landscape Ecology · 2021-02-23 · 108 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Conserving biodiversity in the face of rapid climate change requires a shift in priorities

  Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change · 2022-09-04 · 50 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract The field of conservation aims to protect biodiversity—the diversity of life on earth in all its forms. Traditional conservation objectives and measures have already been expanded and modified in response to shifting social values and climate‐related challenges. As climate change progresses, we argue that these changes will need to be accelerated. First, an even greater fraction of conservation objectives will need to prioritize the basic well‐being of humans, especially in areas where…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Relocated beaver can increase water storage and decrease stream temperature in headwater streams

  Ecosphere · 2022-07-01 · 31 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Many areas are experiencing increasing stream temperatures due to climate change, and some are experiencing reduced summer stream flows and water availability. Because dam building and pond formation by beaver can increase water storage, stream cooling, and riparian ecosystem resilience, beaver have been proposed as a potential climate adaption tool. Despite the large number of studies that have evaluated how beaver activity may affect hydrology and water temperature, few experimental s…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The relationship between natural environments and subjective well-being as measured by sentiment expressed on Twitter

  Landscape and Urban Planning · 2022-08-22 · 27 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• CNH: Collaborative Research: Integrated Dynamic Modeling of Ecosystem Services, Incentive-Based Policies, Land-Use Decisions, and Ecological Outcomes

  NSF · $341k · 2008–2013

Frequent coauthors

• Julian D. Olden

  University of Washington

  30 shared

• Christian E. Grue

  University of Washington

  24 shared

• Christian E. Torgersen

  United States Geological Survey

  21 shared

• Julia Michalak

  United States Army

  20 shared

• Andrew R. Blaustein

  Oregon State University

  19 shared

• Hartwell H. Welsh

  Pacific Southwest Research Station

  18 shared

• Brad H. McRae

  The Nature Conservancy

  17 shared

• Chad B. Wilsey

  National Audubon Society

  17 shared

Labs

• Lawler LabPI

Education

• PhD in Ecology

  Utah State University

  2000

Awards & honors

• Orin and Althea Soest Chair in Urban Horticulture

Similar researchers at University of Washington

• Dan Brownh-65
• Aaron J. Wirsingh-53
• Jonathan Bakkerh-47