People

Chris Zganjar

Chris Zganjar
Climate Change Ecologist/Information Specialist

Brief biography
Currently Mr. Zganjar is the information manager for Global Climate Change Initiative of the Nature Conservancy. Chris is leading the team effort to gather and make available climate change scenarios, model results (ex. vegetation cover, C pools, fire emissions, sea level rise) and observations (satellite imagery, ocean acidity and sea surface temperature records) to document current and projected impacts of changes in climate. He supports the integration of climate change adaptation strategies into activities of the Northeast Region and Marine Region through information and data sharing and resource development through learning networks. Working with other Initiative members, Chris is also involved in the development of experiments to test hypothesis-based strategies for conservation through a formal adaptive management program in northeast North Carolina with the objective of attenuating the impacts of sea level rise on coastal biodiversity in the southeastern US. While working at TNC Chris has worked on a global multivariate spatio-temporal clustering projects designed to identify potential areas of environmental refugia under predicted future climate conditions. He is also participated in a collaborative study to develop an image processing methodology to detect the presence and quantify the extent of liana infestation in the Bolivian evergreen forest canopy bordering the Amazonian rainforest of Brazil. Chris is also analyzing the environmental co-benefits that could be achieved in the Northeast US region through various afforestation activities.

Prior to joining The Nature Conservancy, Chris was a research associate at Louisiana State University and The University of New Orleans. There he managed GIS projects and activities examining barrier island and wetland restoration, hurricane damage assessment, and coastal geomorphic research for the United States Geological Survey, United States Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources.