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The Nature Conservancy in Africa - Conservation in Africa

The Nature Conservancy in Asia Pacific - Conservation in Asia-Pacific

The Nature Conservancy in the Caribbean - Conservation in the Caribbean

The Nature Conservancy in Central America - Conservation in Central America

The Nature Conservancy in North America - Conservation in North America

The Nature Conservancy in the United States - Conservation in the United States

The Nature Conservancy in South America - Conservation in South America

 

Meredith Cornett
© TNC

Meredith Cornett, Ph.D.

Director of Conservation Science

Meredith Cornett has directed The Nature Conservancy’s science program in Minnesota and the Eastern Dakotas since August 2003. In this capacity, she oversees conservation planning, research, and ecological monitoring activities, often in collaboration with universities, land management agencies, and other non-governmental organizations.  In addition, she is an adjunct faculty member in Forest Resources and the Conservation Biology Program at the University of Minnesota.  Her previous positions include Conservation Ecologist for the Conservancy’s Northeast Minnesota Program, Forest Ecologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and Community Forestry Extensionist with the Peace Corps in the Republic of Panama.  Dr. Cornett received a Ph.D. (2000) and M.S. (1996) in Forestry from the University of Minnesota’s College of Natural Resources in St. Paul and holds a B.A. in Biology from Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio.  Her dissertation work examined restoration and conservation strategies of upland northern white cedar forests on the North Shore of Lake Superior.  The focus of her recent work is on applying ecological disturbance theory in the development of land management practices that are ecologically compatible and economically viable.

Feature Projects

  • Effects of land management on native arthropod diversity in the Agassiz Beach Ridges of Minnesota (with David Rider and Jerry Fauske, Principle Investigators, North Dakota State University, and Brian Winter, Program Manager, The Nature Conservancy).

    Natural disturbance processes in the Northern Tallgrass Prairie Ecoregion included fire and grazing by native herbivores. Native tallgrass prairie has been largely fragmented, with <1% of the original habitat remaining. The Nature Conservancy manages small preserves using methods intended to simulate historical disturbance processes. Techniques include prescribed fire, cattle grazing and haying. Collaborators from NDSU are evaluating the impacts of our management practices on native arthropods under different management regimes in comparison with unmanaged prairie remnants using a ten year data set collected from three sites.
  • Effectiveness of biological controls for leafy spurge and implications for native plant diversity in tallgrass prairie (in collaboration with Pete Bauman, The Nature Conservancy; David Breyfogle, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources; Cynthia Lane and Carolyln Carr, Ecological Strategies, LLC).

    We have examined the effectiveness of several biocontrol methods for leafy spurge at a number of sites throughout the Northern Tallgrass Prairie Ecoregion with an interest in the response of the target weed and the native plant community. Biocontrols examined include goats, sheep and flea beetles at Altamont Prairie in South Dakota for ten years. Ongoing work related to flea beetles continues at Broken Kettle (Iowa), Crystal Springs (South Dakota) and Brown Ranch (North Dakota).