Speakers
AbstractDr. Virginia Burkett
Coordinator, Global Change Science, United States Geological Survey
Dr. Virginia Burkett is the Coordinator of Global Change Science at the U.S. Geological Survey. She had formerly served as Chief of the Forest Ecology Branch at the National Wetlands Research Center and subsequently as Associate Regional Chief Biologist for the USGS Central Region. Prior to becoming a DOI employee in 1991, Dr. Burkett was Director of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. During her career she has also served as Director of the Louisiana Coastal Zone Management Program, Deputy Director or the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and Assistant Director of the Louisiana Geological Survey.
She has published extensively on the topics of global change and low-lying coastal zones. Nominated by the U.S. government, she was a Lead Author on the United Nation's IPCC Third Assessment Report (2001) of global climate change and its impacts on coastal and marine ecosystems and she is now a Lead Author of the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report (2007). Dr. Burkett coordinated both the Coastal and Southeast synthesis chapters of the U.S. National Assessment of climate change and its impacts in 2001 and was a member of the U.S. National Assessment Synthesis Team. She was a member of the National Research Council’s Panel on River Basin and Coastal Systems Planning and several other expert panels, most recently being a panel on climate change impacts commissioned by the UN Framework Convention on Biological Diversity.
She received a B.S. in zoology and an M.S. in botany from Northwestern State University of Louisiana; her doctoral work in forestry was completed at Stephen F. Austin State University of Texas in 1996.
Links and Publications
Burkett, V.R., Wilcox, D.A., Stottlemeyer, R., Barrow, W., Fagre, D., Baron, J., Price, J., Neilsen, J.L., Allen, C.D., Peterson, D.L., Ruggerone, G., and Doyle, T. 2005. Nonlinear dynamics in ecosystem response to climatic change: case studies and policy implications. Ecological Complexity 2: 357-394.
Inkley, D.B., Anderson, M.G., Blaustein, A.R., Burkett, V.R., Felzer, B., Griffith, B., Price, J. and Root, T.L. 2004. Global climate change and wildlife in North America. The Wildlife Society, Bethesda, MD, Technical Review 04-1, 26 pp.
Burkett, V. R., D. B. Zilkoski & D. A. Hart (2003) Sea-level rise and subsidence: Implication for flooding in New Orleans. U.S. Geological Survey Subsidence Interest Group Conference, proceedings of he technical meeting. Water Resources Division (Open File Report 03-308). 27th - 29th November 2001. Galveston, Texas. U.S. Geological Survey. 63-70
Burkett, V.R. 2003. Potential impacts of climate change and variability on ransportation in the Gulf Coast / Mississippi Delta Region. The Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Transportation: Workshop Summary and Proceedings, October 1-2, 2002. U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Transportation Policy. 13 pp.
McLean, R.F., Tsyban, A., Burkett, V., Codignotto, J., Forbes, D., Ittekkot, V., Mimura, N., and Beamish, R.J. 2001. Coastal zones and marine ecosystems. IN: Climate Change: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Third Assessment Report, Working Group II report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). IPCC Secretariat, Geneva, Switzerland, pp. 343-379.
Burkett, V, Ritschard, R., McNulty, S., O’Brien, J.J., Abt, R., Jones, J., Hatch, U., Murray, B., Jagtap, S., and Cruise, J. 2001. Potential consequences of climate variability and change for the Southeastern United States. IN: Climate Change Impacts in the United States: Potential Consequences of Climate Change and Variability and Change. Foundation Document. U.S. Global Change Research Program, 400 Virginia Avenue SW, Washington, D.C. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 137-164.
Boesch, D.F., Scavia, D., Buddemeir, R.W., Burkett, V., Cayan, D.R., Field, J.C., Fogarty, M., Harwell, M.A., Howarth, R.W., Mason, C., Park, R., Piefrafesa, L., Reed, D.J., Royer, C.T., Sallenger, A.H., Spranger, M. and Titus, J.G. 2000. The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change on Coastal Areas and Marine Resources. NOAA Coastal Ocean Program Decision Analysis Series No. 21, NOAA Coastal Ocean Program, Silver Spring, MD, 163 pp.
Melillo, J.M., Janetos, A.C., Karl, T.R., Corell, R.C., Barron, E.J., Burkett, V., Cecich, T.F., Jacobs, K., Joyce, L., Miller, B., Morgan, M.G., Parson, E.A., Richels, R.G. and Schimel, D.S. 2000. Climate Change Impacts on the United States: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change, Overview. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 154 pp.
