Sarah Jane Wilson is a forest geographer with a background in ecology/biology (MSc, BSc) and human geography (PhD). She is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher with the PARTNERS restoration network at the University of Connecticut. She has worked with community-based forest restoration and conservation enterprises in montane cloud forests in Andean Ecuador and the Nepalese Himalaya, and in lowland jungle in Guatemala’s Peten. Her recent postdoc with the University of Michigan focused on understanding and assessing the social and ecological outcomes of community forestry and restoration. A recipient of the prestigious L’Oreal Women in Science Mentorship Award, she is also dedicated to teaching and developing communities of practice around pressing social and environmental challenges.
Skills and Expertise
- Climate Change
- Forest Ecology
- Natural Resource Management
- Biodiversity
- Plant Ecology
- Ecosystem Ecology
- Conservation
- Sustainability
- Conservation Biology
- Invasive Species
Projects (4)
FLARE community of practice, University of Michigan
Creating better outcomes for restoring forest landscapes
Replanting a future: restoring cloud forests, biodiversity and rural livelihoods in Andean landscapes
The Future of Forest Work and Communities
Publications
Wilson, S. J., O. T. Coomes, and C. O. Dallaire. 2019. The ‘ecosystem service scarcity path’ to forest recovery: a local forest transition in the Ecuadorian Andes. Regional Environmental Change September 2019: 1-15.
Brancalion, P. H. S., A. Nlamir, E. Broadbent, R. Crouzelles, F. Barros, A. Almeyda Zambrano, A. Baccini, J. Aronson, S. Goetz, J. L. Reid, B. Strassburg, S. Wilson, R. Chazdon. 2019. Global restoration opportunities in tropical rainforest landscapes. Science Advances 5(7), July 2019.
Wilson, S. J., and O. T. Coomes. 2019. ‘Crisis restoration’ in post-frontier tropical environments: Replanting cloud forests in the Ecuadorian Andes. Journal of Rural Studies 67: 152-165, April 2019.
Reyes-García, V., Á. Fernández-Llamazares, P. McElwee, Z. Molnár, K. Öllerer, S. J. Wilson, E. S. Brondizio. 2018. The contributions of Indigenous Peoples and local communities to ecological restoration. Restoration Ecology, October 2018.
Aldred, D., et. al. 2018. Forest and Water on a Changing Planet: Vulnerability, Adaptation and Governance Opportunities: A Global Assessment Report. IUFRO World Series Vol. 38.
Wilson, S. J., J. Schelhas, R. Grau, A. S. Nanni, S. Sloan. 2017. Forest ecosystem-service transitions: The ecological dimensions of the forest transition. Ecology and Society 22(4), December 2017.
Reid, J. L., S. J. Wilson, G. Bloomfield, M. Cattau, M. E. Fagan, K. Holl, R. A. Zahawi. 2017. How Long Do Restored Ecosystems Persist? Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 102(2): 258-265, August 2017.
Watkins, C., J. Zavaleta, S. J. Wilson, S. Francisco. 2017. Developing an interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral community of practice in the domain of forests and livelihoods. Conservation Biology 32(1), July 2017.
Wilson, S. J., and J. M. Rhemtulla. 2017. Small montane cloud forest fragments are important for conserving tree diversity in the Ecuadorian Andes. Biotropica, June 2017.
Wilson, S. J., and D. Cagalanan. 2016. Governing restoration: Strategies, adaptations and innovations for tomorrow’s forest landscapes. World Development Perspectives, December 2016.
Wilson, S. J. 2016. Communal management as a strategy for restoring cloud forest landscapes in Andean Ecuador. World Development Perspectives, September 2016.
Chazdon, R. L., P. Brancalion, L. Laestadius, A. Bennett, K. Buckingham, C. Kumar, J. Moll-Rocek, I. Vieira, S. Wilson. 2016. When is a forest a forest? Forest concepts and definitions in the era of forest and landscape restoration. AMBIO A Journal of the Human Environment 45(5), March 2016.
Wilson, S. J. and J. Rhemtulla. 2016. Accelleration and novelty: Community restoration speeds recovery and transforms species composition in Andean cloud forest. Ecological Applications 26(1): 203-218.
Hoffman, A. J., K. Ashworth, C. Dwelle, P. Goldberg, A. Henderson, L. Merlin, Y. Chhabra, N. Simon, V. Taylor, C. Weisheit, S. Wilson. 2015. Academic Engagement in Public and Political Discourse: Proceedings of the Michigan Meeting. SSRN Electronic Journal, January 2015.
Jacob, A. L., S. Wilson, SL Lewis. 2014. Forests are more than sticks of carbon. Nature 507(7492), March 2014.