About the Authors

Observed Impacts of Global Climate Change in the U.S.

Dr. Camille Parmesan
University of Texas-Austin

Camille Parmesan is currently an Assistant Professor in Integrative Biology at the University of Texas at Austin.  Her early research focused on multiple aspects of population biology, including the ecology, evolution and behaviors of insect/plant interactions.  For the past several years, the focus of her work has been on current impacts of climate change on wild species.  Her work on global responses of wild plants and animals to recent climate change has been highlighted in many scientific and popular press reports, such as in Science, Science News, New York Times, Jim Lerher News Hour, NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News, National Public Radio, and the BBC film series "State of the Planet" with David Attenborough.
The intensification of  global warming  as an international issue led her into the interface of policy and science.  Parmesan has given seminars in DC for the White House, government agencies, and NGOs (e.g., IUCN and WWF).  As a lead author, she was involved in multiple aspects of the Third Assessment Report of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, United Nations).    Current involvements include  Chair of the new Climate Change Task Force of the IUCN and a new SCOPE Assessment of Impacts of Biodiversity Change on Human Health.

Dr. Hector Galbraith
Galbraith Environmental Sciences
& University of Colorado - Boulder

Dr. Galbraith is an ecologist whose main field of research over the last two decades has been the effects of human activities on the health of plant and animal populations and communities. His original research in this field focused on the impacts of agricultural intensification and “industrial” recreation on birds. Subsequent to that, he researched the effects of contaminants on wildlife. In the last decade he has increasingly concentrated on the potential impacts of climate change, carrying out research into such effects on high alpine organisms, including white-tailed ptarmigan, coastal shorebird habitats (as affected by sea-level rise), riparian habitats and wildlife in the desert southwest, and native fish species. Dr. Galbraith has also been much involved in developing methods and tools that will allow us to predict the vulnerability of individual species to climate change.  He currently runs his own environmental research company in southern Vermont.