Katherine Charton
Plant community ecology; disturbance ecology; climate change adaptation; restoration ecology; adaptive management; community-engaged research
Background & Expertise
Katherine Charton is an applied ecologist who collaborates with the Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center to study climate and environmental change and inform adaptation strategies that support both people and natural systems. She currently leads projects on how climate change is altering prescribed fire windows, how evolutionary principles can strengthen adaptation research and practice, and how local wildlife shape conservation attitudes. She works closely with managers, decision-makers and the public to make sure her research addresses real needs and informs meaningful action.
Charton earned her PhD from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she led two long-term experiments in tallgrass prairie examining interactions between prescribed fire and winter snow cover and between woody plant management and drought. She also holds a BS in conservation and resource studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and previously worked as a research assistant at Archbold Biological Station in south-central Florida. Though she has lived across the U.S., Charton now proudly calls the Midwest home. She enjoys swimming, cooking, reading and spending winter indoors.
Spotlight on Recent Interdisciplinary Research
How can we help immigrant farmers better adapt to Midwestern farming? What can we learn from Cuba’s National Health System? How can we make drought outlook graphics more intuitive and useful? These are some questions considered in recent publications authored by Institute on the Environment research staff and affiliates.