Talk on New England’s Landscape Conditions Continues Environmental Lecture Series Oct. 27 at UMass Amherst
Oct. 15, 2009
| Contact: | Patrick Callahan 413/545-0444 |
AMHERST, Mass. –The Environmental Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst continues its fall 2009 Environmental Lecture Series with “Reading and Conserving New England: Insights from History and Ecology,” a talk by David Foster on Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 3:30 p.m. in the Student Union’s Cape Cod Lounge. The lecture is free and open to all.
Foster is a professor in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, as well as the director of Harvard Forest, the university’s 3500-acre ecological laboratory and classroom. The talk focuses on Foster’s belief that the history of every landscape or region has a strong impact on its current and future conditions. He will discuss the ecological insights that develop from observing the natural and cultural history of New England. He will also share how this knowledge can be used to predict future conditions and for conservation management.
Foster earned a doctorate in ecology from the University of Minnesota. The majority of his research is based on the landscape dynamics of the New England region, but he has studied the boreal forests of Labrador, Sweden and Norway and the forests of Puerto Rico, the Yucatan, and Patagon, first-hand. He is also a member on the boards of The Nature Conservancy -Massachusetts, Trustees of Reservations, Conservation Research Foundation and Highstead Foundation.
The Environmental Institute supports environmental research and education across campus. Through interdisciplinary working groups, laboratories, research centers, and this lecture series, the Institute seeks to expand environmental awareness at UMass.
The last speaker in this fall’s lecture series will be:
• Riley Dunlap, Regents Professor of Sociology, Oklahoma State University. Monday, Nov. 16, Student Union, Cape Cod Lounge, 3:30 p.m.
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