The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation is pleased to announce our upcoming “Biodiversity Days” on March 3rd and 4th at The Carolina Theatre and the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. This year’s theme is ‘Biodiversity in a Changing Climate’.
Biodiversity Days are focused on cultivating awareness and promoting understanding as a key foundation for engagement, action and inspired care of our planet.
Join notable scientists and conservationists at The Carolina Theater and the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University for two full days of public lectures, roundtable discussions, book readings, and film screenings addressing the most important conservation issues and restoration efforts of our time.
Evening highlights include:
• Thursday, March 3, at The Carolina Theatre – The James and Cathleen Stone Distinguished Lectureship in Biodiversity: “Biodiversity in a Changing Climate: Three Perspectives” with Tom Lovejoy (George Mason University), Healy Hamilton (NatureServe), and Mark Anderson (The Nature Conservancy). Moderated by Stuart Pimm (Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University).
• Friday, March 4, at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University – Double Feature: Screening of “The Forgotten Coast” and Q&A with Scientific Cast (Mallory Dimmitt and Joe Guthrie) and Director (Eric Bendick) and Screening of “Racing Extinction” and Q&A with Stuart Pimm. Love Auditorium.
TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW
All events are free and open to the public, but are ticketed. Tickets for events can be obtained through the Biodiversity Days 2016 Eventbrite page.
Please check this page often for the latest updates.
Day 1: Biodiversity Days
THURSDAY, MARCH 3
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10:00 am: Tom Lovejoy (George Mason University) and Stuart Pimm (Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University)
‘Piecing the Fragments Together: Conservation through Habitat Corridors’
Environment Hall, Field Auditorium (Room 1112), 9 Circuit Drive, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke UniversityWith the ever-growing demands of humanity, the Earth is becoming one giant landscape jigsaw puzzle. Connecting these puzzle pieces together may be the best way to conserve the biodiversity of the world. Dr. Tom Lovejoy and Dr. Stuart Pimm discuss habitat corridors and biodiversity conservation.
Thomas E. Lovejoy was elected University Professor at George Mason in March 2010. He also serves as Senior Fellow at the United Nations Foundation. From 2008-2013 he was the Biodiversity Chair at the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment and was President 2002-2008. An ecologist who has worked in the Brazilian Amazon since 1965, he works on the interface of science and environmental policy. Starting in the 1970s he helped bring attention to the issue of tropical deforestation and in 1980 published the first estimate of global extinction rates (in the Global 2000 Report to the President). He conceived the idea for the long term study on forest fragmentation in the Amazon (started in 1978) which is the largest experiment in landscape ecology, the Minimum Critical Size of Ecosystems project (also known as the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project). He also coined the term “Biological diversity”, originated the concept of debt-for-nature swaps and has worked on the interaction between climate change and biodiversity for more than 20 years. He is the founder of the public television series “Nature”. In the past, he served as the Senior Advisor to the President of the United Nations Foundation, as the Chief Biodiversity Advisor and Lead Specialist for the Environment for the Latin American region for the World Bank, as the Assistant Secretary for Environmental and External Affairs for the Smithsonian Institution, and as Executive Vice President of World Wildlife Fund-US. In 2002 he was awarded the The Tyler Prize and in 2009 he was the winner of BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Ecology and Conservation Biology Category. In 2012 he received the Blue Planet Prize. He has served on advisory councils in the Reagan, George H.W, Bush, and Clinton administrations. In 2009 he was appointed Conservation Fellow by the National Geographic. He chairs the Scientific and Technical Panel for the Global Environment Facility which provides funding related to the international environmental conventions. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. (biology) from Yale University.
Professor Stuart Leonard Pimm is the Doris Duke Chair of Conservation Ecology at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. He studies present day extinctions and what can be done to prevent them. Pimm wrote the acclaimed assessment of the human impact to the planet: The World According to Pimm: a Scientist Audits the Earth in 2001. Pimm directs SavingSpecies, a 501c3 non-profit that restores degraded lands in areas of exceptional tropical biodiversity.His international honours include the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (2010), the Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (2006), the Society for Conservation Biology’s Edward T. LaRoe III Memorial Award (2006), and the William Proctor Prize for Scientific Achievement in 2007 from Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. Pimm received his BSc degree from Oxford University in 1971 and his PhD from New Mexico State University in 1974.
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11:00 am: Brian Murray (Nicholas Institute/Nicholas School), David Toole (Theology, Ethics, and Global Health), and Emily Pechar (PhD Student, University Program in Environmental Policy). Moderated by Jeff Vincent (Nicholas School).
‘The Papal Encyclical: Religion and Science Working Together to Care for our Planet’
Environment Hall, Field Auditorium, 9 Circuit Drive, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke UniversityThe panel will be a moderated discussion. The three panelists will each provide 5-10 minutes of comments on the Pope’s June, 2015 encyclical letter on the environment, “On Care For Our Common Home,” followed by Q&A with the audience.
Brian Murray, director of the Environmental Economics Program at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and interim director of the Duke University Energy Initiative, is widely recognized for his work on the economics of climate change policy. This includes the design of cap-and-trade policy elements to address cost containment and inclusion of offsets from traditionally uncapped sectors such as agriculture and forestry. Murray is among the original designers of the allowance price reserve approach for containing prices in carbon markets that was adopted by California and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) cap-and-trade programs. Throughout his 23-year research career, he has produced many peer-reviewed publications on topics ranging from the design of market-based environmental policies and the effectiveness of renewable energy subsidies to the evaluation of programs to protect natural habitats such as forests, coastal and marine ecosystems. In 2015 he was Fulbright Chair in Environment and Economy at University of Ottawa. He holds both a doctoral and master’s degree in resource economics and policy from Duke University and a bachelor’s degree in economics and finance from the University of Delaware.
David Toole is Associate Professor of the Practice of Theology, Ethics, and Global Health. He is a Sr. Fellow in the Kenan Institute for Ethics, Associate Dean for Interdisciplinary Initiatives in the Divinity School, and Director of Undergraduate Studies for Global Health. He teaches courses on health systems, theology and social science, and various topics in ethics (ethics and humanitarianism, ethics and Native America, ethics and narrative). He conducts research on the role of mission hospitals in African health systems, is the author of Waiting for Godot in Sarajevo: Theological Reflections on Nihilism, Tragedy, and Apocalypse, and is working on a book titled What Are People For? Questions Concerning What It Means to be Human.
Emily Pechar is a PhD student in the Environmental Policy program at Duke. Her research focuses on climate change policy making and the psychological perceptions of climate change in the United States and internationally. She also leads the Duke UN Climate Negotiations Practicum, which engages graduate students in the international climate change negotiations. She is currently working on a dissertation project that evaluates the changing perceptions of climate change among Catholics under Pope Francis.
Jeffrey R. Vincent is the Clarence F. Korstian Professor of Forest Economics and Management in the Nicholas School of the Environment at the Duke University, chair of the Nicholas School’s Division of Environmental Sciences and Policy, co-chair of the Nicholas School’s Master of Forestry program, and co-lead of Duke’s campus-wide Tropical Conservation Initiative. He is also a fellow at the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics in the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, a fellow and resource person with the South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE), a resource person with the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA), and a member of the policy and technical experts committee for the World Bank’s Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES) program. Prior to joining Duke, Vincent held positions in the Graduate School of International Relations & Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego; the Institute for International Development at Harvard University; and the Department of Forestry at Michigan State University. Vincent’s research focuses on the economics of natural resources and the environment in developing countries, with a primary focus on tropical forestry issues in Asia. He received the 2006 Cozzarelli Prize for the best article in applied biological, agricultural, and environmental sciences published in the Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the 2003 McKinsey Award for the most significant article published in the Harvard Business Review. He has a Ph.D. in environment and development economics from Yale University, an M.S. in forestry from Michigan State University, and an A.B. in social anthropology from Harvard University.
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12:00 pm: Roland Kays (North Carolina State University)
‘The New Field Biologist’s Tool Kit: Using Technology and Citizen Science to Keep Track of Our Changing Planet’
Environment Hall, Field Auditorium, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University
Dr. Roland Kays is the head of the Biodiversity lab at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science and a Research Professor in the Fisheries, Wildlife & Conservation Program at NC State University. Roland is interested in how, where, and why animals move, and his research typically involves bringing the latest technology into the wild parts of the world to discover new things. His work has allowed him to explore tropical rainforests, African savannas, and suburban woodlots. He was co-discoverer of the olinguito, a new species of mammal from Ecuador and is the cofounder of the Movebank animal tracking database and the eMammal camera-trapping database. Roland is the author of the Princeton Field Guide “Mammals of North America” and has a new book coming this May: “Candid Creatures: How Camera Traps Reveal the Mysteries of Nature”. Kays received his BSc degree from Cornell University (1993) and his PhD from the University of Tennessee (1999).
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12:00 pm: Elizabeth Kalies (The Nature Conservancy) and Chuck Peoples (The Nature Conservancy)
‘Helping North Carolina’s Coast Adapt to Change’
Environment Hall, Board Room 5109, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke UniversityDealing with the effects of climate change, or climate change adaptation, involves managing risks and trying to increase ecosystem and community resilience. The Nature Conservancy’s North Carolina chapter has been working on the Albemarle Pamlico Climate Change Adaptation Project since 2008. This large project includes work on coastal wetlands restoration and water management, carbon sequestration research and accounting, and oyster reef restoration. TNC’s Chuck Peoples, Program Manager for the Albemarle Whole System, and Liz Kalies, Director of Science for the NC chapter, will discuss TNC’s efforts to conserve North Carolina’s biodiversity in the face of climate change and other anthropogenic threats.
Liz is the Director of Science for the NC chapter of TNC. She is a terrestrial ecologist, with expertise in wildlife field ecology, wildlife-habitat relationships, and quantitative ecology. At TNC, she focuses on (1) coordination of large-scale monitoring to assess land protection outcomes, (2) using evidence-based synthesis approaches to answer management questions, and (3) research on wildlife ecology and connectivity.
Prior to joining TNC in 2011, Liz worked extensively in western forests on forest restoration and wildfire and the impacts on wildlife population and communities, with the Ecological Restoration Institute in Arizona. She has a PhD in wildlife ecology from Northern Arizona University, a master’s degree in ecology from Yale University, and a BS in biology from Cornell University.
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1:00 pm: Roland Kays (North Carolina State University)
‘Discussion of the The New Field Biologist’s Tool Kit: Using Technology and Citizen Science to Keep Track of Our Changing Planet’
Environment Hall, Seminar Room 4100, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke UniversityDr. Roland Kays is the head of the Biodiversity lab at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science and a Research Professor in the Fisheries, Wildlife & Conservation Program at NC State University. Roland is interested in how, where, and why animals move, and his research typically involves bringing the latest technology into the wild parts of the world to discover new things. His work has allowed him to explore tropical rainforests, African savannas, and suburban woodlots. He was co-discoverer of the olinguito, a new species of mammal from Ecuador and is the cofounder of the Movebank animal tracking database and the eMammal camera-trapping database. Roland is the author of the Princeton Field Guide “Mammals of North America” and has a new book coming this May: “Candid Creatures: How Camera Traps Reveal the Mysteries of Nature”. Kays received his BSc degree from Cornell University (1993) and his PhD from the University of Tennessee (1999).
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1:00 pm: ‘The Forgotten Coast’ Cast (Mallory Dimmitt and Joe Guthrie) and Director (Eric Bendick)
‘Zero to Hero: How Films and Social Media can have Big Impacts on Conservation’
Environment Hall, Board Room 5109, 9 Circuit Drive, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University
Following in the footsteps of a wandering Florida black bear, three friends (including MEM grad, Mallory Dimmitt!) leave civilization and become immersed in a vast and unexplored wildlife corridor stretching from the Everglades to the Florida-Alabama border. The rugged thousand-mile journey by foot, paddle, and bike traverses Florida’s “Forgotten Coast”—a wilderness that has the potential to transform the way we see the natural world. The “Forgotten Coast” film and social media effort combined conservation science with compelling imagery and rich storytelling to highlight the importance of the Florida Wildlife Corridor and inspire its protection. Through education and citizen engagement, this effort is working to protect the missing links needed to connect conservation lands in the Corridor.
“The Forgotten Coast” Director, Eric Bendick is the Series Producer and occasional unwitting stuntman for Grizzly Creek Films based in Bozeman, Montana. His writing and producing credits for broadcast, theatrical, and new media clients include National Geographic Television, PBS, History Channel, Animal Planet, Harvard University’s Center for Health and the Global Environment, Patagonia, The Cougar Fund, Yellowstone to Yukon, and TERRA: The Nature of Our World. His work has precipitated a Webby Award, a Wildscreen Panda Award, a Best Newcomer nomination at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, and a Best Conservation Film Award from the American Conservation Film Festival. Until he sells all his worldly possessions to circumnavigate the world by sailboat, he can be found playing in snow, rock, water, and ice in the mountains of Montana.
Mallory Dimmitt is the Executive Director of the Florida Wildlife Corridor, a conservation communications organization that showcases opportunities to protect the missing links in the Corridor, preserve Florida’s waters, and sustain working lands and rural economies statewide. Mallory planned, fundraised for and led the group’s Glades to Gulf Expedition in early 2015, a 70-day, 1000-mile trek with media and outreach goals, including a one-hour documentary for PBS. She most recently led the Florida Wildlife Corridor’s board of directors in a strategic planning effort to refine the organization’s direction and activities post-Expeditions, and developed a plan to work with a full suite of partners to influence the protection of the Corridor while sustaining the needs of the organization.
Previously Mallory led The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado Plateau Initiative from Telluride, Colorado, assessing large-scale conservation opportunities in a four-state region of the West, and prior to that directed the Southwest Colorado Project for the Conservancy’s Colorado Chapter. She has served as a member of Telluride’s Town Council and has worked with local, regional, state, and federal agencies and organizations on natural resource issues. Mallory earned her B.S. in Natural Resources from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. She was awarded a Doris Duke Conservation Fellowship at Duke University’s Nicholas School of Environment, where she earned a Masters of Environmental Management (MEM) in Environmental Economics and Policy, as well as a certificate in Non-profit Management. Mallory specializes in large landscape conservation and the nexus of agriculture and conservation, freshwater resources, and payments for ecosystem services. In August she completed a 22-month leadership program as a member of Class IX of the Wedgworth Leadership Institute for Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Joe Guthrie is a staff conservation biologist at Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects in Charlottesville, Va. Joe uses his background in wildlife sciences and landscape ecology to assist on a range of conservation and restoration projects in Virginia, West Virginia, Texas, and Tasmania. Prior to joining NBW, Joe’s research on the Florida black bear helped inspire two 1100-mile expeditions as a member of the Florida Wildlife Corridor campaign. He helped coordinate and lead both expeditions, and co-authored the 2015 book The Forgotten Coast: Florida Wildlife Corridor Glades to Gulf. Joe earned a M.S. in forestry from the University of Kentucky and a B.A. in English from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. He is originally from Henry County, Kentucky.
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2:00 pm: Healy Hamilton (NatureServe)
‘Biodiversity Indicators: Integrating Science, Art, and Marketing to Communicate Biodiversity Status and Trends’
Environment Hall, Board Room 5109, 9 Circuit Drive, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University
A suite of multilateral environmental agreements have been adopted by virtually all nations, focused on a broad range of conservation targets such as migratory species, wetlands, and halting the rate of biodiversity decline. For these global agreements to be successful, indicators are required that assess the baseline, status and trends of biodiversity targets at multiple spatial scales. Creative approaches across disciplines such as remote sensing, data visualization, and communications are essential to generate and disseminate measures that convey the successes and challenges to conservation.
Dr. Healy Hamilton is currently Chief Scientist and Vice President for Conservation Science at NatureServe. She is a biodiversity scientist with broad interests in the evolution and conservation of the diversity of life. Her current research focus is global change biology, with an emphasis on forecasting the impacts of climate change on species and ecosystems for natural resource management and conservation. Dr. Hamilton is committed to public understanding of global change, and explores data visualization approaches to improve ecological literacy. In her spare time, she studies the taxonomy, evolution and conservation genetics of seahorses and their relatives. She obtained her masters degree at Yale University and her Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, and for both degrees she conducted extensive fieldwork in South America. Dr. Hamilton is President of the Society for Conservation GIS and serves on the Science Committee of the National Park Service Advisory Board. She is a Switzer Foundation Environmental Leadership grantee and a former U.S. Fulbright Scholar.
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2:00 pm: Richard Carroll (former WWF)
‘From the Forests of Africa to the Jungles of Washington: Helping Conservation Happen’
Environment Hall, Room 4100, 9 Circuit Drive, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University
As a Conservation Biologist, Dr. Carroll has stalked rhinos in the savanna sun, tracked gorillas through the tangled forests. But that’s only the beginning. He sat on logs with the BaAka and listened as they outlined their needs to adapt to the changing world around them. That message was taken from the pygmy paths to parliament halls, to the highest political levels, into the conservation and development maelstrom. An effective conservationist must bridge biology, socio/economics and political dynamics.
Recently retired from the World Wildlife Fund as Vice President for the Africa and Madagascar Programs, Richard Carroll’s conservation career spans almost 40 years. He earned a Doctor of Forestry Degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, with a dissertation on the feeding ecology of western lowland gorillas in the Central African Republic (CAR). From 1976 through 1992, he lived in CAR, studying to status of western black rhinos, forest and savanna elephants, gorillas and establishing conservation programs bringing together the imperative for protecting natural resources, the needs and rights of indigenous peoples, and the economic development of the country. This expanded into a Congo Basin wide program resulting in 40% of these forest in 11 conservation landscapes. Until retiring in February 2014, he managed the continent-wide, WWF Africa and Madagascar Programs as Vice President.
Carroll has extensive experience in large program planning, development and management including effective fundraising with the public and private sector. He is an integrated, global conservation leader with cultural sensitivity and diplomacy. He thrives in multi-cultural environment, working from local to global to promote sustainable conservation. He is a lifelong learner and listens closely to the voices of those whose livelihood depends on intact environments. He visualizes the big picture and inspire and convince decision makers to create large scale conservation efforts. As a story teller, public speaker, and communicator, he has developed and enhanced environmental education programs and inspired all sectors of the public to participate in conservation efforts.
Some signature accomplishments include: the establishment of the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Area Network in the Central African Republic; co-initiating of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership Program; enhancing Community Based Natural Resource Management in Namibia’s Conservancies.
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3:00 pm: Jim McClintock (University of Alabama at Birmingham)
‘Fighting the Cold: Stories from Antartica and How to Communicate Science with the Public’
Environment Hall, Board Room 5109, 9 Circuit Drive, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University
Through my books, magazine articles, lectures, and website-based educational outreach efforts, I have focused on several elements that I have found particularly effective at engaging a public audience: adventure, discovery, and the personal touch. In this discussion, I will share my accounts of Antarctic adventure (losing our way in a storm, camping in ice cold remote inaccessible field sites, etc.), discovery (observing a tiny shrimp capture and carry a live toxic sea butterfly to defend itself from predators), and personal stories (the transition in the technology of communicating with my family over thirty years of Antarctic research, dealing with a life-threatening event with a family member while in Antarctica and unable to return). I will also discuss how I have learned to best communicate in with the public, the use of metaphor, avoiding scientific jargon, and other effective techniques. Throughout my informal presentation there will be an opportunity for input and discussion from all those attending.
James B. McClintock is the Endowed University Professor of Polar and Marine Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz (1978) and his doctoral degree from the University of South Florida (1984). In 1987, after completing a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California at Santa Cruz, he joined the faculty of the Department of Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He became a Full Professor at UAB in 1997 and has also served as Dean of the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (1999-2003) and as Interim Dean of the Graduate School (2003-2005).
Dr. McClintock’s research has been funded continuously over the past 25 years by the National Science Foundation and focuses on aspects of marine invertebrate nutrition, reproduction, and primarily, Antarctic marine chemical ecology. Over the past decade his research has also encompassed studies of the impacts of rapid climate change and ocean acidification on Antarctic marine algae and invertebrates. He has published over 235 scientific publications, edited and written books, been invited to make numerous scientific and popular science presentations, and his research has been featured in a variety of public media outlets including the NPR Diane Rehm Show, NPR’s “On Point” with Tom Ashbrook, National Geographic Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, Discover Magazine, Scientific American Magazine, CNN, the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and The Weather Channel. He has served on National Academy of Sciences workshops on Climate Change and Polar Ecosystems. He recently returned from his 14th research expedition to Antarctica where over the past two decades he and his research collaborators have become among the world’s authorities on Antarctic marine chemical ecology and drug discovery and have developed an award winning interactive educational outreach web site (www.antarctica.uab.edu).
His expertise on the ecological impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on marine life of the Antarctic Peninsula has garnered numerous invited lectures and he writes in the popular literature on this timely topic. His book Lost Antarctica: Adventures in a Disappearing Land (Palgrave/MacMillan) was released in September 2012 (paperback edition released in 2014 with new Foreward by Sylvia Earle) and has garnered considerable national and international praise. In June 2013, a video short based on his book was produced and released by the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation that featured narration by Harrison Ford. His second book, A Naturalist Goes Fishing (St. Martins/MacMillan) combines fishing adventures with an overview of ever more pressing needs for freshwater and marine conservation will be released October 27, 2015 (http://us.macmillan.com/anaturalistgoesfishing/jamesmcclintock).
He has been the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions including the UAB Ellen Gregg Ingalls Recognition for Excellence in Teaching and the UAB Caroline P. and Charles W. Ireland Prize for Outstanding Scholarship. In 2001 he was selected as the winner of the Wright A. Gardner Award for the most outstanding scientist in the state of Alabama and he was selected in 2012 to serve on the Board of Advisors of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1998 the United States Board on Geographic Names designated the geographic feature “McClintock Point” in honor of his contributions to Antarctic science.
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3:00 pm: Todd Witcher and Richard Carroll (Discover Life in America)
‘Global Biodiversity Census Initiative’
Environment Hall, Board Room 4100, 9 Circuit Drive, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke UniversityIn partnership with the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, Discover Life in America is launching the Global Biodiversity Census Initiative with the mission to obtain a baseline estimate of the world’s total biodiversity by intensive, scientific sampling of life at selected reserves, parks, and other priority areas while instilling communities with a strong awareness of biodiversity and an appreciation of the fragile complexity of our natural resources.
Todd P. Witcher is the Executive Director of Discover Life in America (DLIA). DLIA is the non-profit coordinating the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Before becoming the ED at DLIA he worked as an educator for Ijams Nature Center in Knoxville Tennessee for 16 years. Todd has an undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee in Biology (1987), a Masters in Business from Lincoln Memorial University (1991), and a Masters in Education from the University of Tennessee (1997). Todd is an eighth generation Tennessean having grown up in the small town of Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee where the Witcher family has lived since the late 1700’s. In his spare time Todd enjoys hiking, traveling, gardening and restoring old houses.
Recently retired from the World Wildlife Fund as Vice President for the Africa and Madagascar Programs, Richard Carroll’s conservation career spans almost 40 years. He earned a Doctor of Forestry Degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, with a dissertation on the feeding ecology of western lowland gorillas in the Central African Republic (CAR). From 1976 through 1992, he lived in CAR, studying to status of western black rhinos, forest and savanna elephants, gorillas and establishing conservation programs bringing together the imperative for protecting natural resources, the needs and rights of indigenous peoples, and the economic development of the country. This expanded into a Congo Basin wide program resulting in 40% of these forest in 11 conservation landscapes. Until retiring in February 2014, he managed the continent-wide, WWF Africa and Madagascar Programs as Vice President. He now serves on the Board of Directors of Discover Life in America.
Carroll has extensive experience in large program planning, development and management including effective fundraising with the public and private sector. He is an integrated, global conservation leader with cultural sensitivity and diplomacy. He thrives in multi-cultural environment, working from local to global to promote sustainable conservation. He is a lifelong learner and listens closely to the voices of those whose livelihood depends on intact environments. He visualizes the big picture and inspire and convince decision makers to create large scale conservation efforts. As a story teller, public speaker, and communicator, he has developed and enhanced environmental education programs and inspired all sectors of the public to participate in conservation efforts.
Some signature accomplishments include: the establishment of the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Area Network in the Central African Republic; co-initiating of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership Program; enhancing Community Based Natural Resource Management in Namibia’s Conservancies.
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7:00 pm: Tom Lovejoy, Healy Hamilton, and Mark Anderson. Moderated by Stuart Pimm.
‘Biodiversity in a Changing Climate: Three Perspectives’
The Carolina Theatre, 309 W. Morgan Street, Durham, NC 27701Do you have questions about how to best care for our planet in a changing climate? Join notable scientists and conservationists for a keynote lecture and panel discussion around the theme of “Biodiversity in a Changing Climate.” Tom Lovejoy (George Mason University) will begin the evening with the James and Cathleen Stone Distinguished Lectureship in Biodiversity, entitled “A Wild Solution for Climate Change.” This lecture will address why climate change matters for biological diversity and how living systems can help address climate change. Dr. Lovejoy’s keynote will be followed by comments from Healy Hamilton (NatureServe) and Mark Anderson (The Nature Conservancy), and a panel discussion moderated by Stuart Pimm (Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University).
Thomas E. Lovejoy was elected University Professor at George Mason in March 2010. He also serves as Senior Fellow at the United Nations Foundation. From 2008-2013 he was the Biodiversity Chair at the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment and was President 2002-2008. An ecologist who has worked in the Brazilian Amazon since 1965, he works on the interface of science and environmental policy. Starting in the 1970s he helped bring attention to the issue of tropical deforestation and in 1980 published the first estimate of global extinction rates (in the Global 2000 Report to the President). He conceived the idea for the long term study on forest fragmentation in the Amazon (started in 1978) which is the largest experiment in landscape ecology, the Minimum Critical Size of Ecosystems project (also known as the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project). He also coined the term “biological diversity”, originated the concept of debt-for-nature swaps and has worked on the interaction between climate change and biodiversity for more than 20 years. He is the founder of the public television series “Nature”. In the past, he served as the Senior Advisor to the President of the United Nations Foundation, as the Chief Biodiversity Advisor and Lead Specialist for the Environment for the Latin American region for the World Bank, as the Assistant Secretary for Environmental and External Affairs for the Smithsonian Institution, and as Executive Vice President of World Wildlife Fund-US. In 2002 he was awarded the The Tyler Prize and in 2009 he was the winner of BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Ecology and Conservation Biology Category. In 2012 he received the Blue Planet Prize. He has served on advisory councils in the Reagan, George H.W, Bush, and Clinton administrations. In 2009 he was appointed Conservation Fellow by the National Geographic. He chairs the Scientific and Technical Panel for the Global Environment Facility which provides funding related to the international environmental conventions. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. (biology) from Yale University.
Dr. Healy Hamilton is currently Chief Scientist and Vice President for Conservation Science at NatureServe. She is a biodiversity scientist with broad interests in the evolution and conservation of the diversity of life. Her current research focus is global change biology, with an emphasis on forecasting the impacts of climate change on species and ecosystems for natural resource management and conservation. Dr. Hamilton is committed to public understanding of global change, and explores data visualization approaches to improve ecological literacy. In her spare time, she studies the taxonomy, evolution and conservation genetics of seahorses and their relatives. She obtained her masters degree at Yale University and her Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, and for both degrees she conducted extensive fieldwork in South America. Dr. Hamilton is President of the Society for Conservation GIS and serves on the Science Committee of the National Park Service Advisory Board. She is a Switzer Foundation Environmental Leadership grantee and a former U.S. Fulbright Scholar.
Dr. Mark Anderson is Director of Conservation Science for The Nature Conservancy’s Eastern US Division. Mark provides science leadership, ecological analysis, and landscape assessments for conservation efforts across eighteen states in the Nature Conservancy’s Eastern Division. He holds a Ph.D. in Ecology from University of New Hampshire and has worked as an ecologist for over 29 years, 24 with The Conservancy. In addition to leading regional-scale ecological assessments, Mark has published widely on biodiversity conservation, forest dynamics, and climate change resilience, and was a co-author of the National Vegetation Classification. His current research interests include ecological resilience, disturbance processes, geophysical landscape properties, and seafloor mapping. He manages a team of six scientists specializing in landscape ecology, aquatic biology, marine spatial planning, and regional data management.
Professor Stuart Leonard Pimm is the Doris Duke Chair of Conservation Ecology at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. He studies present day extinctions and what can be done to prevent them. Pimm wrote the acclaimed assessment of the human impact to the planet: The World According to Pimm: a Scientist Audits the Earth in 2001. Pimm directs SavingSpecies, a 501c3 non-profit that restores degraded lands in areas of exceptional tropical biodiversity.His international honours include the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (2010), the Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (2006), the Society for Conservation Biology’s Edward T. LaRoe III Memorial Award (2006), and the William Proctor Prize for Scientific Achievement in 2007 from Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. Pimm received his BSc degree from Oxford University in 1971 and his PhD from New Mexico State University in 1974.
Day 2: Biodiversity Days
FRIDAY, MARCH 4
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9:00 am: Tom Lovejoy (George Mason University)
‘A Wild Solution to Climate Change’
Environment Hall, Board Room 5109, 9 Circuit Drive, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke UniversityThomas E. Lovejoy was elected University Professor at George Mason in March 2010. He also serves as Senior Fellow at the United Nations Foundation. From 2008-2013 he was the Biodiversity Chair at the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment and was President 2002-2008. An ecologist who has worked in the Brazilian Amazon since 1965, he works on the interface of science and environmental policy. Starting in the 1970s he helped bring attention to the issue of tropical deforestation and in 1980 published the first estimate of global extinction rates (in the Global 2000 Report to the President). He conceived the idea for the long term study on forest fragmentation in the Amazon (started in 1978) which is the largest experiment in landscape ecology, the Minimum Critical Size of Ecosystems project (also known as the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project). He also coined the term “Biological diversity”, originated the concept of debt-for-nature swaps and has worked on the interaction between climate change and biodiversity for more than 20 years. He is the founder of the public television series “Nature”. In the past, he served as the Senior Advisor to the President of the United Nations Foundation, as the Chief Biodiversity Advisor and Lead Specialist for the Environment for the Latin American region for the World Bank, as the Assistant Secretary for Environmental and External Affairs for the Smithsonian Institution, and as Executive Vice President of World Wildlife Fund-US. In 2002 he was awarded the The Tyler Prize and in 2009 he was the winner of BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Ecology and Conservation Biology Category. In 2012 he received the Blue Planet Prize. He has served on advisory councils in the Reagan, George H.W, Bush, and Clinton administrations. In 2009 he was appointed Conservation Fellow by the National Geographic. He chairs the Scientific and Technical Panel for the Global Environment Facility which provides funding related to the international environmental conventions. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. (biology) from Yale University.
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10:00 am: ‘The Forgotten Coast’ with Scientific Cast (Mallory Dimmitt and Joe Guthrie) and Director (Eric Bendick)
‘Zero to Hero: How Films and Social Media can have Big Impacts on Conservation’
Environment Hall, Board Room 5109, 9 Circuit Drive, Duke UniversityFollowing in the footsteps of a wandering Florida black bear, three friends (including MEM grad, Mallory Dimmitt!) leave civilization and become immersed in a vast and unexplored wildlife corridor stretching from the Everglades to the Florida-Alabama border. The rugged thousand-mile journey by foot, paddle, and bike traverses Florida’s “Forgotten Coast”—a wilderness that has the potential to transform the way we see the natural world. The “Forgotten Coast” film and social media effort combined conservation science with compelling imagery and rich storytelling to highlight the importance of the Florida Wildlife Corridor and inspire its protection. Through education and citizen engagement, this effort is working to protect the missing links needed to connect conservation lands in the Corridor.
“The Forgotten Coast” Director, Eric Bendick is the Series Producer and occasional unwitting stuntman for Grizzly Creek Films based in Bozeman, Montana. His writing and producing credits for broadcast, theatrical, and new media clients include National Geographic Television, PBS, History Channel, Animal Planet, Harvard University’s Center for Health and the Global Environment, Patagonia, The Cougar Fund, Yellowstone to Yukon, and TERRA: The Nature of Our World. His work has precipitated a Webby Award, a Wildscreen Panda Award, a Best Newcomer nomination at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, and a Best Conservation Film Award from the American Conservation Film Festival. Until he sells all his worldly possessions to circumnavigate the world by sailboat, he can be found playing in snow, rock, water, and ice in the mountains of Montana.
Mallory Dimmitt is the Executive Director of the Florida Wildlife Corridor, a conservation communications organization that showcases opportunities to protect the missing links in the Corridor, preserve Florida’s waters, and sustain working lands and rural economies statewide. Mallory planned, fundraised for and led the group’s Glades to Gulf Expedition in early 2015, a 70-day, 1000-mile trek with media and outreach goals, including a one-hour documentary for PBS. She most recently led the Florida Wildlife Corridor’s board of directors in a strategic planning effort to refine the organization’s direction and activities post-Expeditions, and developed a plan to work with a full suite of partners to influence the protection of the Corridor while sustaining the needs of the organization.
Previously Mallory led The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado Plateau Initiative from Telluride, Colorado, assessing large-scale conservation opportunities in a four-state region of the West, and prior to that directed the Southwest Colorado Project for the Conservancy’s Colorado Chapter. She has served as a member of Telluride’s Town Council and has worked with local, regional, state, and federal agencies and organizations on natural resource issues. Mallory earned her B.S. in Natural Resources from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. She was awarded a Doris Duke Conservation Fellowship at Duke University’s Nicholas School of Environment, where she earned a Masters of Environmental Management (MEM) in Environmental Economics and Policy, as well as a certificate in Non-profit Management. Mallory specializes in large landscape conservation and the nexus of agriculture and conservation, freshwater resources, and payments for ecosystem services. In August she completed a 22-month leadership program as a member of Class IX of the Wedgworth Leadership Institute for Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Joe Guthrie is a staff conservation biologist at Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects in Charlottesville, Va. Joe uses his background in wildlife sciences and landscape ecology to assist on a range of conservation and restoration projects in Virginia, West Virginia, Texas, and Tasmania. Prior to joining NBW, Joe’s research on the Florida black bear helped inspire two 1100-mile expeditions as a member of the Florida Wildlife Corridor campaign. He helped coordinate and lead both expeditions, and co-authored the 2015 book The Forgotten Coast: Florida Wildlife Corridor Glades to Gulf. Joe earned a M.S. in forestry from the University of Kentucky and a B.A. in English from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. He is originally from Henry County, Kentucky.
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10:00 am: Elizabeth Kalies (The Nature Conservancy)
‘Biodiversity Conservation in NC’
Environment Hall, Room 4100, 9 Circuit Dr, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke UniversityThe mission of The Nature Conservancy is to “conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends.” Yet, we often measure our success in terms of acres, not species. Given recent concerns that protected lands are not adequately conserving biodiversity, TNC NC is increasing its monitoring efforts, to better determine if we are reaching the ultimate goal of conserving species. Liz Kalies, Director of Science for TNC NC, will describe current science and monitoring underway at the NC chapter, particularly related to wildlife and plant diversity, and lead a discussion on approaches to achieving and assessing conservation targets.
Liz is the Director of Science for the NC chapter of TNC. She is a terrestrial ecologist, with expertise in wildlife field ecology, wildlife-habitat relationships, and quantitative ecology. At TNC, she focuses on (1) coordination of large-scale monitoring to assess land protection outcomes, (2) using evidence-based synthesis approaches to answer management questions, and (3) research on wildlife ecology and connectivity.
Prior to joining TNC in 2011, Liz worked extensively in western forests on forest restoration and wildfire and the impacts on wildlife population and communities, with the Ecological Restoration Institute in Arizona. She has a PhD in wildlife ecology from Northern Arizona University, a master’s degree in ecology from Yale University, and a BS in biology from Cornell University.
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11:00 am: Mark Anderson (The Nature Conservancy)
‘Conserving Nature’s Stage: Climate Change and the Geophysical Underpinnings of Biodiversity’
Environment Hall, Board Room 5109, 9 Circuit Dr, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke UniversityThe climate is changing, and nature is in flux. Plants and animals must relocate to survive. How do we ensure that the North American landscape will continue to support its iconic wildlife and vast botanical diversity? That the places we conserve today will support a diversity of species tomorrow? Join the discussion on how biodiversity is connected to the physical properties of land and water, and how scientists are using topography, bedrock, and soil, to identify climate-resilient sites that are more likely to sustain native plants, animals, and natural processes into the future.
Dr. Mark Anderson is Director of Conservation Science for The Nature Conservancy’s Eastern US Division. Mark provides science leadership, ecological analysis, and landscape assessments for conservation efforts across eighteen states in the Nature Conservancy’s Eastern Division. He holds a Ph.D. in Ecology from University of New Hampshire and has worked as an ecologist for over 29 years, 24 with The Conservancy. In addition to leading regional-scale ecological assessments, Mark has published widely on biodiversity conservation, forest dynamics, and climate change resilience, and was a co-author of the National Vegetation Classification. His current research interests include ecological resilience, disturbance processes, geophysical landscape properties, and seafloor mapping. He manages a team of six scientists specializing in landscape ecology, aquatic biology, marine spatial planning, and regional data management.
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11:00 am: Todd Witcher (Discover Life in America)
‘Get a Jump on Your Future: Student Internships at Discover Life in America’
Environment Hall, Room 4100, 9 Circuit Drive, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke UniversityThe Discover Life in America internship program is an incredible opportunity for graduate or undergraduate students to immerse themselves in the natural history of the Smokies. We strive to offer a summer experience where our interns can explore diverse interests in science, art, education, and nonprofit operation.
Todd P. Witcher is the Executive Director of Discover Life in America (DLIA). DLIA is the non-profit coordinating the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Before becoming the ED at DLIA he worked as an educator for Ijams Nature Center in Knoxville Tennessee for 16 years. Todd has an undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee in Biology (1987), a Masters in Business from Lincoln Memorial University (1991), and a Masters in Education from the University of Tennessee (1997). Todd is an eighth generation Tennessean having grown up in the small town of Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee where the Witcher family has lived since the late 1700’s. In his spare time Todd enjoys hiking, traveling, gardening and restoring old houses.
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12:00 pm: Nick Haddad
‘Landscape Conservation to Counteract Long-Term Effects of Habitat Fragmentation’
Environment Hall, Board Room 5109, 9 Circuit Drive, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University
Dr. Nick Haddad is the William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University. His degrees include a BS in biological sciences from Stanford University and a PhD in ecology from the University of Georgia. Haddad’s research focuses on conservation in fragmented landscapes, and in particular on the role of corridors in restoring ecosystems. He also studies the world’s rarest butterflies and works for their conservation. Haddad is the director of graduate programmes in zoology at NC State and serves as a member of the board of directors of The Nature Conservancy–North Carolina Chapter.
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1:00 pm: Healy Hamilton (NatureServe)
‘The Geographic Scale of Conservation in an Era of Climate Change’
Environment Hall, Board Room 5109, 9 Circuit Drive, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke UniversityThe 20th century conservation movement arose in an era of relative climate stability, where conserved lands and waters were largely managed from the edge of their boundaries looking inwards. In this century and beyond, we are committed to directional climate change that requires a shift in the geographic scope and social context of conservation. The shift to large land/seascape conservation is essential to support biodiversity resilience to a rapidly changing climate.
Dr. Healy Hamilton is currently Chief Scientist and Vice President for Conservation Science at NatureServe. She is a biodiversity scientist with broad interests in the evolution and conservation of the diversity of life. Her current research focus is global change biology, with an emphasis on forecasting the impacts of climate change on species and ecosystems for natural resource management and conservation. Dr. Hamilton is committed to public understanding of global change, and explores data visualization approaches to improve ecological literacy. In her spare time, she studies the taxonomy, evolution and conservation genetics of seahorses and their relatives. She obtained her masters degree at Yale University and her Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, and for both degrees she conducted extensive fieldwork in South America. Dr. Hamilton is President of the Society for Conservation GIS and serves on the Science Committee of the National Park Service Advisory Board. She is a Switzer Foundation Environmental Leadership grantee and a former U.S. Fulbright Scholar.
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1:00 pm: Charles Welch (Duke Lemur Center)
‘Duke Lemur Center SAVA Conservation – A Multifaceted Community-Based Approach to Conservation in Northeastern Madagascar’
Environment Hall, Room 4100, 9 Circuit Drive, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University
Charlie Welch worked and lived in Madagascar, with his wife Andrea Katz, from 1989 until 2004 on behalf of the Duke Lemur Center (DLC), and later the Madagascar Fauna Group (MFG). During that time Welch and Katz developed the conservation center at Parc Ivoloina and Betampona Nature Reserve into multifaceted community-based conservation projects which continue to operate today. Welch is now conservation coordinator at the DLC and in 2011 initiated the DLC-SAVA Conservation project in northeastern Madagascar. In 2004 Welch and Katz were awarded “Chevalier de l’Ordre National” by the government of Madagascar for their long term conservation efforts in the Tamatave region of eastern Madagascar.
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2:00 pm: Richard Carroll (former WWF)
‘Guns, Snares and Summits: Conservation in the Congo Basin and Beyond’
Environment Hall, Board Room 5109, 9 Circuit Drive, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke UniversityPoaching and the bush meat trade are the leading causes of biodiversity loss in Africa. Incentive based conservation in communities, from the BaAka in the Congo to the San in Namibia, Presidential peer pressure and persistence hold some prospects.
Recently retired from the World Wildlife Fund as Vice President for the Africa and Madagascar Programs, Richard Carroll’s conservation career spans almost 40 years. He earned a Doctor of Forestry Degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, with a dissertation on the feeding ecology of western lowland gorillas in the Central African Republic (CAR). From 1976 through 1992, he lived in CAR, studying to status of western black rhinos, forest and savanna elephants, gorillas and establishing conservation programs bringing together the imperative for protecting natural resources, the needs and rights of indigenous peoples, and the economic development of the country. This expanded into a Congo Basin wide program resulting in 40% of these forest in 11 conservation landscapes. Until retiring in February 2014, he managed the continent-wide, WWF Africa and Madagascar Programs as Vice President.
Carroll has extensive experience in large program planning, development and management including effective fundraising with the public and private sector. He is an integrated, global conservation leader with cultural sensitivity and diplomacy. He thrives in multi-cultural environment, working from local to global to promote sustainable conservation. He is a lifelong learner and listens closely to the voices of those whose livelihood depends on intact environments. He visualizes the big picture and inspire and convince decision makers to create large scale conservation efforts. As a story teller, public speaker, and communicator, he has developed and enhanced environmental education programs and inspired all sectors of the public to participate in conservation efforts.
Some signature accomplishments include: the establishment of the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Area Network in the Central African Republic; co-initiating of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership Program; enhancing Community Based Natural Resource Management in Namibia’s Conservancies.
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2:00 pm: Brian Hare (Evolutionary Anthropology) and Aleah Bowie (PhD Student, Evolutionary Anthropology)
‘Conservation Psychology’
Environment Hall, EH 4100, 9 Circuit Drive, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke UniversityHuman psychology is foundational to the field of conservation. Undoubtedly, the success of any conservation effort depends on our ability to change people’s attitudes and behavior. Yet psychologists are rarely part of the discussion on how we can curtail biodiversity loss. Considering the advances in psychology and cognitive science over the past few decades, psychologists now have the tools to make considerable contributions to conservation efforts.
Here, we present a series of ongoing studies that use psychological research to improve conservation efforts to save great apes in the the Democratic Republic of the Congo. To protect these species, we explore the two populations most capable of making decisions that influence the future of the great apes: the Congolese, who live along side these species, and the Chinese, who increasingly have more of an industrial presence in the Congo. We show how perceptions of great apes vary by population, and how understanding these perceptions can lead to population-specific messaging strategies to change attitudes and behavior. We hope to extend the results of this study to improve conservation efforts for other wildlife causes.
Dr. Brian Hare is associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University in North Carolina and a member of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, which is a division of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University, founded the Hominoid Psychology Research Group while at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and subsequently founded the Duke Canine Cognition Center when arriving at Duke University. He recently published The New York Times Bestselling book The Genius of Dogs with his wife Vanessa Woods. He is also the founder and Chief Scientific Officer of the citizen science company Dognition.com.
Aleah Bowie is a PhD candidate in Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University. Her research combines methods from psychology, behavioral economics, and marketing to understand how attitudes towards wildlife and conservation develop, using populations in North Carolina, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and China. Aleah graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a B.S. in Human Evolutionary Biology in 2013 where she studied cross-cultural perceptions of fairness and inequality. She strives to use evidence-based approaches to develop population-specific strategies for conservation marketing and education. Aleah is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and a Dean’s Graduate Fellowship recipient.
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3:00 pm: Jim McClintock (University of Alabama at Birmingham)
‘A Naturalist Goes Fishing’ Book Reading
LSRC, Love Auditorium, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University
In “A Naturalist Goes Fishing”, James McClintock takes us to some of the most breathtaking waters the world has to offer while capturing the drama and serendipity in the beloved sport of fishing. We follow him and his fishing buddies and professional guides, as he fishes off the marshy barrier islands of Louisiana, teeming with life but also ravaged by recent disasters like the Deepwater Horizon spill. We travel to the remote waters of New Zealand’s Stewart Island, where the commercial fishing industry is fast disappearing; fish for gigantic Antarctic toothfish through a drilled ice hole at McMurdo Station; and scout for spotted bass on Alabama’s Cahaba River, which has the highest diversity of fresh water fish in North America. As we take this global journey, we see how sea level rise, erosion, pollution, water acidification, and overfishing each cause damage.
James B. McClintock is the Endowed University Professor of Polar and Marine Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz (1978) and his doctoral degree from the University of South Florida (1984). In 1987, after completing a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California at Santa Cruz, he joined the faculty of the Department of Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He became a Full Professor at UAB in 1997 and has also served as Dean of the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (1999-2003) and as Interim Dean of the Graduate School (2003-2005).
Dr. McClintock’s research has been funded continuously over the past 25 years by the National Science Foundation and focuses on aspects of marine invertebrate nutrition, reproduction, and primarily, Antarctic marine chemical ecology. Over the past decade his research has also encompassed studies of the impacts of rapid climate change and ocean acidification on Antarctic marine algae and invertebrates. He has published over 235 scientific publications, edited and written books, been invited to make numerous scientific and popular science presentations, and his research has been featured in a variety of public media outlets including the NPR Diane Rehm Show, NPR’s “On Point” with Tom Ashbrook, National Geographic Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, Discover Magazine, Scientific American Magazine, CNN, the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and The Weather Channel. He has served on National Academy of Sciences workshops on Climate Change and Polar Ecosystems. He recently returned from his 14th research expedition to Antarctica where over the past two decades he and his research collaborators have become among the world’s authorities on Antarctic marine chemical ecology and drug discovery and have developed an award winning interactive educational outreach web site (www.antarctica.uab.edu).
His expertise on the ecological impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on marine life of the Antarctic Peninsula has garnered numerous invited lectures and he writes in the popular literature on this timely topic. His book Lost Antarctica: Adventures in a Disappearing Land (Palgrave/MacMillan) was released in September 2012 (paperback edition released in 2014 with new Foreward by Sylvia Earle) and has garnered considerable national and international praise. In June 2013, a video short based on his book was produced and released by the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation that featured narration by Harrison Ford. His second book, A Naturalist Goes Fishing (St. Martins/MacMillan) combines fishing adventures with an overview of ever more pressing needs for freshwater and marine conservation will be released October 27, 2015 (http://us.macmillan.com/anaturalistgoesfishing/jamesmcclintock).
He has been the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions including the UAB Ellen Gregg Ingalls Recognition for Excellence in Teaching and the UAB Caroline P. and Charles W. Ireland Prize for Outstanding Scholarship. In 2001 he was selected as the winner of the Wright A. Gardner Award for the most outstanding scientist in the state of Alabama and he was selected in 2012 to serve on the Advisory Board of the EO Wilson Biodiversity Foundation. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1998 the United States Board on Geographic Names designated the geographic feature “McClintock Point” in honor of his contributions to Antarctic science.
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4:00 pm: Biodiversity Days Reception
‘A Naturalist Goes Fishing’ Book Signing and Film Screening Reception
LSRC, Levine Science Research Center LSRC, B-Wing, Hall of Science, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke UniversityReception guests will have the opportunity to interact and network with our featured Biodiversity Days speakers and have something to eat and drink in advance of the evening’s film screenings. Jim McClintock will be signing copies of his new book A Naturalist Goes Fishing. Please join us!
In “A Naturalist Goes Fishing”, James McClintock takes us to some of the most breathtaking waters the world has to offer while capturing the drama and serendipity in the beloved sport of fishing. We follow him and his fishing buddies and professional guides, as he fishes off the marshy barrier islands of Louisiana, teeming with life but also ravaged by recent disasters like the Deepwater Horizon spill. We travel to the remote waters of New Zealand’s Stewart Island, where the commercial fishing industry is fast disappearing; fish for gigantic Antarctic toothfish through a drilled ice hole at McMurdo Station; and scout for spotted bass on Alabama’s Cahaba River, which has the highest diversity of fresh water fish in North America. As we take this global journey, we see how sea level rise, erosion, pollution, water acidification, and overfishing each cause damage.
James B. McClintock is the Endowed University Professor of Polar and Marine Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz (1978) and his doctoral degree from the University of South Florida (1984). In 1987, after completing a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California at Santa Cruz, he joined the faculty of the Department of Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He became a Full Professor at UAB in 1997 and has also served as Dean of the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (1999-2003) and as Interim Dean of the Graduate School (2003-2005).
Dr. McClintock’s research has been funded continuously over the past 25 years by the National Science Foundation and focuses on aspects of marine invertebrate nutrition, reproduction, and primarily, Antarctic marine chemical ecology. Over the past decade his research has also encompassed studies of the impacts of rapid climate change and ocean acidification on Antarctic marine algae and invertebrates. He has published over 235 scientific publications, edited and written books, been invited to make numerous scientific and popular science presentations, and his research has been featured in a variety of public media outlets including the NPR Diane Rehm Show, NPR’s “On Point” with Tom Ashbrook, National Geographic Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, Discover Magazine, Scientific American Magazine, CNN, the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and The Weather Channel. He has served on National Academy of Sciences workshops on Climate Change and Polar Ecosystems. He recently returned from his 14th research expedition to Antarctica where over the past two decades he and his research collaborators have become among the world’s authorities on Antarctic marine chemical ecology and drug discovery and have developed an award winning interactive educational outreach web site (www.antarctica.uab.edu).
His expertise on the ecological impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on marine life of the Antarctic Peninsula has garnered numerous invited lectures and he writes in the popular literature on this timely topic. His book Lost Antarctica: Adventures in a Disappearing Land (Palgrave/MacMillan) was released in September 2012 (paperback edition released in 2014 with new Foreward by Sylvia Earle) and has garnered considerable national and international praise. In June 2013, a video short based on his book was produced and released by the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation that featured narration by Harrison Ford. His second book, A Naturalist Goes Fishing (St. Martins/MacMillan) combines fishing adventures with an overview of ever more pressing needs for freshwater and marine conservation will be released October 27, 2015 (http://us.macmillan.com/anaturalistgoesfishing/jamesmcclintock).
He has been the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions including the UAB Ellen Gregg Ingalls Recognition for Excellence in Teaching and the UAB Caroline P. and Charles W. Ireland Prize for Outstanding Scholarship. In 2001 he was selected as the winner of the Wright A. Gardner Award for the most outstanding scientist in the state of Alabama and he was selected in 2012 to serve on the Advisory Board of the EO Wilson Biodiversity Foundation. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1998 the United States Board on Geographic Names designated the geographic feature “McClintock Point” in honor of his contributions to Antarctic science.
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5:00 pm: ‘The Forgotten Coast: Return to Wild Florida’ Film Screening
Q&A with Director (Eric Bendick) and Scientific Cast (Mallory Dimmitt and Joe Guthrie)
LSRC, Love Auditorium, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke UniversityFollowing in the footsteps of a wandering Florida black bear, three friends leave civilization and become immersed in a vast and unexplored wildlife corridor stretching from the Everglades to the Florida-Alabama border. The rugged thousand-mile journey by foot, paddle, and bike traverses Florida’s “Forgo en Coast”—a wilderness that has the potential to transform the way we see the natural world.
In this magical place, where me seems to stand still, the stuff of legends is real: crystalline natural springs provide a refuge for ‘mermaids’ – West Indian manatees. In the murky backwaters living dinosaur fish, alligators, still ambush their prey. While offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, dolphins dance as the oyster harvest continues the way it has for millennia. And inside one of the most rare forest habitats on Earth, a winged phoenix, the red-cockaded woodpecker, is reclaiming its ancestral home.
But all is not as it seems. Time does not stand still—and it may be running out for the wild inhabitants of this place, unless the expediton team can show the path to ‘return to wild Florida.’ On the wind, in the waves, through the trees, and under the stars, ‘The Forgotten Coast’ offers us a chance not just to look back in me but to look forward—to a future filled with new hope.
“The Forgotten Coast” Director, Eric Bendick is the Series Producer and occasional unwitting stuntman for Grizzly Creek Films based in Bozeman, Montana. His writing and producing credits for broadcast, theatrical, and new media clients include National Geographic Television, PBS, History Channel, Animal Planet, Harvard University’s Center for Health and the Global Environment, Patagonia, The Cougar Fund, Yellowstone to Yukon, and TERRA: The Nature of Our World. His work has precipitated a Webby Award, a Wildscreen Panda Award, a Best Newcomer nomination at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, and a Best Conservation Film Award from the American Conservation Film Festival. Until he sells all his worldly possessions to circumnavigate the world by sailboat, he can be found playing in snow, rock, water, and ice in the mountains of Montana.
Mallory Dimmitt is the Executive Director of the Florida Wildlife Corridor, a conservation communications organization that showcases opportunities to protect the missing links in the Corridor, preserve Florida’s waters, and sustain working lands and rural economies statewide. Mallory planned, fundraised for and led the group’s Glades to Gulf Expedition in early 2015, a 70-day, 1000-mile trek with media and outreach goals, including a one-hour documentary for PBS. She most recently led the Florida Wildlife Corridor’s board of directors in a strategic planning effort to refine the organization’s direction and activities post-Expeditions, and developed a plan to work with a full suite of partners to influence the protection of the Corridor while sustaining the needs of the organization.
Previously Mallory led The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado Plateau Initiative from Telluride, Colorado, assessing large-scale conservation opportunities in a four-state region of the West, and prior to that directed the Southwest Colorado Project for the Conservancy’s Colorado Chapter. She has served as a member of Telluride’s Town Council and has worked with local, regional, state, and federal agencies and organizations on natural resource issues. Mallory earned her B.S. in Natural Resources from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. She was awarded a Doris Duke Conservation Fellowship at Duke University’s Nicholas School of Environment, where she earned a Masters of Environmental Management (MEM) in Environmental Economics and Policy, as well as a certificate in Non-profit Management. Mallory specializes in large landscape conservation and the nexus of agriculture and conservation, freshwater resources, and payments for ecosystem services. In August she completed a 22-month leadership program as a member of Class IX of the Wedgworth Leadership Institute for Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Joe Guthrie is a staff conservation biologist at Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects in Charlottesville, Va. Joe uses his background in wildlife sciences and landscape ecology to assist on a range of conservation and restoration projects in Virginia, West Virginia, Texas, and Tasmania. Prior to joining NBW, Joe’s research on the Florida black bear helped inspire two 1100-mile expeditions as a member of the Florida Wildlife Corridor campaign. He helped coordinate and lead both expeditions, and co-authored the 2015 book The Forgotten Coast: Florida Wildlife Corridor Glades to Gulf. Joe earned a M.S. in forestry from the University of Kentucky and a B.A. in English from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. He is originally from Henry County, Kentucky.
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7:00 pm: ‘Racing Extinction’ Film Screening
Q&A with Stuart Pimm (Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University)
LSRC, Love Auditorium, Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University
Scientists predict that humanity’s footprint on the planet may cause the loss of 50% of all species by the end of the century. They believe we have entered the sixth major extinction in Earth’s history, following the fifth great extinction which took out the dinosaurs. Our era is called the Anthropocene, or “Age of Man,” because evidence shows that humanity has sparked a cataclysmic change of the world’s natural environment and animal life. Yet, we are the only ones who can stop the change we have created.
The Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS), the group behind the Academy Award®-winning film THE COVE, is back with the new groundbreaking documentary RACING EXTINCTION. Joined by new innovators, OPS brings a voice to the thousands of species teetering on the very edge of life.
This highly charged, impassioned collective of activists is out to expose the two major threats to endangered wild species across the globe. The first comes from the international wildlife trade, and the bogus medicinal cures and tonics that are marketed to the public at the expense of creatures who have survived on this planet for millions of years. The second threat is all around us, hiding in plain sight. It is a hidden world of carbon emissions and acidified oceans that are incompatible with existing animal life. It is a world, revealed with state-of-the-art photographic technology, that oil and gas companies don’t want us to see.
Director Louie Psihoyos has crafted an ambitious mission to clearly and artfully pull into focus our impact on the planet, while inspiring us all to embrace the solutions that will ensure a thriving, biodiverse world for future generations.
