Wednesday, March 19 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Fromm Hall — 110 - Maier Conference Room
Join for this insightful panel discussion on the emerging challenges of maintaining biodiversity within ecosystems amidst climate change. Our panelists possess a wide range of expertises that will allow them to speak on the topic from varying lenses, but the panel will highlight an overall perspective of these challenges as they relate to the Nonprofit sector.
Panelists:
- (Moderator) Zack Wurtzebach, Executive Director at SIG-NAL
- Max Tarjan, Program Manager of Species Habitat at NatureServe
Dr. Tarjan will discuss the field of bioinformatics and its importance in advancing biodiversity conservation, the role of species habitat models in addressing conservation challenges, and tools for identifying priority areas for protection to help land managers and their conservation partners.
- Sam Veloz, Ecoinformatics & Climate Solutions Director at Point Blue
Dr. Veloz will talk about Point Blue’s work as part of the Avian Knowledge Network, a partnership and decision system that supports biodiversity conservation and management at scale. They will also discuss the growing need to deliver biodiversity data and knowledge to meet local, state, and international-level conservation targets.
- Avery Hill, Postdoctoral Researcher at CalAcademy
Dr. Hill will touch on the drivers of plant distributions in the near past, present, and future. Specifically, the use of analytical methods to study the geographic impact of environmental forces (climate change, wildfire, etc.) on past and present vegetation.
- Simon Scarpetta, Professor at University of San Francisco
Dr. Simon Scarpetta studies evolutionary relationships, timescales, and the geographic distribution of biodiversity using molecular data and fossils. He will discuss his latest research on the evolution of iguanas and dragon lizards and bring in thoughts from his latest class Conservation Biology.