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Starting
Mon, Nov 03, 2008 at 2:30 PM EST |
Ending
Mon, Nov 03, 2008 at 4:00 PM EST |
Location & Address
Fortunoff Hall Hunt Room at the historic Rudolph Campus in Oakdale
150 Idle Hr Blvd
Oakdale, New York
United States-11769 |
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Mon, Nov 03, 2008 at 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm
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Ticket not available/not found.
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Join Dowling College in celebrating their Annual Theme of Diversity by welcoming Richard T. Wilkens, PhD, Associate Professor of Biology, Chair of the Biology Department at Dowling College to discuss A Celebration of Biological Diversity, the Riot of Life that Sustains Humanity. This event will take place on Monday, November 3, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. in the Fortunoff Hall Hunt Room at the historic Rudolph Campus in Oakdale. This event is free and open to the public.
A butterfly is more complex than a galaxy of a billion stars. So too are the 20 or so million other species of insects. Each one has an exquisite story of survival. Each and every one of those little creatures shares an ecological interaction with myriad other equally fascinating organisms, resplendent in panoplies of colors, shapes and sizes. Life is not only diverse but is so abundant that the skeletons of some single-celled organisms are reconstituted into mountain ranges. This planet of ours is a riot of life. To take stock of the diversity of life and to fathom its sheer plenitude is to celebrate the unparalleled uniqueness of Earth. This blue planet is like no other, an island in the vast ocean of lifelessness that is the universe. It is our home. Yet, we despoil our home. We are in the midst of an extinction event, caused by us, that may match or exceed the worst extinction event ever documented. There are consequences. A loss of biological diversity of that magnitude will harm humanity. This talk is about celebrating our home and measuring the cost of destroying its greatest adornment, biological diversity.
Dr. Richard Wilkens is an ecologist and in his position as an Associate Professor of Biology, he has been studying the Long Island Pine Barrens ecosystem. He is interested in the forest community structure, biodiversity and the natural history of our coastal forest. He is also determined to preserve and manage this vital ecosystem, which is under constant pressure from suburban expansion. Dr. Wilkens is a founding board member of FERN, The Foundation for Ecological Research in the Northeast, a leader in organizing and conducting research to monitor the current status of our forests and wetlands. As a Certified Senior Ecologist and member of FERN, Dr. Wilkens has been in a position to analyze and present work on the Forest Health of Long Island Pine Barrens and to coauthor a detailed protocol for the monitoring of Long Island Pine Barrens wetlands. His deep interest in biological diversity inspired him to pursue a PhD in biology from Binghamton University and to postdoctoral positions at Dartmouth and The University of Connecticut, and he has ultimately dedicated his life's work in science to ecology.
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Dowling College |
About Dowling College
Dowling College is an independent, coeducational college that serves more than 6,500 students at its historic Rudolph Campus on the banks of the Connetquot River in Oakdale, NY, and the 105-acre Brookhaven Campus in eastern Long Island and a business center located near the Nassau-Suffolk border in Melville. Dowling offers Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral degrees in several disciplines through its four schools: Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Education.
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