Digging into the Past to Find the Future: Paleoecology Meets Restoration Ecology
dnorris10 April 21st, 2009
David A. Burney, Director of Conservation at the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii, will present “Digging into the Past to Find the Future: Paleoecology Meets Restoration Ecology” at the 28th annual Richard G. Osgood Memorial Lecture on Wednesday, April 15, at The College of Wooster. The event, which is free and open to the public, begins at 7:30 p.m. in Gault Recital Hall of Scheide Music Center (525 E. University St.). A dessert reception will follow this lecture in the lobby of Scovel Hall (944 College Mall).
Burney’s past research has focused on endangered species, paleoenvironmental studies, and causes of extinction. He has more than 30 years of practical experience in conservation, including serving as a technical consultant for Wildlife Conservation Society, Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, BBC Natural History Unit, National Museums of Kenya, United Nations Development Program, USDA, US Fish & Wildlife Service, and other organizations.
Burney is also an adjunct professor at the University of Hawaii-Manoa and the Université d’Antananarivo (Madagascar). Prior to moving to Kauai, he was a professor at Fordham University in New York for 15 years. He received an M.Sc. in conservation biology from the University of Nairobi (Kenya) and a Ph.D. in zoology with a minor in botany from Duke University. He is author of more than 100 scientific articles and monographs, many concerning the processes of extinction and environmental change. In 2006 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to write a book on his work at Makauwahi Cave on Kauai, coming out soon at Yale Press. His research has been featured on National Geographic Television, Discovery Channel, Hawaii Public Television, NOVA, and National Public Radio.
With his wife, Lida Pigott Burney, he has established the Makauwahi Cave Reserve on Kauai to protect, research, and restore Hawaii’s richest fossil and archaeological site and reestablish thousands of native plants on the surrounding landscape. He is currently carrying out large scale native plant restorations at Kilohana Crater, Nualolo Kai, Lehua Islet (Niihau), and NTBG’s Limahuli and Lawai gardens.
The Richard G. Osgood, Jr., Memorial Lectureship in Geology was endowed in 1981 by his three sons in memory of their father, a paleontologist with an international reputation who taught at Wooster from 1967 until 1981. Funds from this endowment are used to bring a well-known scientist interested in paleontology and/or stratigraphy to the campus each year to lecture and meet with students.
The lecture is sponsored by the Department of Geology and the Richard G. Osgood, Jr., Memorial Lecture Endowed Fund. Additional information is available by phone (330-263-2380) or e-mail.