The great biodiversity challenge: Conserving nature through a century of unprecedented change

The great biodiversity challenge: Conserving nature through a century of unprecedented change

Jeremy Kerr, University of Ottawa

We rely on nature for a host of critical services, such as sustaining our food supply, maintaining soil fertility, or simply providing a few moments of relaxation in the midst of our busy lives. These services depend on the activities of myriad species from bees that pollinate our crops to trees that stabilize the soil and provide shade. But ecosystems and their inhabitants are under threat across the globe. As the global climate warms, species invade new areas that were once too cold for them and disappear from areas that are now too hot. The conditions for life on Earth are changing, which opens the door wide to novel and unfamiliar ecosystems. Professor Jeremy Kerr brings his perspective as a biodiversity scientist to this crisis and the discoveries that can contribute to its resolution.

Jeremy Kerr holds the University Research Chair in Macroecology and Conservation at University of Ottawa. He is President of the Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution. His discoveries have been published in various scientific journals, such as Science, Nature, PNAS, Ecology Letters, Ecology, Conservation Biology, and Conservation Letters. He is also a leader in the development of citizen science in North America, serving as principal investigator for both e-Butterfly.org and BumblebeeWatch.org. His work has been featured in the a number of newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, and The Toronto Star and on television, including CBS, ABC, and CBC's The National and As It Happens.

This presentation will be in English.