Scott Carroll: Conciliation Biology

Jan 28, 2014

How do organisms respond to human-caused environmental change? What can we do?

The mutual adaption of native and non-native species is changing best practices for promoting biodiversity, acknowledges UC Davis evolutionary ecologist Scott Carroll,  founding director of the Institute for Contemporary Evolution and a member of the Sharon Lawler lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

What can we do? Scott advocates interdisciplinary solutions.

Carroll will discuss “An Approach to Conservation that Reconciles Past, Present and Future Landscapes in Nature” at 6 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 30 at the Commonwealth Club of California, located at 595 Market St.,  San Francisco. This is part of the ongoing forum topic, “Science of Conservation and Biodiversity in the 21st century.”

A networking reception begins at 5:30 p.m., followed by the program at 6. The cost is $20 for non-members; $8 for members, and $7 for students (with valid ID). Registration is available through the website, http://www.commonwealthclub.org/ or by telephoning (415) 597-6705.

Non-club-members can enjoy the program at the discounted rate of $8 (rather than $20), using the coupon code listed below:

Thursday, Jan. 30, 6 p.m. - Scott Carroll: Conciliation Biology: An Approach to Conservation that Reconciles Past, Present and Future Landscapes in Nature.  Coupon Code: friendsforcarroll.  For program detail and registration, please see: http://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2014-01-30/scott-carroll-conciliation-biology

Carroll, who directs the Institute for Contemporary Evolution, does research on patterns of ongoing evolution in wild and anthropogenic environments. His studies on evolutionary changes in soapberry bugs in response to plant introductions are seminal contributions to our understanding of diversification.

The UC Davis evolutionary ecologist is the co-editor of the book, Conservation Biology: Evolution in Action (Oxford University Press, 2008). with Charles Fox, professor of insect genetics, behavior and evolutionary ecology, University of Kentucky. 

Carroll co-authored a research paper that was selected in 2013 as one of the top 100 most influential papers ever published by the worldwide British Ecological Society, headquartered in London. The 13-page article, “Adaptive Versus Non-Adaptive Phenotypic Plasticity and the Potential for Contemporary Adaptation in New Environments,” is published in the April 2007 (Volume 21) in the British Ecological Society’s journal, Functional Ecology.

The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. It brings more than 400 annual events on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy to 20,000 members. Its mission: to be the leading national forum open to all for the impartial discussion of public issues important to the membership, community and nation. 

Founded in 1903, The Commonwealth Club has played host to a diverse and distinctive array of speakers, from Teddy Roosevelt in 1911 to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor Alec Baldwin and author Christopher Hitchens in recent years. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Bill Gates have all given landmark speeches at The Club.

For members outside the Bay Area, the Club's weekly radio broadcast — the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 — is carried across the nation on public and commercial radio stations. The website archive features audio and video of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history.

Two More UC Speakers Pending
Talks by two more UC scientists, butterfly expert Arthur Shapiro of the UC Davis Department of Evolution and Ecology and forest ecologist Joe McBride of UC Berkeley, are pending at the Commonwealth Club.

Shapiro will speak on "Ecological Communities and the March of Time" at noon, Monday, March 24, while McBride will discuss "The History, Ecology and Future of Eucalyptus Plantations in the Bay Area at noon Wednesday, April 9.