Restoration ecology is the topic of Roger Wilson Lecture in Botany

Katharine Suding

Katharine Suding, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, will present “The Brave New World of Ecological Restoration: Hubris, Humility and the Changing Face of Nature” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, in 112 Pearson Hall.

Her talk, which is open to the public, is the annual Roger E. Wilson Lecture in Botany hosted by the Miami University biology department.

Suding is a plant community ecologist working at the interface of ecosystem, landscape and population biology. Her goal is to apply cutting-edge “usable” science to the challenges of restoration, species invasion, and environmental change.

She earned her Ph.D from the University of Michigan and was on the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, before moving to Colorado. At the University of Colorado, Suding also is a research affiliate in the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and the lead principal investigator of the Niwot Ridge Long-term Ecological Research program.

She will describe how insights from ecological research are changing the way natural communities and ecosystems are restored and propose a framework of ecological and societal principles to maximize long-term sustainability of restored systems. A reception will follow the lecture.

Suding will also give the biology department seminar, titled, “The Importance of Niche Dynamics in Environmental Management,” at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 7, in 218 Pearson Hall.

Suding’s visit is sponsored by the Roger E. Wilson Lecture in Botany Fund, named for a former ecologist in the botany department and established in his memory by family, friends and colleagues.