[Pollinator] Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, "Avoiding Extinction: Contemporary Approaches to Conservation Science", April 19-20, 2013

[Krupnick, Gary]

Registration now open!

The National Museum of Natural History and the U.S. Botanic Garden is accepting abstracts for poster presentations for the 11th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, "Avoiding Extinction: Contemporary Approaches to Conservation Science", which will be held April 19-20, 2013 in Washington, DC. Space is limited and will be accepted based upon the quality of the abstract and the order received. Abstracts must be submitted electronically by 18 March 2013.

The symposium speakers' abstracts and biographies have been posted to the website<http://botany.si.edu/sbs/>. This year, the speakers are Scott P. Carroll (University of California at Davis), Andrea T. Kramer (Botanic Gardens Conservation International, US), Stuart Pimm (Duke University), Chris D. Thomas (University of York), Stephen Weller (University of California at Irvine), Dennis Whigham (Smithsonian Environmental Research Center), and Scott Wing (National Museum of Natural History).

Smithsonian Botanical Symposium
April 19-20, 2013
Washington, D.C.
http://botany.si.edu/sbs/

"Avoiding Extinction: Contemporary Approaches to Conservation Science"
Presented by the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
In collaboration with the United States Botanic Garden
Supported by the Cuatrecasas Family Foundation

Conservation science seeks to provide a rational framework for the protection of species and their habitats. At the inception of the discipline, scientists recognized that environmental problems, including land use change and pollution effects, were significant challenges to sustaining biodiversity. Scientists now acknowledge that, while these problems remain, other issues such as invasive species, interspecific hybridization, and climate change impose additional threats to species survival. Furthermore, paleoecologists have used the fossil record to contextualize the current loss of biodiversity based on knowledge of past extinctions and paleoclimates, and now models of predicted future climates are helping to anticipate new challenges.

Forty years ago, the U.S. Endangered Species Act was signed into law. This landmark piece of legislation was designed to protect plant and animal species from extinction based on our knowledge of conservation science at the time. The Act has led to many success stories, primarily due to the growing sophistication of the conservation science it spurred, but will not be sufficient on its own to address new conservation goals. With new landmark conservation legislation unlikely in the near future, how will scientists continue to move forward in their quest to preserve biodiversity?

The 11th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, hosted by the Department of Botany and the United States Botanic Garden, will highlight past efforts and new threats to conservation goals, as well as new approaches underway that promise to safeguard biodiversity both here in the U.S. and around the world. The invited speakers will cover a wide range of endangered organisms, with a special focus on plants, to illustrate the challenges of modern-day conservation science in a rapidly changing world.

Friday, April 19
  6:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.    Opening Reception and Poster Session, The United States Botanic Garden
Saturday, April 20
  9:00 a.m. -6:00 p.m.     Lectures and Discussion, Baird Auditorium, NMNH
  6:15 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.    Reception and Dinner, Museum Rotunda, NMNH

Information, registration, and poster abstract instructions at http://botany.si.edu/sbs/
Fax: 202-786-2563 - e-mail: sbs at si.edu<mailto:sbs at si.edu>

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