CALENDAR
The Gifford Arboretum sponsors a host of activities during the year including horticultural workshops, plant sales, festivals, and our Annual Picnic and Lecture. Below is a schedule of the events.
If you have any questions about any of the events, please contact us at 305-284-5364. We look forward to seeing you at one of our many events in the future!
(All meetings at 7 PM in Cox Science Center Room 166, except The Gifford Lecture.)
Talk and tour led by Stephen Pearson, Director of the Arboretum
What is a Tree?
Please join us as the Director presents an an educational and interesting journey through the Arboretum.
Speaker: Roger Hammer, renown naturalist and wildflower expert.
Florida's Most Exquisite Wildflowers
Roger L. Hammer is a respected naturalist who has taught citizens about the beauty and benefits of Florida's native plants for decades. Living in Homestead since 1969, he was the Director of the Castellow Hammock Nature Center for over 30 years. There, he not only maintained and managed an exceptional natural area, but also educated many people about native flora and fauna, nature photography, and fishing in Florida Bay. One of Roger's many important achievements was to rescue the Atala Hairstreak (a/k/a Florida Atala or Coontie Hairstreak) butterfly from possible extinction. Thought to be extinct in the 1960's, Roger discovered a small population of this native butterfly in 1979. This beautiful butterfly with iridescent blue and fiery orange-red markings is dependent on Coontie (Zamia floridana) cycads as it sole larval food source, and these native plants had all but disappeared because of intensive development of its natural range. Roger helped to not only distribute caterpillars of the Atala Hairstreaks to other Coontie populations, but also successfully advocated for homeowners to use Coontie in their home landscapes. Today, the Atala Hairstreak is fairly common, and they are regularly enjoyed by many homeowners and others who maintain planting of Coontie. Roger is an expert on the Everglades, and he received the first Marjory Stoneman Douglas Award presented by the Miami-Dade Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society in 1982 for "outstanding, consistent, and constant service in the areas of education, research, promotion, and preservation of native plants." He was also awarded the Charles Brookfield Medal by the Tropical Audubon Society in 1996 for "outstanding service in the protection of our natural resources." He has addressed many local groups over the years, and Roger was the keynote speaker at the 19th World Orchid Conference in Miami in 2008. One of Roger's biggest passions is wildflowers and, combining this love with his expertise in photography, he has written two excellent, published field guides on wildflowers of the Everglades and the Florida Keys respectively, as well as a guide to Everglades National Park. He has recently developed a new presentation on some of Florida's most beautiful wildflowers, many of which are unfortunately also rare. Roger's lectures are always fun and educational, and this one will reveal some of Florida's most beautiful flora. This eco-hero will literally open our eyes to the beauty of our native wildflowers and leave us with a new (or renewed) appreciation for natural Florida.
Speaker: Professor Carol C. Horvitz, Department of Biology at the University of Miami
Gardens are Great, Forests are Phenomenal!
Please note that the lecture will be in Cox Science Center Room 145. Dr. Carol C. Horvitz is a Professor of Biology and Cooper Fellow (2008-2010) in the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Miami. Dr. Horvitz is a plant population biologist whose research is characterized by the combination of field intensive studies with mathematical modeling, focused particularly on structured populations in variable environments. This conceptual arena includes the development and application of new parameters (e.g. environment-specific elasticity) and encompasses an array of topics from the biology of ageing and the evolution of life span to the spatial population dynamics of both native and exotic species. Importantly, this work has exciting applications to understanding plant animal interactions, forest dynamics, as well as disturbance, global change and invasion biology. Known for a strong commitment to facilitating interdisciplinary training between empirical and theoretical ecologists and mathematicians interested in biological systems, Dr. Horvitz has participated in working groups of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, workshops at the Max Planck Institute for Demography and at Stanford University, and she has offered several invited graduate-level short courses in matrix modeling, both nationally (e g, Kellogg Biological Station) and internationally (e.g. Uppsala University, Sweden). She received her PhD in 1980 from Northwestern University for work on seed dispersal by ants of a neotropical herb in the Mexican rainforest. After postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago, she joined the faculty of the biology department at UM in the mid-1980's and has been promoting the increase in facilities and programs for the study of tropical plants at UM. That has included very commendable and tireless work on increasing the educational and research functions of the Gifford Arboretum where she served as Director for many years, including during the challenges and destruction wrought by Hurricanes Wilma and Katrina when the Arboretum's collection was devastated. Dr. Horvitz is also a founding member of UM's Institute for Theoretical and Mathematical Ecology, and she has been teaching graduate level courses in theoretical ecology for over two decades. Dr. Horvitz and her students have done considerable field work and modeling of the dynamics of invasive trees and shrubs in southern Florida and of plant-animal interactions in tropical understory monocots. She serves on the governing body of the Organization for Tropical Studies, and she has previously served on the editorial board of the American Naturalist.. She has organized several symposia on invasive species and has a keen interest in developing appropriate experimental design and conceptual tools for making cross-continental comparative studies of population dynamics, especially those focused on understanding why/how species become invasive when they move to a new geographic range. Dr. Horvitz's work has recently been supported by an NSF OPUS grant and an NIA (NIH) Program Project grant. We are proud to have this outstanding scientist and educator as our 2011 John C. Gifford Lecturer, and her topic will be "Gardens are Great, Forests are Phenomenal." This program promises to be a wonderful opportunity to learn about the importance of wild plants in their natural habitat, and why natural ecosystems mean so much more to the health of our planet than altered environments imposed by man to pursue particular goals without fully understanding the varied relations and dependencies of natural systems, and the environmental costs of disturbing same. The evening commences at 7:00 PM in Cox Science Center Room 145.
Speaker: Steve Woodmansee, President of the Florida Native Plant Society
The How To's, Challenges and Benefits of Restoring and Re-Creating a Pine Rockland Habitat
Pine Rockland is one of the rarest and yet most botanically diverse habitats in Florida. In Miami-Dade County only 1.5% remains outside of Everglades National Park (which has 10% of the original amount). Although restoring existing tracts of pine rockland is essential, it may not be enough, and Steve Woodmansee will discuss the reasons why, and some possible solutions to help thwart the decline of pine rockland plants and the wildlife that use them. Steve Woodmansee is the President of the Florida Native Plant Society and a respected naturalist who has been working for years with Florida's native flora. A native of Miami, he has special interest and expertise in the plant communities of our area.