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The John C. Gifford Arboretum

University of Miami Department of Biology
College of Arts and Sciences




Twenty-second Gifford Arboretum Lecture

Thursday, April 8, 2010




7:00 pm

Place: Cox Science Building 126

Dr. John Kress

National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

will speak on

DNA Barcoding in Plants: The Future of Identification, Discovery, and Conservation of Tropical Biodiversity

 

Dr. W. John Kress was born in Illinois and received his education at Harvard University (B. A., 1975) and Duke University (Ph. D. 1981) where he studied tropical biology, ethnobotany, evolution, and plant systematics.  Among his over 100 scientific and popular papers on tropical botany are his books entitled Heliconia: An Identification Guide, Heliconias – Las llamaradas de la Selva Colombiana, A New Century of Biology (with Gary Barrett), A Checklist of the Trees, Shrubs, Herbs, and Climbers of Myanmar, and Plant Conservation – A Natural History Approach (with Gary Krupnick).  His current research focuses on coevolution between plants and their pollinators, plant DNA barcoding, and advanced technological tools for taxonomists.  He has just recently published a new book, entitled The Weeping Goldsmith (Abbeville Press), which describes his experiences exploring for plants in the isolated country of Myanmar. Dr. Kress is also interested in the intersection of science and art.  To this end he is published two original art projects, called Botanica Magnifica (Abbeville Press) and Tulipae Hortorum, with photographer Jonathan Singer and a book on plant evolution, entitled The Art of Plant Evolution (Kew Publications), with Dr. Shirley Sherwood using contemporary botanical art to illustrate the diversity of the plant world.  He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and currently Executive Director of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation. Dr. Kress is an Adjunct Professor of Biology at George Washington University in Washington, DC, and Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Yunnan. Currently he is Curator and Research Scientist as well as former Chairman of the Department of Botany at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.

 

  Free admission and parking

  The Gifford Arboretum is located on the University of Miami Coral Gables campus near the intersection of San Amaro Drive and Robbia Avenue . For additional information please call 305 284 5364

Cosponsors:   Montgomery Botanical Center , the Kampong of the National Tropical Botanical Garden

 

The Gifford Arboretum Lecture is part of the CETroB lecture series

 

Former Gifford Arboretum Lecturers (click here)

1984

Richard Howard

Professor emeritus and former Director of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University

1985

Mark Plotkin

Ethnobotanist, Time magazine’s 1999 Hero of the Planet

1986

Bill Theobauld

Director of the National Tropical Botanical Gardens

1992

Richard Howard

Director of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University

1993

Taylor Alexander

Professor of Biology and Creator of Microbiome, University of Miami

1994

Walter Hodges

USDA plant explorer and oversaw NSF awards for Tropical Botany

1995

Christine Padoch

Professor of Ecological Anthropology

Institute of Economic Botany at the New York Botanical Garden

1996

Luis Diego Gomez

Director of Las Cruces Biological Station

and The Robert and Catherine Wilson Botanical Garden

1997

Robin Foster

Professor of Plant Ecology, Field Museum of Natural History

1998

Paul Cox

Director of the National Tropical Botanical Gardens

1999

Meg Lowman

Director of Research and Conservation, Marie Selby Botanical Garden

2000

Peter Ashton

Professor of Forestry

and Faculty Fellow of the Center for International Development, Harvard University

2001

Robin Marantz Henig

Author & Freelance Science Writer

2002

Alvaro Calonje-Daly

Director of Dolmestch Arboretum & Horticulturist, Cali, Colombia

2003

Robin Chazdon

Professor of Ecology, University of Connecticut

2004

Peter M. Vitousek

Clifford G. Morrison Professor in Population and Resource Studies

Department of Biological Sciences and FSI Senior Fellow, Stanford University

2005

Georgia Tasker

Journalist, Miami Herald

2006

Douglas Larson

Professor Emeritus, University of Guelph

2007

Deborah A. Clark

Professor, Department of Biology

University of Missouri St. Louis

2008

Julie S. Denslow

Research Ecologist and Team Leader

Invasive Species Unit Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry

USDA Forest Service

2009

Lúcia Lohmann

Professor, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil