Orin Foster Environmental Lecture Series

EVS Seminar Series Dr. Alexander Werth.

EVS Seminar Series guest Dr. Alexander Werth, Hampden-Sydney College, presenting: "Becoming Jonah: Studying Whale Feeding and Its Anthropogenic Interactions"

Join us for the Orin Foster Environmental Lecture Series and Environment and Sustainability Seminar Series, where leading experts dive into the most pressing environmental challenges of our time.

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Monthly Events:

Semester Seminars

January

Omar Suri

Cultivating UB’s Premier Community Garden: An On Campus Application of the Miyawaki Forest Method

Date: February 7, 2025
Time: 6 p.m
Location: 121 Cooke Hall, North Campus

UB Sustainability, along with UB Facilities and the Department of Environments and Sustainability, are working on cultivating a Miyawaki Mini Forest on campus. This seminar aims to inform and involve UB’s student body about their role in this process. We will cover the scientific evidence and planning process that justify this project. The Miyawaki Method is already being implemented worldwide as a better way to reforest. Through service and thoughtful environmentalism, we hope to invest in real ecosystems right here on campus. 

OMAR SURI.

February

Zoom image: DENVER HOLT. DENVER HOLT.

Denver Holt

Snowy Owls and Lemmings: 35 Years of Predator-Prey Dynamics in the Arctic

Date: February 7, 2025
Time: 6 p.m
Location: 121 Cooke Hall, North Campus

Can't make it in person? Watch on ZOOM

Owl Research.

Denver Holt, founder of the Owl Research Institute (ORI), will share insights from 35 years of dedicated snowy owl research in Utqiaġvik / Barrow, Alaska. He will highlight the intricate relationship between snowy owls and their primary prey, the lemming, and explore the alarming declines both species have faced at that location over the recent decades. Holt will discuss the critical role of predator-prey dynamics in Arctic ecosystems, the potential causes of these population shifts, and why understanding these changes is essential for conservation efforts. This presentation offers a rare glimpse into the nuances of Arctic wildlife and the ongoing challenges they face.

Josh Randall.

Josh Randall

Seed Saving and Climate Resilience in Western New York

Date: February 21, 2025
Time: 2 p.m
Location: 240 Capen Hall, North Campus

Can't make it in person? Watch on ZOOM

Seed saving is a process of human selection of plants, allowing for cultural and economic considerations to impact their future. Historically, it played an important role in the development of human civilizations across the planet, and potentially can serve a similar role in enabling future generations’ ability to confront climate change. Western New York has previously been labeled as a climate refuge and sits in an important cross section for many ecological and climatic developments over the next 100 years. Josh Randall shares potential pathways for seed saving of important native species and cultivars that consider different aspects of phenotype, including plasticity. Growers of all types are encouraged to develop plans to save their seeds, and consider which species and cultivars they are using in their gardens.

March

John Vucetich.

John Vucetich

Lessons from 65 years of observing wolves and moose on a wilderness island

Date: March 14, 2025
Time: 6 p.m
Location: 121 Cooke Hall, North Campus

Can't make it in person? Watch on ZOOM

Isle Royale National Park is a wilderness island in Lake Superior and inhabited by wolves and moose.  They are the subject of the longest study of any predator-prey system in the world.  The most distinctive and important lesson from 65+ years of observation is a quantifiable impression that their dynamics are driven as much by historical contingencies as by any set of rules that might govern nature.  That impression explains, among other things, why ecologists are conspicuously poor at forecasting future dynamics. It also offers new reason to be humble in our relationships with nature.

Zoom image: Book cover Restoring the Balance Book cover Restoring the Balance.
Zoom image: Wolves Wolves.
Jordan Fox.

Jordan Fox

The Academic Life and Times of Jordan Fox

Date: March 28, 2025
Time: 2 p.m
Location: 240 Capen Hall, North Campus

Can't make it in person? Watch on ZOOM

Jordan Fox is associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology, as well as Associate Professor in the Department of Environment and Sustainability. He is both a theorist and empirical researcher, who primarily uses qualitative methods. His broad interest is in our limited ability to control nature. Towards this end, Jordan’s current research examines a range of topics, including how and why powerful institutions have become strategically ignorant of ecological complexity; the political, environmental, and cultural origins of both invasive species ecology and fire ecology; and how social science should (or should not) incorporate natural science.

April

Dan Cariveau.

Dan Cariveau

Evaluating how prairie restorations influence native bee communities

Date: April 4, 2025
Time: 6 p.m
Location: 121 Cooke Hall, North Campus

Can't make it in person? Watch on ZOOM

With over 20,000 species globally, native bees are a diverse group of insects facing numerous ecological threats. One of the largest impacts is habitat loss and the concomitant decline in floral and nesting resources. Ecological restoration may provide habitat for native bees. However, until recently, native bees and other insects were not explicitly considered when planting and managing ecological restorations. Our lab is interested in understanding what factors influence the success of native bees in tall grass prairie restorations. In this talk, I will discuss how variables such as habitat size, seed mix composition, and surrounding habitat drive the diversity and abundance of native bee communities. In addition, we are examining which bee species are benefiting from ecological restoration.

Zoom image: Tall grass Tall grass.

Nancy Grimm

Sponsored by RENEW Institute as part of their Catalizing Conversation Series

Nature-based solutions for climate adaptation in cities

Date: April 10, 2025
Time: 4 p.m
Location: Student Union 330, Pride and Tradition Room, North Campus

Humans have become the main force shaping the environment in the modern age, which is characterized by rapid change, compounded problems, and increasing complexity and uncertainty. For cities, extreme events driven by climate change pose particular challenges, including threats to lives and livelihoods, compounded infrastructure failures, and unequal distribution of risk due to past unjust practices. Strengthening the capacity of these social-ecological-technological systems (SETS) to maintain their essential structure and function when faced with such events (i.e., resilience) is of paramount importance. Yet solutions have been based on prevailing views that the world is complicated, not complex; that events are predictable, not uncertain; and that people are apart from nature rather than part of nature. In this talk I will explore examples of nature-based solutions, asking if these strategies can build resilience to extreme events in cities. Co-produced visions for present and future urban configurations from neighborhood to regional scales will illustrate the potential for reducing risk from extreme heat and flooding in urbanized central Arizona.

Nancy Grim.

May

Zoom image: Different food types and sources Different food types and sources.

Alissa Uije Diamond

Plants, Places, People, and Social Structures: Exploring sites, archives, and familial memory

Date: May 2, 2025
Time: 2 p.m
Location: 240 Capen Hall, North Campus

Can't make it in person? Watch on ZOOM

Alissa Ujie Diamond.

Alissa Ujie Diamond is an assistant professor at University at Buffalo’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning.  In this event, she will present critical work on the social history of mulberries and plant invasiveness recently published in an article in the journal Plant Perspectives.  Her work is based in archival, site-based, pedagogical, and art-based methods.  This presentation will highlight the connections made and pathways opened across these modes of inquiry.

Past Seminars

Video Recordings:

Video recordings of past seminars from the Department of Environment and Sustainability are available upon request. To access these recordings, please contact Isabel Porto-Hannes at isabelha@buffalo.edu.

Events Calendar

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