In recent decades, a wave of enigmatic population crashes and extinctions has swept through frog species in the Americas, Australia and elsewhere. More than two decades of research strongly suggest that a recently introduced fungal disease was largely responsible for this biodiversity catastrophe. More recently and closer to home, bats have been dying in droves in the caves and mines of their eastern United States wintering sites. Again, the most likely suspect is a recently introduced fungal disease. Biologists were tragically slow to accept a disease as the principal cause of frog disappearances and even slower to act. Can bat biologists learn from these mistakes? Is it possible to intervene to help wildlife populations threatened by disease?
Dr. Bryan Windmiller, Ecological Consultant and Founder of Hyla Ecological Services, Concord, Massachusetts will present this free lecture at the Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston Street, Conference Rooms 5 & 6, on Tuesday, September 15 beginning at 6:30 pm. No advance registration required.
Widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost horticulturists, Armitage is a professor at the University of Georgia, Athens, where he teaches, conducts research on new garden plants, and runs the University of Georgia Horticulture Gardens. He is generally credited with creating the concept of the independent trial garden, the first one of which opened in Athens in 1982. He is the author of ten books, including Armitage’s Native Plants for North American Gardens and Armitage’s Garden Annuals. He has been cited as one of the ten most influential people or organizations in the floriculture industry.
Armitage is not the only distinguished honoree. The Jackson Dawson Award will go to Pierre Bennerup, president of Sunny Border Nurseries, one of the leading producers of perennial plants for the northeast. Sunny Border, headquartered in Kensington, Connecticut, is known around the world for being on the cutting edge of new plant development. Pierre, the second generation Bennerup in the industry, is an integral part of the global horticulture community and has been instrumental in searching out new plants suitable for North American gardens.
Also to be honored is Holly Shimizu, Executive Director of the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C. Ms. Shimizu, who will receive the Thomas Roland Medal, has been responsible for the overall operation of the USBG for the past nine years and, under her leadership, the widely acclaimed new National Garden opened 2006. Ms. Shimizu is well known through her work as one of the hosts of The Victory Garden and as a frequent commentator on horticultural topics for National Public Radio.
