April 8, 2013 - Boston Flora

Thursday, April 25, 5:00 pm – 43rd Annual Meeting of Friends of the Public Garden

April 8, 2013 by Boston Flora

You are cordially invited to the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Friends of the Public Garden on Thursday, April 25, beginning at 5 pm at First Church in Boston, 66 Marlborough Street.Â The featured speakers will be Tobias Wolf and Deborah Lighthall Howe of Wolf Lighthall Landscape Architecture, speaking on Evolution of an Edge.Â Hear about the Friends’ plans to rejuvenate the Boylston Street border of the Public Garden.Â A reception will follow the meeting.Â Please respond no later than April 18 to 617-723-8144, or email info@friendsofthepublicgarden.org.Â You may also request a copy of the 2012 Annual Meeting minutes and the Board of Directors nominating slate.

Tuesday, April 16, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm – Forecasting the Future: Can Ecologists Predict the Fate of Plant and Animal Populations?

April 8, 2013 by Boston Flora

Elizabeth Crone, Population Ecologist of Harvard Forest, will speak at the Arnold Arboretum on Tuesday, April 16, beginning at 6:30, in a program co-sponsored by the Cambridge Science Festival. Population ecologists study plant and animal populations in essentially the same way that insurance actuaries assess risks about human populations: they track births and deaths of different plant and animal species, and use these patterns to predict how these species will respond to changes in habitat management, climate, and more. However, there is much less data about most species than about humans, and environmental planners often want longer-term forecasts than insurance companies. Elizabeth Crone will describe how plant ecologists monitor populations and collect demographic information. She will also speak about successes and failures in forecasting the futures of different plant populations, and describe how ecologists go about the science of fortune-telling. Free, but registration requested at www.arboretum.harvard.edu.