Boston Flora

Tag: Elizabeth Crone

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

    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.

    http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/sites/harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/files/leaves/Elizabeth_Crone.jpg

  • Monday, April 23, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Syrup, Seeds, and Bees: Exploring Links in Maple Ecology

    Elizabeth Crone’s research as Population Biologist at Harvard Forest focuses on the population ecology, life history, and conservation of plants and insects. Most recently, she has turned her attention to a signature “industry” of New England—maple syrup production. She is trying to determine any links between pollinator populations, quantity of maple flower and seeds, and sap flow. Join The Arnold Arboretum on Monday, April 23, from 7 – 8:30 in the Weld Hill Research Building  to learn if each responds independently to the weather or if there are possibly complex, but subtle, interactions taking place in the sugar bush.  Free, but registration requested.  Visit http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?EventID=1#April.  Offered with the Cambridge Science Fair and the New England Wild Flower Society.