Boston Flora

Tag: Harvard University

  • Sunday, April 17, 12:30 pm – 4:30 pm – Invasives: ID, Ecology, and Control

    Get a head start on invasive control this year by learning to identify invasives in the early season. This New England Wild Flower Society course, co-sponsored by the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, provides an introduction to about 40 of the most common invasive non-native plants in our local landscapes. Through lecture, discussion, power-point presentation, herbarium specimens, and a walk outside at Garden in the Woods in Framinham, become familiar with identification clues as well as the habits of a number of these plants that are so disruptive of natural ecosystems. Discuss management techniques for many of these species, on both a home and a landscape scale. The “Invaders” issue of the Society’s magazine as well as the Field Guide to Invasive Plants in Massachusetts will be available for purchase at a discount.  The session will take place Sunday, April 17 from 12:30 – 4:30, and will cost $48 for members of the sponsoring organizations, $58 for non-members.  Register online at www.newfs.org.

  • Tuesday, March 29, 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm – Vernal Pools: Ecology and Design Considerations

    Elizabeth Colburn, Ph.D., Aquatic Ecologist with the Harvard Forest, Harvard University, will give an illustrated presentation at the Hunnewell Building at the Arnold Arboretum on Tuesday, March 29, from 1:30 – 3:30. Betsy will speak about the natural history and ecology of New England vernal pools in the context of ecological landscaping. Topics will include the origins and annual cycles of vernal pools; life histories of common pool animals; year-round habitat needs of pool inhabitants; linkages among vernal pools, adjacent uplands, and other water bodies; factors affecting water quality and hydrology; plants associated with vernal pools; and strategies for avoiding damage to vernal pool ecosystems within managed landscapes.  Fee $20 Ecological Landscaping Association and Arnold Arboretum members, $25 nonmember.

    Co-sponsored by the Ecological Landscaping Association and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.  Register online at https://my.arboretum.harvard.edu or by phone at 617-384-5277.

  • Wednesday, March 30, 6:00 pm – New Directions in EcoPlanning Annual Lecture

    Anne Whiston Spirn is an award-winning author, photographer, and professor of landscape architecture and planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her work is devoted to promoting life-sustaining communities: places that are functional, sustainable, meaningful, and artful, and help people understand the relationship between the natural and built worlds. This Harvard Museum of Natural History program will take place at 6 pm on Wednesday, March 30. Free and open to the public, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Reception to follow. Supported by a generous gift from Michael Dyett (AB ’68, MRP ’72) and Heidi Richardson. For more information log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Tuesday, March 8, 7:40 pm – Evolutionary Origins of Myrmecochory: Clues from Two Continents

    The next meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club will be held on Tuesday March 8 at 7:40 PM in room 101 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Oxford Street, Cambridge. Please note that the meeting will begin 10 minutes later than normal. David Lubertazzi will present a talk entitled Evolutionary Origins of Myrmecochory: Clues from Two Continents.  David, who is President of the Club, is a postdoctoral fellow  creating species pages for the Global Ant Project, and has described a Pyramica from Florida.

    Myrmecochory is a mutualism that provides food to ants and seed dispersal benefits to plants. Studies examining these interactions have provided important insights in ant biology, plant biology and a diversity of topics in ecology and evolutionary biology. This talk will present details about the natural history of two ant species that play important roles in dispersing seeds within their native habitats. Common characteristics of these ants will then be shown to form the
    basis for a new hypothesis to explain how myrmecochory first evolved.

    The meeting is free and open to the public. Snacks will be provided and you are also welcome to join us at 6:15 PM for an informal pre-meeting dinner at Harkness Commons, in the law school cafeteria on the second floor. For more information, email David Lubertazzi at lubertazzi@gmail.com.

  • Saturday, March 12, 2:00 pm – The Magnetic North: Notes from the Arctic Circle

    Smashing through the Arctic Ocean with the crew of a Russian icebreaker, herding reindeer across the tundra with Lapps, and shadowing the Trans-Alaskan pipeline with truckers—author Sara Wheeler will discuss her adventures in the beautiful and brutal Arctic from her book The Magnetic North, featured in the Boston Globe and the February 6 edition of the New York Times Book Review. The lecture and book signing will take place at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, beginning at 2 pm on Saturday, March 12. Free with museum admission.  For more information log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Wednesday, March 9, 6:00 pm – There and Back Again: Deep-Sea Exploration to the Earth’s Most Extreme Habitats

    The majority of our biosphere consists of deep ocean, but to date we have explored very little of it. Indeed, just thirty years ago scientists discovered entirely new ecosystems thriving on chemicals from within the Earth (rather than from sunlight). Harvard biologist Peter Girguis, Loeb Associate Professor of the Natural Sciences at Harvard, will highlight some of these amazing deep-sea explorations and discuss current research, including the role of deep-sea microbes in mitigating oil spill disasters. Free and open to the public, Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street, beginning at 6 pm on Wednesday, March 9.  Image below of Ridgea worms from Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence at  www.cosee.net. For more information, log on to www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

  • Saturdays, March 5 & 12, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon – Introduction to Winter Tree Identification

    The Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway in Boston, will again present one of its most popular class offerings on two successive Saturdays, March 5 and 12, from 9 – 12 noon. Learn the basic information necessary to identify deciduous trees during their dormant season. Looking at specific character combinations, you will determine the genus and species of several types of trees in the Boston area.  Class begins indoors with a discussion of basic classification techniques and continues outside to the Arboretum grounds to examine a variety of trees.  This class is recommended for the beginner-to-intermediate tree observer. Dress in layers for both classroom and outdoor learning. A hand lens may be helpful, but is not necessary.    Price to attend is $65 for Arboretum members, $75 for nonmembers.  To register, call 617-384-5277, or email adulted@arnarb.harvard.edu.

  • Tuesday, February 8, 7:30 pm – Halictids as a Model of Social Evolution

    The next meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club will be held on Tuesday February 8 at 7:30 PM in room 101 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. David Lubertazzi is pleased to announce that our January meeting will feature a talk by Sarah Kocher entitled “Halictids as a Model of Social Evolution.” Sarah is a postdoctoral researcher from Harvard University.

    The development of eusociality is considered to be a major transition in evolutionary history. Even Darwin noted the presence of sterile castes was “a special difficulty that was potentially fatal to the whole theory” of evolution. Previous studies on the evolution of social behavior have focused on species that have fixed social structure; however, because these species no longer exhibit variation in sociality, they provide limited models for discovering the factors that led to the evolution of social behavior. Halictid bees, on the other hand, provide an excellent study system. Different populations of a species can exhibit variation in social behavior that ranges from solitary to social. Dr Kocher will describe her research, which uses molecular and biogeographic approaches, studying the evolution of social behaviors in this remarkable family of bees.

    The meeting is free and open to the public. Snacks will be provided and you are also welcome to join us at 6:15 PM for an informal pre-meeting dinner at Harkness Commons, in the law school cafeteria on the second floor. For more information, contact David Lubertazzi at lubertazzi@gmail.com.

  • Wednesday, March 30, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Working with Stone: Creating a Connection with the Spirit of Place

    Rescheduled from February 1 due to snow. The gardener’s perspective is the perfect loci for seeking inward and reaching outward, for ordering the experience of time and space, and observing higher orders.  Dan Snow is a designer of outdoor spaces in stone, and an art maker specializing is dry stone constructions.  He is the author of In the Company of Stone and Listening to Stone—Hardy Structures, Perilous Follies, and Other Tangles with Nature and the subject of the PBS documentary Stone Rising.  Working solo to build garden walls and dry stone features, Master Craftsman Dan Snow finds that the most successful designs are born of an intimate relationship with the landscape and knowledge and understanding of the materials at hand. Dan’s presentation will examine the many uses of stone in the garden; how stone can support a garden design, or simply be the garden itself. Illustrated with images of his work, the presentation will also explore the “give and take” experience of working in nature, and the connection to spirit expressed through stone.  Book-signing to follow. Co-sponsored by Trinity Church and the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.

    The lecture and reception will now take place Wednesday, March 30, beginning at 7 pm. Tickets $20 member, $25 non member, available at The Shop at Trinity (206 Clarendon Street, lower level), by phone (617.536.0944 x225) or online arboretum.harvard.edu. Questions: Kathy Acerbo-Bachmann, 617.536.0944 x217 or kacerbobachmann@trinitychurchboston.org.  The beautiful photo below of Dan Snow’s work in Vermont is by Peter Mauss.

  • Saturday, February 12, 10:30 am – 12:00 noon – Magnificent Magnolias for Northern Gardens

    Magnolias are without doubt the most spectacular flowering trees that can be grown in temperate climates. Luckily for gardeners, the genus Magnolia is going through a “golden age” of new plant development. The result is rapidly expanding options for cold-climate gardens. Come to  the Berkshire Botanical Garden on Saturday, February 12 from 10:30 – noon and see some of these gorgeous new hybrids, some old favorites that still deserve planting, and see what beauty may result if you try growing your own magnolias from seed. Your garden (and your life) may never be the same!

    Stefan Cover works at Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology where he studies North American ants. He moonlights as a botanist/gardener with special interest in ornamental woody plants, especially magnolias. He runs the international seed exchange for the Magnolia Society and cultivates many of these lovely trees in his Zone 5B frost-pocket garden in Stow, Mass. $20 BBG members, $25 non members. To register, log on to www.berkshirebotanical.org.