Strata smoking fines tossed
Seeking a wildfire 'hero'
BC firm's materials in space
UN workers charged 
Trudeau in Saskatoon 
Doctors protest tax change
5 die crossing channel
Jury finds railway at fault 
Mistrial in migrant shooting
Tourism operators struggle 
Nude Beverages sells line
Wealth gap widening
Leafs even series
Cristall gets pro look
Warriors even series in OT
Swift breaks Spotify record
Cudi Coachella set cut short
Bon Jovi 'hasn't been a saint'
Dr. Jeannette Whitton, associate professor of botany and director of the UBC Herbarium in the Beaty Biodiversity Museum, is coming to Vernon as the first presenter in this year’s Science in Society Speaker Series, hosted by Okanagan College and the Okanagan Science Centre. This talk is in celebration of the International Year of Biodiversity, 2010.
Professor Whitton will explore the challenging question of how can we decide which species to save when we don't know how many species we have? Her presentation entitled: Adventures in plant biodiversity: new tools, classic studies and the nature of plant species, will take place on Monday, Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lecture Theatre of the Vernon campus of Okanagan College, and will be followed by free refreshments.
Plants form the fabric of the landscape, and represent an intriguing component of biodiversity. Many plants can double their DNA content, interbreed with other species or give up traditional reproductive modes and become clonal. Examples of these unusual strategies will be used to illustrate how plant biologists use combinations of new tools and classic studies to help us understand the basic units of biodiversity. This fundamental understanding of what exists comes into play in prioritizing and evaluating species for conservation.
Whitton studies plant evolution, focusing on plants that have either very wide or very narrow breeding tendencies Â- from hybrids through asexual plants - and the factors that affect these tendencies. She received her PhD from the University of Connecticut in 1994 and was a post-doctoral fellow at Indiana University before joining UBC in 1997. She currently serves as the director of the UBC Herbarium in the Beaty Biodiversity Museum, and as a member of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.
The Science in Society Speaker Series is sponsored by Okanagan College and the Okanagan Science Centre. Admission is $5 in advance or $7 at the door. Please contact the Okanagan Science Centre www.okscience.ca or call (250) 545-3644 for advanced purchase of tickets or for more information.
This event is sponsored by Sladen Moore Chartered Accountants, the Best Western Vernon Lodge, and Starbucks Coffee.
