Kareiva

Peter Kareiva, Ph.D. ’81, chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy, will deliver the 2013 Jill and Ken Iscol Distinguished Environmental Lecture, “Overcoming Dogma and Prophecies of Doom to Save Nature,” April 22 at 5 p.m. in Call Auditorium, Kennedy Hall.

Kareiva mentors more than 600 staff engaged in conservation science in more than 30 countries around the world. Kareiva received his Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from Cornell in 1981 and joined the faculty at Brown University in biology and applied mathematics. In 1984 he began a 20-year tenure at the University of Washington before becoming director of conservation biology at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center.

He moved to The Nature Conservancy in 2001. He is author of more than 150 scientific publications and author or editor of eight books, including a textbook on conservation science. Kareiva is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Kareiva’s research concerns the connection between human activities and changes in ecosystem services. He is also studying the linkage between the sustainability initiatives of global corporations and their impacts on ecosystems.

Kareiva has published on biotechnology, agriculture, risk assessment, insect ecology, theoretical ecology, climate change, invasive species and the importance of getting children into nature.

While on campus, Kareiva also will visit several classes and speak with graduate students. His visit is sponsored by the Jill and Ken Iscol Distinguished Environmental Lectureship, which brings prominent scholars, newsmakers, scientists and leaders to Cornell to address environmental issues. It is presented by the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future.