WICI Speaker Series: Dr. Mary O'Connor "Our Changing Biosphere: Understanding our Future from First Principles"
Watch the video recording of this talk on Vimeo.com
Biodiversity change and ecological responses to climate change are topics of major concern, and we rely on ecological theory to guide how we relate observed or suspected changes to potential consequences for ecosystem functions and services. Our major theories of life emphasize either energy and materials (metabolic theories) or information (biodiversity, evolution). Dr. O'Connor is seeking avenues for unification across these conceptual pillars, and insights gained by a unified approach for modern ecological problems. Dr O'Connor will present recent work that strengthens our understanding of how general temperature dependence of metabolism constrains population-level processes and fitness potential, providing a key link between temperature and ecological and evolutionary outcomes across scales. She is deeply interested in unifying our ecological science across scales, and hope to discuss how we can continue to take steps in that direction to bridge themes in modern ecology.
Please register for this free event on Eventbrite.
Mary O'Connor is an Associate Professor of Zoology and the Associate Director of the Centre for Biodiversity at University of British Columbia. She is a leader in metabolic ecology research, using experiments, data synthesis and theoretical models to understand change in aquatic ecosystems, including causes and consequences of biodiversity change and climate change impacts. O’Connor is an External Faculty of the Santa Fe Institute, Affiliate of the Hakai Beach Institute, and currently serves on the Secretariat of the Western Society of Naturalists.