The Future of Biodiversity in a Crowded World

Join Lord Robert May, President of the UK Royal Society, for a special lecture on April 30 at 2:30pm in UBC's Woodward IRC 2 (2194 Health Sciences Mall).

News Release from the British High Commission in Ottawa:

“Lord Robert May, President of the UK Royal Society, the world's oldest and most prestigious scientific academy, will be visiting Canada (Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver) from April 26 to 30, 2004.

Prior to being appointed President of the Royal Society in 2000, Lord May was the Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Prime Minister (1995-2000), and Head of the UK Government's Office of Science and Technology.

Lord May holds a Professorship jointly with the University of Oxford and Imperial College of Science and Technology. He is a mathematical biologist and his research concentrates on factors influencing biodiversity, and the rates, causes and consequences of extinction.”

Details of his lecture, “The Future of Biodiversity in a Crowded World”:

“We still do not know enough about the diversity of plants and animals with which we share our planet, and we know even less about extinction processes. In his lecture, Lord May will outline approaches to estimating current extinction rates which appear to be running several orders of magnitude higher than the overall averages seen across the vast sweep of the fossil record. He will outline why we should be worried about this, and the costs of effective action.”

Links:

• Lord Robert May Biography
• Lord Robert May, 2001 Blue Plant Prize Recipient
• Lord Robert May's Speech on GM Crops from The Guardian
• Press Release from British High Commission, April 12, 2004

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 10:25 PM on April 27, 2004