By Dan Nonte, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-4314
Posted 2-28-08
GREENSBORO, NC - Prominent biologists will speak about the state of North Carolina’s flora and fauna March 28 at UNCG. They will discuss why that biodiversity is important and how it can be preserved.
The UNCG Department of Biology’s spring symposium, “The State of Our State: Wild Things in North Carolina,” will be held 1-5 p.m. in Jaylee Mead Auditorium (Room 101) of the Science Building. Richard B. Hamilton, Curtis Smalling, John Alderman and Alan Weakley will speak at the event, which is free and open to the public.
Free parking is available in the McIver Street Parking Deck. A campus map is available online. For more information about the event, call (336) 334-5391.
Hamilton has recently retired as executive director of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC) and is now working with the NC Wildlife Federation. His 37 years with the WRC have provided him with an exhaustive knowledge of the state’s wildlife and wildlife policies.
Smalling is the mountain region biologist for Audubon North Carolina. He conducts extensive breeding bird surveys in the mountains to identify important birding areas. His work is used to support public policy decisions. He has written several books and articles and is widely known and respected for his work. In 2005, Smalling and others investigated the impacts of wind turbines on birds at Beech Mountain.
Alderman is an endangered species specialist and aquatic biologist who monitors and helps to conserve freshwater crayfish, mussels, snails and fish. During the past quarter century, he has traveled thousands of miles of creeks, rivers and lakes, and has seen some of the most beautiful land and waterscapes in North Carolina as well as some of the most abused.
Weakley is the author of “Flora of the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, and Surrounding Areas” and curator of the University of North Carolina Herbarium, which houses the largest collection of plant specimens from the Southeastern United States. For several decades, he has spent his time documenting and helping to preserve plant biodiversity in the Southeast.
