'Biodiversity and Bioresources: Through the Evolutionary Glass' a talk by Prof. R. Geeta at Seminar Room, Library Building, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 3rd April 2014
Time : 3:00 pm
Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)
Place : Seminar Room, Library Building, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg, New Delhi - 110011
Venue Info : Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Station - 'Race Course(Yellow Line)'
Event Description : The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library cordially invites you to a Public Lecture (in the ‘Science, Society and Nature’ series) on ‘Biodiversity and Bioresources: Through the Evolutionary Glass’ by Prof. R. Geeta, University of Delhi, Delhi.
Abstract : Though biological diversity is central to environmental concerns, a comprehensive understanding of biological diversity is incomplete without understanding it as a product of evolutionary processes. If biological resources are to be exploited, it must be done in a sustainable manner. Since the widespread realization of this fact, multiple value systems have been ascribed to biological diversity, e.g., economic (“green gold”) and ecological (functional diversity and its linkage to ecosystem processes); each system provides a form of cost/benefit analysis of nature. Most ecological valuations focus on ecosystem services, largely because it is difficult to measure and assess the present value of biodiversity, and near impossible to assess its future value. This difficulty in valuation partly arises because evolution is often left out of the reckoning. The concept of “ecosystem services” addresses these and other lacunae (Faith et al. 2010). According to this concept, evolutionary mechanisms can be seen as “evolutionary factories” that produce two kinds of ecosystem services: one, an enormous godown filled with the biodiversity that we presently exploit and two, the machinery itself, the evolutionary mechanisms (mutation, selection, genetic drift, speciation and diversification), that work incessantly to produce new, diverse forms and functions that may yield unanticipated uses and benefits. This talk will provide an overview of evolutionary principles and evolutionary approaches in biodiversity science.
Speaker : Prof. R. Geeta is Professor in the Department of Botany at the University of Delhi. She previously held a faculty position at the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she holds emeritus status. Her research interests include systematic studies of the evolutionary diversification of traits (and their developmental basis) and the organisms that carry these traits. Her lab group currently works on diversification in Dioscorea, Rhododendron and Impatiens. She completed a post-doctoral stint at the University of California at Davis after earning her Ph.D. at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Prior to her doctoral work, she worked in the Agricultural Research Service of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Prof. Geeta is on the editorial board of the Journal of Biosciences and the American Journal of Botany and is a member of the scientific committee of bio GENESIS, a core project of DIVERSITAS, an international programme of biodiversity science. She has participated in training courses in evolutionary and phylogenetic biology in India, Brazil and Indonesia, and believes that scientists need to be mindful of the societal context in which they practice their science.
Related Events : Talks
Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)
Place : Seminar Room, Library Building, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg, New Delhi - 110011
Venue Info : Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Station - 'Race Course(Yellow Line)'
Event Description : The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library cordially invites you to a Public Lecture (in the ‘Science, Society and Nature’ series) on ‘Biodiversity and Bioresources: Through the Evolutionary Glass’ by Prof. R. Geeta, University of Delhi, Delhi.
Abstract : Though biological diversity is central to environmental concerns, a comprehensive understanding of biological diversity is incomplete without understanding it as a product of evolutionary processes. If biological resources are to be exploited, it must be done in a sustainable manner. Since the widespread realization of this fact, multiple value systems have been ascribed to biological diversity, e.g., economic (“green gold”) and ecological (functional diversity and its linkage to ecosystem processes); each system provides a form of cost/benefit analysis of nature. Most ecological valuations focus on ecosystem services, largely because it is difficult to measure and assess the present value of biodiversity, and near impossible to assess its future value. This difficulty in valuation partly arises because evolution is often left out of the reckoning. The concept of “ecosystem services” addresses these and other lacunae (Faith et al. 2010). According to this concept, evolutionary mechanisms can be seen as “evolutionary factories” that produce two kinds of ecosystem services: one, an enormous godown filled with the biodiversity that we presently exploit and two, the machinery itself, the evolutionary mechanisms (mutation, selection, genetic drift, speciation and diversification), that work incessantly to produce new, diverse forms and functions that may yield unanticipated uses and benefits. This talk will provide an overview of evolutionary principles and evolutionary approaches in biodiversity science.
Speaker : Prof. R. Geeta is Professor in the Department of Botany at the University of Delhi. She previously held a faculty position at the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she holds emeritus status. Her research interests include systematic studies of the evolutionary diversification of traits (and their developmental basis) and the organisms that carry these traits. Her lab group currently works on diversification in Dioscorea, Rhododendron and Impatiens. She completed a post-doctoral stint at the University of California at Davis after earning her Ph.D. at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Prior to her doctoral work, she worked in the Agricultural Research Service of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Prof. Geeta is on the editorial board of the Journal of Biosciences and the American Journal of Botany and is a member of the scientific committee of bio GENESIS, a core project of DIVERSITAS, an international programme of biodiversity science. She has participated in training courses in evolutionary and phylogenetic biology in India, Brazil and Indonesia, and believes that scientists need to be mindful of the societal context in which they practice their science.
'Biodiversity and Bioresources: Through the Evolutionary Glass' a talk by Prof. R. Geeta at Seminar Room, Library Building, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 3rd April 2014
!['Biodiversity and Bioresources: Through the Evolutionary Glass' a talk by Prof. R. Geeta at Seminar Room, Library Building, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 3rd April 2014]()
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Thursday, April 03, 2014
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