AT: Human Threats to Native Plants: Tipping the Balance

In-Person Event. Registration Required

Interactive Tables: 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

Talk: 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Location: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Humans alter the environment in many ways  – these changes often favor invasive plants and animals, putting our native species at risk. The global expansion of human-altered landscapes leaves scientists with an important question: how do we tip the balance back to favor and preserve native species? Join Dr. Jennifer Lau, this year’s featured guest for UT Austin’s annual Jean Andrews Lecture in Plant Biology, to learn how scientists and conservationists can harness the power of plant evolution and the adaptive power of soil microbes to restore native populations that are best suited to their rapidly changing environments. This all-ages science talk and interactive event will allow guests to learn about cutting-edge research while also exploring the efforts of local researchers and conservation organizations.

Dr. Jennifer Lau is a professor in the Department of Biology at Indiana University and a winner of the American Society of Naturalists Young Investigator’s Award. Her research combines community ecology with evolutionary ecology, often capitalizing on long-term experiments to study how human-caused global changes influence the ecology and evolution of plants and the insects and microbes with which they interact. Areas of study have included exploring the potential for rapid evolution and interactions with microorganisms to mitigate the effects of global change on plants, the influence of genetic variation on prairie restorations and the effects of global warming on biological invasions.

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