Science series continues with Biodiversity Conservation lecture Jacci Alworden TNE Senior Staff

Courtesy Photo/Bruce Hoagland A yellow lady's slipper, is one of the many plants Hoagland studies. The plant occurs naturally in Cherokee county. A new lecture series is ongoing at NSUs Tahlequah campus. Dr. John de Banzie is orchestrating this series of science and technology seminars. The purpose of the lecture series is to give the campus and general community an opportunity to learn about ongoing scientific research from the scientists who are carrying out that research, said Dr. John de Banzie, professor of biology. Our students get the opportunity to meet and talk with the speakers and to learn about research and graduate school opportunities. Dr. Bruce Hoagland will be the second guest lecturer in this seminar series. He is a faculty member at OU, where he serves as a plant ecologist and coordinator of the Oklahoma Natural Heritage Inventory. Dr. Hoagland is a faculty member in Geography at the University of Oklahoma, said de Banzie. He specializes in the geographic distributions of plants and how these distributions change over time. The seminar will pertain to Hoaglands field of study, Biodiversity Conservation: the role of the Oklahoma Natural Heritage Inventory.

The objective of the lecture is to acquaint the audience with our agency, the Oklahoma Natural Inventory, and how plant and animal species that occur in the state of Oklahoma are reviewed and ranked to determine conservation needs and priorities, said Dr. Bruce Hoagland, coordinator of the Oklahoma natural inventory. At the ONHI, we maintain a spatial database with data on rare and Federally listed threatened and endangered species. Hoagland said the data consists of where populations of these species occur, the number of individuals in that population, and an assessment of any threats to that population. The health of an environment is often indicated by the diversity of species present, said de Banzie. If there are just a few species present, that is often a sign of environmental damage. The Oklahoma Natural Heritage Inventory keeps track of species diversity across Oklahoma, thus helping in efforts to keep our states environment healthy. Hoagland serves as a plant ecologist and coordinator of the Oklahoma Natural Heritage Inventory. Some of his research includes vegetation classification and mapping, analysis of plant species distributions, reconstruction of historical vegetation and floristic surveys. He is the leading field botanist in Oklahoma and an expert at Oklahoma flora, said Dr. Suneeti Jog, assistant professor of biology. His knowledge of Oklahoma geography and vegetation is vast. His extensive publication record includes an article on the vascular flora of the J.T. Nikel Preserve near Tahlequah. The seminar will take place at 3 p.m., Feb. 12, in the Science Building Room 160. No previous knowledge is necessary, just an interest in science and the environment and a willingness to learn, said de Banzie. The seminar is free and open to the public. For more information, email debanzie@nsuok.edu.