Urban Ecology

An interesting symposium at Columbia University later this month looks at "the ecology of New York City":

This symposium will explore a range of ecological research happening in and around New York City. The program is focused on three themes—organisms, environment, and history—with speakers from a range of disciplines including community ecology, evolutionary biology, ecophysiology, paleoecology, archaeology, and conservation. The research presented here spans multiple taxa including plants, microbes, birds, and mammals.

The event is free and kicks off—as a lot of academic events unfortunately do—at 9am on a Saturday morning, but if you're up and at 'em and want to stop by, the program looks pretty compelling. Expect the marginal ecologies of vacant lots, green roofs, urban waterways, regional bird migration, marshlands, and even a look back at "Early Foods and Medicines of 17th Century New Amsterdam: Cross-cultural Plant Population Exchange and Environmental Change in the Lower Hudson Valley," when the plans growing along the river could perhaps be thought of as a kind of cultivated pharmacy garden. Finally, the symposium wraps up with a speculative look ahead to the ecology of greater New York in the year 2409 AD, with Eric Sanderson of Mannahatta fame leading the conversation.

You must register to attend, after which you'll find everyone in room 501 of Schermerhorn Hall at Columbia University's Morningside Campus on Saturday, April 20.

(Thanks to Nicola Twilley for the tip!)