The Importance of Young Forests with Rowan University's Dan Duran

"Conservationists and others have led most of us to treasure older forests more than other ecosystems. Open-field habitats and young forests, however, hold significantly more biodiversity than closed-canopy forests. Those younger forests are often under-valued and less protected. Dan will sketch some of the differences in these habitats, give us an overview of the conservation issues, and discuss ways that listeners can get involved in helping to create and maintain early successional forest and 'edge' habitats."

Entomologist/taxonomist/evolutionary ecologist and Assistant Professor at Rowan University.

Dan's interests are in the fields of systematics, taxonomy, and biodiversity conservation. His research is primarily focused on biodiversity exploration and the discovery of 'cryptic species'; species that are distinct evolutionary units, but go undetected due to physical similarity with closely related species. He mostly uses tiger beetles (Cicindelinae) as a study system. Dan is also interested in examining the important roles of insect and plant biodiversity in ecosystem functioning. He has recently begun work on the impacts of industrial hemp growing practices on insect biodiversity.