August 13: Neville Winchester, “Life in a Raindrop and Beyond: From Microarthropods to Grizzly Bears: A Celebration of Biodiversity”

Journey into one of the last great wilderness areas on our planet — the enchanted Great Bear Rainforest of British Columbia — and discover the rich tapestry of life that occurs in the smallest organisms living high in rainforest canopies, as well as some of the largest forest inhabitants that depend on the area’s rivers and estuaries. Join Dr. Neville Winchester for a look through the ‘eyes’ of a raindrop in this unique presentation on rainforest diversity.

Admission by donation ($5 suggested). Presentation begins at 2:00 pm at the Hornby Island Community School. Enter through the Natural History Centre door. Afterwards, we’ll have a tea break followed by short talk about Dr. Winchester’s recent work in the Galapagos.

Dr. Neville Winchester is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor (research entomologist) in the Geography Department and a teaching staff member in the Biological Sciences Department at the University of Victoria.  His special areas of research and interest include diversity of arthropods, ancient rainforest ecology and conservation biology.  Currently he is on the Board of Directors for the International Canopy Network (ICAN), is a Project Manager and Principal Investigator for New World Forests for the Global Canopy Project (GCP). He has served as the President of the Entomological Society of British Columbia, scientific committee member for the Biological Survey of Canada, and is a member of the Entomological Society of Canada and The Society for Conservation Biology.  His doctoral work in the Carmanah Valley was instrumental in its eventual protection as a provincial park and he continues to demonstrate the uniqueness of these areas, with emphasis on the organisms that live in the canopies of British Columbia’s ancient rainforests.  As well as doing research in temperate ecosystems, he has done high canopy work in French Guiana, Gabon, Malaysia, Thailand, Costa Rica, Panama and just recently in Ethiopia as part of an international biodiversity project.

This events is part of the Thursday Expert Speakers Series.