The migration of monarch butterflies is a captivating story of strength and beauty, but one that may not exist for much longer. Dr. Altizer stresses that it’s up to us to change the practices that threaten this iconic species.
Sonia Altizer, Ph.D., is a Professor and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia. For the past 20 years, starting as a graduate student at the University of Minnesota, she has traveled the world to study monarch butterfly migration and ecology, and has witnessed first-hand how the numbers of monarchs have dwindled in recent years. Sonia co-edited a book to appear in 2015 titled Monarchs in a Changing World: Biology and Conservation of an Iconic Insect, and participated in high-level task forces dedicated to monarch butterfly conservation. At UGA, her students run a citizen science project called Monarch Health which involves hundreds of volunteers across North America in sampling wild monarchs for a debilitating disease. Sonia’s main research focuses on critters much smaller than butterflies – she studies how pathogens affecting wildlife are shifting in response to human environmental change.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at [ Ссылка ]
