Renowned scientist Gretchen C. Daily will be the keynote speaker at the annual Eugene P. Odum Lecture Seminar, sponsored by the Odum School of Ecology.
Daily’s presentation, “Ecosystem Services in Decision-Making” will begin March 4 at 11:15 a.m. in the ecology building auditorium.
“I will discuss my new vision of conservation for the 21st century,” said Daily. “This is a world in which people and institutions appreciate natural systems as vital assets, recognize the central roles these assets play in supporting human wellbeing, and routinely incorporate their material and intangible values into decision-making.”
Daily is a Bing Professor in Environmental Science in the Stanford University department of biology. Her primary scientific efforts concern the future of extinction, the resulting changes in ecosystem services and novel opportunities for biodiversity conservation.
She works extensively with economists, lawyers, business people and government workers to incorporate environmental issues into business practice and government policy.
“Books such as Gretchen Daily’s Nature Services help educate the public regarding challenges that must be addressed to maintain a certain quality of life,” said Gary W. Barrett, holder of the Odum Chair of Ecology. “Dr. Eugene P. Odum would be pleased that Dr. Daily was invited to present the 2009 Odum Lecture because she has awakened a public understanding of integrating economic capital with natural capital.”