How Climate Change Affects Forest Fires
MONMOUTH, Ill. – An ecologist who teaches at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will speak about wild fires in his state at this year’s Donald B. McMullen Lecture in Biology at Monmouth College.
Sam Sweet, who has taught in UCSB’s department of ecology, evolution and marine biology for more than 40 years, will deliver the lecture at 7 p.m. March 25 in the Pattee Auditorium of the Center for Science and Business.
Titled “Fire Management and the Future of Southern California’s Sky Islands,” his talk is free and open to the public.
Earlier in the day, Sweet will speak to Monmouth science students at 4 p.m. in Room 276 of the Center for Science and Business, detailing “The Origins of Sea Snakes.”
“The evening talk is intended for a general audience and should be of interest to those interested in climate change and the interactions of humans, wildlife and ecosystems,” said Monmouth biology professor Kevin Baldwin.
A native of Connecticut, Sweet earned his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and his master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Not afraid to be called a herpetologist, Sweet insists on conducting abundant field work and believes that understanding and preserving biodiversity is a worthy goal.
The McMullen Lectureship in Biology was endowed in 1973 by Elizabeth McMullen in memory of her husband, who was a Monmouth College biology professor from 1928-38. The fund annual brings an outstanding scholar in the biological sciences to campus.