Portland, Science Friday has really taken a lichen to you. That’s why Ira Flatow is coming to the World Forestry Center for a day full of the fuzzy growths on trees, roofs and gravestones. Join Science Friday and the World Forestry Center as we highlight these special symbiotic organisms! Meet experts in the forests, hear about their role in a warming world, and maybe even discover your favorite lichen that you didn’t know existed.
Meet The Experts
- Hannah Prather is an NSF postdoctoral researcher and visiting assistant professor of biology at Reed College, where she teaches about the intricate relationship among lichens, bryophytes, host trees, and the surrounding ecosystem, particularly in urban and polar environments. She loves to share her diverse field-based experiences with her students, and hopes to foster a sense of excitement and awe for the often overlooked, yet fascinating world of lichens and bryophytes.
- Jesse Miller is the lead botanist for the Washington Natural Heritage Program, where he provides scientific guidance for rare plant conservation efforts statewide. Since his time as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California-Davis, he has studied effects of fire severity and altered fire regimes on plant and lichen communities.
- Jes Burns is a science reporter in OPB’s Science & Environment unit. She is the lead brain behind the show “All Science, No Fiction”, which uses whimsy, curiosity and fun to place a spotlight on scientists in the Pacific Northwest.
To learn more and register, visit: https://worldforestry.org/event/land-of-the-lichen/
