The Secret Life of Seeds

About the Seminar

Movers and shakers in natural resources management typically focus on big, top-down drivers of ecological change: climate, wildfires, clearcutting, charismatic megafauna. But complex systems science teaches that we must also pay attention to small things, like seeds, that may actually rule (or save) the world.

As a field ecologist drawn to details, Sybille has had the luxury of spending a 50-year career closely observing Nature, with a surprising amount of time actually studying seeds. She will highlight some nuggets uncovered along the way, before delving into local results from a 10-year, 3-phase international research project that is studying seed predation to reveal mechanisms underlying important geographic patterns in ecology and evolution.

Biotic interactions like those between plant seeds and seed-eating animals form the basis of the complex ecosystems that support life on earth. Basic science that helps to explain global patterns in these key interactions is essential, given the enormous task of managing and restoring ecosystems under stress from human population growth and climate change.

Join us at The Old Church in Smithers, or on Zoom.

About the Presenter

Sybille Haeussler is a retired forest ecologist and Smithers community-based research scientist. She has a BSF in Forest Biology (UBC 1980), MSc in forest Ecology (OSU 1987) and PhD in sciences de l’environnement (UQAM 2004). Her published research addresses the maintenance & restoration of biodiversity, resilience & complexity in terrestrial ecosystems with emphases on improving forest practices and restoring endangered ecosystems. Sybille was a founding Director of the BVRC, and served as Chair and President. Currently, Sybille focuses on volunteering and mentoring as a BVRC Associate Researcher and as a naturalist-educator with the BV Naturalists. Her priority is long-term monitoring of plant, animal and fungal interactions in local forests and mountains.