BioScience Talks

The Red List Project

For today's episode, we're joined by Luiza F. A. de Paula, Vanessa Handley, Ralphael Ocelli, and Peggy Fielder, who are four of the authors of the recent BioScience article "Beyond Scents: Calling on the Fragrance Industry to Champion Plant Diversity." In it, they describe The Red List Project, which is a conservation-first initiative that pairs partners from the fragrance industry with local environmental groups and communities to achieve biodiversity objectives and safeguard biocultural heritage, while creating viable fragrance products.  Learn more about one of the initiatives discussed in the podcast, the Magnolia masphi fragrance, in this podcast episode from Beyond the Journey.

Prairie Strips and Pollinators, with Amy Toth and Matt O'Neal

For this episode, we are joined by Amy Toth, Professor in Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology at Iowa State University, and Matt O'Neal, a Wallace Chair for Sustainable Agriculture and Professor in the Plant Pathology, Entomology, and Microbiology Department, also at Iowa State University. They were here to discuss their article from BioScience's forthcoming special issue on One Health, entitled, "Can Native Vegetation in Agroecosystems Provide a Net Benefit for Pollinators, Despite Pesticide Use?" 

Canopy of Titans, with Paul Koberstein

For this episode, we're joined by journalist Paul Koberstein, who was here to discuss his first book, Canopy of Titans, which is about the connection between forests and climate. In particular, the book focuses on the Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest, which constitutes one of the world's most important carbon stores. You can read recent expose on timber industry misinformation here.  

AI and Ecosystem Modeling, with Scott Spillias and Beth Fulton

For this episode, we were joined by Scott Spillias, who is a Research Scientist at CSIRO and affiliated with the Centre for Marine Socioecology at the University of Tasmania, and Beth Fulton, who is Chief Research Scientist with CSIRO and the Deputy Director of the Center for Marine Socioecology. We spoke about their recent BioScience article "The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Ecosystem Modeling." 

A Cautionary Tale of Ecoservice Valuation, with John Van Stan

For this episode, we're joined once again by John Van Stan, a Professor at Cleveland State University, in the Department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences. He also runs an independent press, The Press of a Ridiculous Man, which you can find on Amazon. Dr. Van Stan was here today to discuss his recent BioScience article "A cautionary tale about urban trees: could ecoservice monetary estimates become economic sleights of hand?"