RIEL seminar series
Loss of Earth's old, wise and large animals
| Presenter | Dr Keller Kopf | |
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| Date |
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| Time |
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| Contact person | E: RIEL.outreach@cdu.edu.au | |
| Location |
Savanna Room, Yellow 1 level 2 room 48 at CDU Casuarina Campus And online via Zoom (see below for Zoom link) All times are ACST |
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| Open to | Public | |
Dr Keller Kopf is an ecologist and senior lecturer at Charles Darwin University, and a member of the Freshwater, Estuarine and Marine Ecology Research Group at the Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods.
In the seminar ‘Loss of Earth's old, wise and large animals’, Keller will outline that humans have caused a decline in old age classes of wild animal populations whereby many of Earth’s oldest, often largest, and most experienced individuals have been eliminated from ecosystems.
The ecological and socioeconomic consequences of this loss are poorly known. Owing to the well-established negative aspects of biological aging, the ecological or conservation importance of old individual animals has been neglected. By contrast, emerging literature has shown that old individuals provide unique biological, ecological, cultural, and ecosystem service functions that have been—or are being—lost as these aged individuals are exploited.
The presentation will highlight the global consequences of the loss of old individual animals in the wild and emphasise the importance of longevity conservation as a solution.
Keller’s research combines field, laboratory and statistical modelling approaches to address applied and fundamental research questions, mostly related to the ecology and conservation of fish and the environments they inhabit. His research aims to guide management of river-floodplains, sustainable fisheries and marine ecosystems.
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