UH Hilo Press Release
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Date: Monday, September 8, 2003
Contact: Dr. Rebecca Ostertag, (808) 974-7361
For Immediate Release
Ecologist Peter Vitousek to speak at UH Hilo
Dr. Peter Vitousek presents a public lecture entitled, “Climate and Soil Fertility in the Hawaiian Field System in Leeward Kohala” at the University of Hawaii at Hilo on Monday, September 22 at 5 p.m. in the University Classroom Building 100. There is no admission charge.
Vitousek is a professor of biological sciences at Stanford University. He is a worldwide expert on ecosystem ecology, and has received a number of prestigious awards, including: Fellow in the National Academy of Sciences and in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; recipient of the MacArthur Award Recipient from the Ecological Society of America; recipient of a Pew Fellowship; and listing in 2001 as one of America’s Best Scientists by CNN/Time Magazine.
A native of Honolulu, Vitousek has focused his research on issues related to Hawaiian ecosystems and agriculture for a large part of his career. His research has examined how exotic species alter ecosystem-level processes such as nutrient cycling -- including examples in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, how the wide variety of environments and species found in the Hawaiian Islands serve as a model for understanding ecosystems, and environmental controls of productivity in natural and managed ecosystems.
Vitousek’s talk will focus on areas in Kohala used in the past by Native Hawaiians for sweet potato agriculture. He will discuss the legacies of this past farming on present day nutrient availability in soils of the area, and how differences among sites provide clues for reconstructing past resource management decisions made by the Hawaiian people farming in the area.
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