December 9, 2022
The Living Earth Collaborative: a Biodiversity Partnership between a University, a Zoo, and a Botanical Garden
Dr. Jonathan Losos
Distinguished University Professorship and Director of the Living Earth Collaborative, University of Washington
Abstract
In 2018, the Living Earth Collaborative was established to bring together three leading institutions in Saint Louis: Washington University, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Saint Louis Zoo. The idea was simple: each institution was very good at what it did—what if the three joined forces to advance biodiversity research and conservation? In this seminar, LEC director Jonathan Losos will detail the background that led to the creation of the center, how it unfolded in the face of the pandemic, and what the future may hold.
Biosketch
Jonathan Losos is an evolutionary biologist known for his research on how lizards rapidly evolve to adapt to changing environments. In 2018, he rejoined the Washington University Biology Department after spending 12 at Harvard University, returning as the inaugural holder of the William H. Danforth Distinguished University Professorship and Director of the Living Earth Collaborative, a partnership between Wash U., the Saint Louis Zoo and the Missouri Botanical Garden. This biodiversity center has the mission of advancing knowledge of biodiversity to ensure the future of earth’s species in their many forms. Losos has written more than 240 papers and two books (most recently Improbable Destinies: Fate, Chance, and the Future of Evolution), with a third to be published next year (The Cat’s Meow: How Cats Evolved from the Savanna to Your Sofa). He is an author of a leading college biology textbook (Raven et al., Biology). Losos has been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and other awards.