UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Yvonne Buckley, professor of zoology at Trinity College Dublin, will present the fall 2019 Science Achievement Graduate Fellows (SAGF) Lecture at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29, in Berg Auditorium (100 Huck Life Sciences Building) on Penn State's University Park campus. This free public lecture, titled "The biogeography of plant and animal populations," will be preceded by a public reception at 3 p.m. in the auditorium lobby and is sponsored by the Department of Biology and the Penn State Eberly College of Science.
The lecture will focus on understanding the natural levels of variability within a species in its environment and how the geographic distribution of plants and animals impacts whether or not a population will persist. Ecologists are increasingly faced with the need to predict how populations of plants and animals will perform under new conditions due to factors including climate change and invasive species. These new conditions can impact growth, survival and reproduction, which in turn determine whether populations increase, decrease or remain stable through time.
About the speaker
Buckley focuses her research on understanding the fundamental drivers of how animal and plant populations cope with a rapidly changing world. She combines data collected in the lab, in the field and from existing literature with quantitative modeling to predict the responses of populations to changes in their environment. Buckley’s research provides support for environmental policies that impact biodiversity conservation, invasive species management and habitat restoration.
In addition to being a zoology professor at Trinity College of Dublin and named an honorary professor at the University of Queensland, Australia, Buckley has been elected as a member of the Royal Irish Academy for her scholarly achievements and is currently a section head for F1000 in population ecology. Among numerous awards, Buckley has received the Irish Research Council Laureate Award, the Sir John Burnett Memorial Medal, and the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant fellowship. With more than 100 papers in international peer-reviewed journals, Buckley’s work can be found in publications such as Science, Nature, Nature Communications and PNAS.
About the SAGF Lectures
The Science Achievement Graduate Fellows Lectures feature distinguished speakers in science and mathematics and are an outreach of the SAGF scholarship program in the Eberly College of Science at Penn State.
Established in 2018, the SAGF scholarships are awarded annually to outstanding graduate students seeking a doctoral degree in each of the college's seven departments and who are interested in the advancement of women in the sciences and related fields. The SAGF scholarships recognize students who have a record of significant professional achievements in their field and who are role models for other students in the college. Each scholarship is named in honor of an outstanding woman scientist or mathematician who not only made groundbreaking discoveries but also blazed the trial for others who have followed in their footsteps. The program Fellows host two distinguished lectures a year to honor the women scientists for whom the scholarships are named.