7 BILLION
DEEP TIME, GLOBAL
CHANGE AND
AND YOU
THE PAST AS A GUIDE TO THE FUTURE
A David and Cecilia Ting Endowment Fund Lecture Series
January 30, - March 13, 2014
Global Biodiversity and Climate: What Fossil Insects Tell Us
Presented by Dr. Bruce Archibald, Research Associate,
Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University
Thursday, February 6, 2014, 7:00 pm,
Room 1900, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings
Abstract:
Why are there more species in the tropics? Why do the species compositions of communities tend to change more across a mountainous
landscape in the tropics than in the Temperate Zone? Understanding why we see particular patterns of change in biodiversity from the equator
to the poles has been traditionally difficult using exclusively modern-world study systems. I tested theories explaining these phenomena by
comparing the diversity of insect communities relative to climate in a temperate forest in Massachusetts, a lowland tropical rainforest in Costa Rica,
and an Eocene assemblage from British Columbia’s McAbee fossil beds near Cache Creek. I followed this up by examining fossil insect communities
across a thousand kilometers of a 50 million year old Eocene upland extending from central BC into northern Washington. Collections of insect
life preserved in these fossil beds—set in their particular environmental context—provide a perfect foil for modern community samples, allowing
comparative work that is otherwise impossible. This novel approach affords progress in resolving some of the largest and longest outstanding
questions in ecology.
Bio:
Bruce Archibald is a paleobiologist currently working as a Research Associate at Simon Fraser University, The Royal BC
Museum, and The Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. Before turning to paleobiology, he worked
across British Columbia in sawmills, and as a logger, a brakeman on the BC Railway, a musician, and a longshoreman.
He earned a BSc in Biology at Simon Fraser University in 1999 and a PhD in Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University
in 2007. His dissertation was on understanding the relationship between biodiversity and climate by including a
paleontological perspective. He returned to Simon Fraser in 2007 working on BC’s fossil insect communities and what
they tell us about the processes underlying the structures of modern communities and their historical development.
He continues research on fossil insect assemblages and what these may show us about the relationship between the character of natural
ecosystems and climate, focusing on the Early Eocene Okanagan Highlands series of fossil sites in south-central BC and northern Washington.
He has highlighted BC’s rich fossil heritage in public talks across the province, last fall in Williams Lake, Hazelton, Terrace, Smithers, and Kitimat.
His current work includes hindcasting winter weather in upland British Columbia some 50 million years ago using beetles, and examining the
evolutionary principles behind change in green lacewing insects seen in the fossil record since the Eocene as affected by the emergence and
diversification of bats.
Deep Time, Global Change and You is a series of free public lectures and discussions by leading thinkers on how paleoecology can shed light on the
consequences of ecosystem disruptions. It is not news that our global environment is currently in a period of rapid and dramatic change, with uncertain longterm consequences. Scientists working in the area of “paleoecology”, the study of past environments and communities of plants and animals, can contribute
insights into the long prehistory of natural changes on earth, and shed light on likely future consequences of ecosystem disruptions. Over the long history of our
planet, many changes, ranging from continental drift and sudden climate shifts, to wildfires and the recent rise of civilizations have altered our ecosystems, and will
continue to do so. How such disturbances have shaped our present environment, and how they might change it in the future is the focus of this series.
Upcoming Lectures and Discussions:
February 13, 2014, A Long View of Fire, Climate, and People: Perspectives From The Paleoecological Record
Dr. Cathy Whitlock, Director of the Institute on Ecosystems, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA
February 20, 2014, The Human Footprint In The Pacific Northwest: From The Deep Past To The Present
Dr. Rolf Mathewes, Professor of Paleoecology, Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
February 27, 2014, Magnitude 9 - How We Learned That The Largest Earthquakes on Earth Happen on Our Coast
Dr. John Clague, Canada Research Chair in Natural Hazard Research, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
March 6, 2014, What if Extinction is Not Forever? A Molecular Paleontologist’s View of De-extinction
Dr. Beth Shapiro, Associate Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, USA
March 13, 2014, Maintaining Humanity’s Life Support Systems in the 21st Century
Dr. Anthony Barnosky, Professor, Integrative Biology and Curator, Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley, USA
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Reservations:
As seating is limited, reservations are recommended: www.sfu.ca/reserve
Contact:
For more information, contact lauriew@sfu.ca
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Sponsors:
Faculty of Environment, SFU
Faculty of Science, SFU
David and Cecilia Ting Endowment, Lifelong Learning, SFU