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 Warming 56 Million Years Ago and What It Means For Us
Presented by Dr. Scott Wing, Curator of Fossil Plants,
Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA
Thursday, January 30, 2014, 7:00 pm,
Room 1900, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings
Abstract:
Human emissions of greenhouse gases will alter conditions on earth for many thousands of years into the future. The past event that best
mirrors present-day warming occurred 56 million years ago and is called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM. The PETM was
initiated by the sudden release (in a few thousand years or less) of an amount of carbon roughly similar to that in modern fossil fuel reserves,
causing global warming of 4-8 °C. I will talk about the PETM, explaining what we know about its causes, and what we have learned about its
effects on ecosystems in North America and elsewhere, effects that included rapid extirpation of local populations of plants, colonization of
new areas by other species, and, interestingly, rapid evolution. The lessons of deep time have ever more relevance as we rapidly mold our
planet in the ongoing geological epoch some call the Anthropocene, or Age of Humans.
Bio:
Scott Wing is a Research Paleobiologist and Curator of Fossil Plants at the National Museum of Natural History of
the Smithsonian Institution. He received his B.S. in Biology from Yale University in 1976, and completed his Ph.D. in
the same department in 1981. Following graduate school Wing was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow
at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California for one year, then a Geologist working for the U.S.G.S. for an
additional year. In 1984 he moved to the Department of Paleobiology at the Smithsonian Institution as a research
scientist and curator. He holds adjunct or honorary positions at University of Maryland, University of Michigan,
University of Birmingham, and the Florida Museum of Natural History, and is a Fellow of both the Paleontological
Society and the Geological Society of America. Wing’s research focuses on fossil plants, with an emphasis on
understanding how climate has changed in the past and how ecosystems have responded to climate change. In
addition to his work on the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, Wing has also researched the deep-time origins
of tropical rainforests, and the paleoecology of flowering plants during the last part of the Age of Dinosaurs. Wing is
now working with the team planning for the complete renewal of the Smithsonian’s exhibits on the history of life, a
six-year project that will renovate >2,7000 m2 of gallery space.
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 6, 2014, Global Biodiversity and Climate: What Fossil Insects Tell Us
Dr. Bruce Archibald, Research Assistant, Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
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