Robert Villa - Herps, Humans, and Hurricanes: Remarkable Stories from a Tropical Desert by the Sea

Описание: The vitality of the Sonoran Desert – the most biodiverse desert on the planet – is largely dependent on the availability of summer/fall rain (North American Monsoon).

Equally linked to this richness are the many cultures that call this place home: the perceptions, and ways of knowing that people have developed across centuries.

This tie to the region/landscape is known as bio-cultural diversity and richness.

This talk will cover a broad origin and definition of the Sonoran Desert region, and provide some remarkable herpetological (and otherwise) examples of bio-cultural diversity (and why it is important).

Robert grew up in Tucson with a love for the desert, natural history, and books. He has spent his life studying, promoting, and advocating for this remarkable corner of the Earth. While he has been the president of the THS for several years, he has also worked as a naturalist collecting biodiversity, and rare species data in Sonora under the guidance of Thomas Van Devender; as a plant grower with ecologist, botanist, and horticulturist Mark Dimmitt; and is currently at the Desert Laboratory in public outreach for the natural history of the Sonoran Desert. He has consulted and worked on many projects in the Sonoran Desert region, from book projects (editor, and contributor); art projects and installations (Tucson Museum of Contemporary Art, and Storefront for Art and Architecture); and news/documentary (local and international). In 2019 he had the honor of meeting Sir David Attenborough as a consultant for the British Broadcasting Corporation’s series on plants, Green Planet.