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Plenary Speakers

The following distinguished speakers will be addressing the audience of this joint conference. Click the speaker names for a biographical sketch.

◊ Mr. Peter Annin, Associate Director, Institutes for Journalism and Natural Resource
◊ Dr. George Archibald, Co-founder of the International Crane Foundation
◊ Dr. Mary Firestone, Professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California-Berkeley
◊ Dr. Carol Johnston, Professor, Department of Biology and Microbiology, South Dakota State University
◊ Dr. Raymond Semlitsch, Professor, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri
◊ Dr. James Tiedje, Professor, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University
◊ Dr. Jos Verhoeven, Professor, Landscape Ecology Section, University of Utrecht, the Netherlands

Mr. Peter Annin, Associate Director, Institutes for Journalism and Natural Resources

Plenary Address: The Great Lakes Water Wars

Biography: A veteran conflict and environmental journalist, Peter Annin spent more than a decade reporting on a wide variety of issues for Newsweek. For many years he specialized in coverage of domestic terrorism and the radical right, including the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City and the Branch Davidian standoff outside Waco, Texas. He has spent many years writing about the environment as well, including droughts in the Southwest, hurricanes in the Southeast, wind power on the Great Plains, forest fires in the mountain West, recovery efforts on the Great Lakes, and the causes and consequences of the "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico. Since January 2000 Annin has worked as Associate Director of the Institutes for Journalism and Natural Resources, a nonpartisan national nonprofit that organizes educational fellowships for mid-career environmental journalists. Since 2004 Annin has served as the volunteer executive director of Gull Rock Lightkeepers, a nonprofit dedicated to restoring Gull Rock Lighthouse, a storied Lake Superior light 2.5 miles off Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula. In September 2006 he published his first book, The Great Lakes Water Wars, which has been called the definitive work on the Great Lakes water diversion controversy (www.greatlakeswaterwars.com). In 2007 the book received the Great Lakes Book Award for nonfiction. He has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a master's in international affairs from Columbia University in New York.

Dr. George Archibald, Co-founder of the International Crane Foundation

Plenary Address: The Status of the World's Wetlands as Reflected by Cranes

Biography: Dr. George Archibald is one of the two Co-founders of the International Crane Foundation (ICF), headquartered in Baraboo, Wisconsin. He received his undergraduate degree from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1968, and completed his Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1977. Along with Ronald Sauey, a colleague from Cornell, Dr. Archibald established the International Crane Foundation in the spring of 1973, as the world center for the study and preservation of cranes. ICF's mission is met through a creative combination of field research, help to local people living near the cranes, public education, habitat protection, and captive propagation and reintroduction. Today ICF has 50 employees and supports conservation projects in 45 nations. For 27 years Dr. Archibald served as the President of ICF. In the year 2000 he passed the leadership to his former Deputy Director of Programs. Today Dr. Archibald continues to be employed full time by ICF and works on programs of his choosing. His current programs involve work in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Cuba, China, India, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, South Korea, and Russia. In recognition for his accomplishments, Dr. Archibald has received four honorary doctorates and many awards including the Gold Medal from the World Wildlife Fund, a Fellows Award from the MacArthur Foundation, the Wildlife Conservation Medal from the Zoological Society of San Diego, the Lilly Medal presented by the Indianapolis Zoo, and the Douglas H. Pimlott Award from Nature Canada. He and his wife, Kyoko, live in the countryside near ICF where they enjoy gardening and aviculture.

Dr. Mary Firestone, Professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California-Berkeley

Biography: Mary Firestone is a senior professor of soil microbial ecology at the University of California, Berkeley. She is noted for her contributions toward understanding terrestrial carbon and nitrogen cycling generally, with emphases on the biophysical and biogeochemical bases of bacterial and archaeal ecology. Her interests have included soil water relations, redox control, and small scale geography. Firestone's research group is currently focusing their efforts on the roles of community ecology in controlling production of atmospherically reactive trace gas and bioremediation processes, as well as carbon and nitrogen interactions between roots and soil microbes. Her work has broad-ranging application, most notably to questions concerning the role of soil microbes in mediating terrestrial ecosystem response to global change.

Dr. Carol Johnston, Professor, Department of Biology and Microbiology, South Dakota State University

Biography: Dr. Carol Johnston has advanced wetland science from her first job in 1973 for the New York State Wetlands Inventory to her present job as a Professor at South Dakota State University. Johnston was the first female president of the Society of Wetland Scientists (1992-1993). Johnston's research on wetlands has spanned topics such as wetland sedimentation, biogeochemistry, remote sensing, and vegetation. Her 1991 review of Sediment and Nutrient Retention in Freshwater Wetlands has been cited 200 times. Johnston served on the 1995 and 2001 National Research Council Committees on wetland delineation and wetland mitigation, and is currently a member of the U.S. National Committee for Soil Science. Johnston is no stranger to Wisconsin, having developed and directed the Wisconsin Wetlands Inventory for the Wisconsin DNR after she completed a Ph.D. in Soil Science from the University of Wisconsin. Johnston is a Certified Professional Wetland Scientist and Certified Professional Soil Scientist.

Dr. Raymond Semlitsch, Professor, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri

Plenary Address: Hidden biological value: headwater streams, isolated wetlands, and terrestrial connections

Abstract: The biological value of headwater streams and small isolated wetlands is often difficult to quantify. Such information can be critical to determine wetland regulations and for management and protection. I present several examples using amphibians to demonstrate biological value that is cryptic to most biologists. First, headwater streams and small isolated wetlands are numerous on the landscape. Second, amphibians occurring in these habitats comprise a large amount of vertebrate biomass. Further, because of their complex life cycle and annual migrations, amphibian likely act as vectors for nutrients that connect aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Together, this information indicates that amphibians may play a major role in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem function.

Biography: Dr. Ray Semlitsch received a PhD at the University of Georgia in 1984. He was a post-doctoral Research Associate at Duke University and is now a Curators' Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri. He has been a leader in amphibian ecology and the conservation of wetlands for the last 30 years. He has published several books, including Amphibian Conservation by Smithsonian Press, 19 book chapters and newsletter articles, and 164 scientific journal papers concerning the ecology of amphibians and other semi-aquatic species. His research has focused attention on the functional value of the aquatic-terrestrial gradient rather than viewing it as a boundary, he has raised awareness of the critical need to protect small wetlands, streams, and the surrounding terrestrial habitat as a single functioning unit. In 1999, he was presented the Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity from the University of Missouri. In 2008, he received the National Wetlands Award for Science Research from The Environmental Law Institute, Washington, D.C.

Dr. James Tiedje, Professor, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University

Biography: Dr. Tiedje is University Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and of Crop and Soil Sciences, and is Director of the Center for Microbial Ecology, one of the original NSF-funded Science and Technology Centers. His B.S. degree is from Iowa State University and his M.S. and Ph.D degrees are from Cornell University. His research focuses on microbial ecology, physiology and diversity, especially regarding the nitrogen cycle, anaerobic processes and biodegradation of environmental pollutants. His group has discovered several microbes that live by halorespiration on chlorinated solvents and is now using genomics to better understand microbial diversity and function. He served as Editor-in-Chief of Applied and Environmental Microbiology. He was President of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), the International Society of Microbial Ecology, and shared the 1992 Finley Prize from UNESCO for research contributions in microbiology of international significance. He is Fellow of the AAAS, the American Academy of Microbiology, the Soil Science Society of America, and a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Jos Verhoeven, Professor, Landscape Ecology Section, University of Utrecht, the Netherlands

Plenary Address: Wetlands in Agricultural Landscapes: How to Combine Nutrient Retention and Biodiversity

Abstract: The nutrient retention service of wetlands in agricultural landscapes has been widely recognized and is supported by good scientific evidence in several parts of the world. Often, the conservation or restoration of riparian forests, flow-through wetlands or pond-ditch systems is driven by the dual purpose of nutrient retention and biodiversity enhancement. Recent studies have addressed biodiversity of such wetlands at different scales (i.e. alpha, beta and gamma diversity) and have combined studies of vegetation, fauna and microbial communities. The results give guidance for the size and density of wetlands in the landscape optimal from a biodiversity perspective. Further relevant issues in this respect include critical loading rates, the role of pulsing and the overall water quality effects in the catchment.

Biography: Dr. Verhoeven is professor of landscape ecology at the Department of Biology of Utrecht University, The Netherlands. He graduated at the Aquatic Ecology group at Radboud University Nijmegen (1980). He has also held visiting faculty appointments at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center at Edgewater, Maryland (USA) and Murdoch University at Perth, Western Australia. He is a former Editor of Wetlands, and Wetlands Ecology and Management and presently serves on the editorial board of Ecological Engineering. He is a member of the executive board of INTECOL, the International Association of Ecology. He was the chief organizer of the 7th INTECOL International Wetlands Conference in Utrecht in 2004 (900 participants). He is also active as an expert in large scientific programs (e.g. Knowledge for Climate) and European networks (European Science Foundation, EU-funded projects, e.g. EVALUWET, NICOLAS, EUROLIMPACS). His research focuses on the biogeochemistry of wetlands at the ecosystem level, primarily the interactions between the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus and the relation between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

Society of Wetland Scientists

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