Archives: Events

Slip away from the hectic activities of the holidays with a stop at the Lloyd Library & Museum. Experience peace and calm when visiting one of Cincinnati’s premier research libraries, explore Flora Mania and enjoy hot chocolate and cookies.

Climate change is affecting many aspects of our lives, especially with our world’s greenspaces. How are flowers responding to these environmental effects? Join us as we hear from Dr. Kellen Callinger-Yoak how these extreme weather changes affect our flowering plants.

Watch the recording on YouTube.

Dr. Kellen Calinger-Yoak earned her BS in Biology from West Virginia University and her PhD in Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at The Ohio State University (OSU) where she is now an Assistant Professor. She has spent the past eight years teaching Biology students at OSU in both lecture and lab while working to develop novel undergraduate research laboratory experiences. Her current research spans both biology and pedagogy: in biology, she investigates how flowering responses to warming vary across vast geographic ranges. Her pedagogical research focuses on developing practices to increase educational equity in STEM.

 

 

Hear from area experts on their work with beekeeping and honey. Reception at 6:30 p.m. will include treats that are just as sweet!

Registration Required.

Panelists:

Brandon Reynolds’ obsession with pollinators began after leaving the advertising industry in 2017 to pursue apprenticeships in beekeeping and landscaping. While managing beehives had its perks, he was outclassed by native perennial plants and their ability to attract and sustain regional biodiversity. Partnering with native plants, he founded B the Keeper to help others create safe spaces for pollinators. B the Keeper helps businesses and landowners by providing environmental consulting services to increase sustainability and to create more meaningful connections with the environment.

 

 

Jenny O’Donnell is a co-founder of the Queen City Pollinator Project. O’Donnell, Carrie Driehaus, and Sylvanna Ross started this non-profit in 2019 to promote the concept that each of us can build a pollinator friendly environment no matter how small our yard or balcony. Since then, the three have traveled all over the region planting and building pollinator-friendly environments. O’Donnell is an avid community scientist, beekeeper, and pollinator protector who lives in Clifton with her 70,000 honeybees and other pollinators and a very supportive partner. O’Donnell’s 2024 goal is to make everyone aware of at least one thing they can do to support our native pollinators and our honeybee communities.

 

 

Dr. Gene Kritsky is the retired professor of Biology and Dean of the School of Behavioral and Natural Sciences at Mount St. Joseph University. He received his BA in Biology at Indiana University in 1974, and his MS and PhD in Entomology from the University of Illinois in 1976 and 1977, respectively. He was a Fulbright Scholar to Egypt in 1981-82. Prof. Kritsky is a former editor of American Entomologist and has published numerous papers and books on insect evolution, the history of beekeeping, Egyptology, and Charles Darwin.

Where have all the flowers gone—or where are they going?  About 45% of all plant species are facing the threat of extinction from habitat loss, unsustainable use, and climate change.  Maintaining their habitats is the ideal, but as insurance, many species can also be backed up by seed banking, to provide materials to grow the plants and restore populations in case they are lost in the wild.  However, seed banking can be lethal or unworkable for many species.  How do we provide a back-up for those?  This talk will describe work with cryobiotechnologies, or methods for conserving plant tissues at extremely low temperatures in liquid nitrogen in cryo-banks.  Work at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden’s CREW is focused on developing such methods to use with these exceptional plant species, such as endangered oaks, and storing them in our Frozen Garden to ensure that they are preserved for the future.

Registration required.

Dr. Valerie C. Pence is the Director of Plant Research at the Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW) at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. Her work focuses on applying in vitro methods and cryobiotechnologies to the conservation of plant species that cannot be conserved in conventional seed banks, species known as exceptional species.  She received her B.S. at Mount Holyoke College and M.S. and Ph.D. from Northwestern University, with post-docs at Purdue University and the University of Florida.  Her research has included developing protocols for the in vitro propagation of rare plant species and the cryo-conservation of shoot tips, embryos, gametophytes, spores, seeds, and pollen of species from across the U.S., many critically endangered, as well as studies on how species, culture medium, and environment interact in vitro.