Two UBC scientists have been appointed to a national panel tasked with reviewing the state of biodiversity research in Canada. Prof. Wayne Maddison and Prof. Sarah Otto will join 13 other biodiversity experts on a Council of Canadian Academies panel which will consider the supply of taxonomic expertise, the effect of changing technologies on the field, and Canada’s contribution to biodiversity research at the international level.
The panel, chaired by Thomas Lovejoy, Biodiversity Chair at the Heinz Center in Washington DC, was requested by the Minister of Canadian Heritage on behalf of the Canadian Museum of Nature.
“We’re being asked to report on the capacity of Canada to identify, monitor and document trends in biodiversity,” says Otto, Director of UBC’s Biodiversity Research Centre. “We’ll also attempt to identify key gaps in the Canadian infrastructure for biodiversity science and the associated risks of these gaps.”
For more information, visit the Council of Canadian Academies website at www.science.ubc.ca/news/324
