“Indian Ocean to Atlantic Ocean: Conservation from Mauritius to Newfoundland” Laura King, Speaker

November 17th, 7:30PM

Room SN2067, Memorial University. Parking available in Lot 15B next to the School of Music

Selected as this year’s ‘Canada’s New Noah’ scholarship winner, Laura King spent the spring, summer, and fall in this little-known tropical nation. The award, given yearly by the NGO Wildlife Preservation Canada, provides early career biologists with hands-on field skills and academic training so they can better contribute to Canadian conservation upon their return. But how does working with pink pigeons, parakeets, and pathogens contribute to helping here? On these tiny faraway islands, success stories with some of the world’s most interesting reptiles, plants, and birds are being written every day. The story of how these feats are accomplished and maintained is a look into the world of modern conservation practices, the talented and sometimes slightly strange biologists keeping these projects on the go, and the unusual species that have inspired devotion and donations from across the world.
Laura King is a conservation biologist with a local NGO, Nature NL board member, and outdoor enthusiast. She spent her undergrad and MSc doing wildlife genetics and toxicology, and has worked in government, universities, and non-profits. Having lived in nine cities, three provinces, three countries, and traveled on six continents, her motto used to be “Gather no moss”, but she has recently decided she rather enjoys the mosses of Newfoundland.