Umbanhowar to deliver spring Mellby lecture on the ecology of fire
Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies Charles Umbanhowar Jr. will deliver the 2021 spring Mellby Lecture on March 16.
St. Olaf College Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies Charles Umbanhowar Jr. will deliver this year’s spring Mellby Lecture, titled “Future, Present, Past? Reconstructing the Ecological History of Fire Using Charcoal.”
The virtual talk will take place on Tuesday, March 16, at 7:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public. The lecture will be streamed and archived online.
In his lecture, Umbanhowar will explore how human actions and the natural world impact instances of fire, and vice versa. “One of the questions I will be addressing is how climate impacts fire and more specifically what combination of wet or dry years results in more burning,” Umbanhowar says. “I am especially interested in thinking about how fires have impacted the distribution of fo