Spring 2024 Friday Ecology Seminars

Ecology Seminars hosted by the Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research are held on most Fridays during the spring and fall semesters at 12:15 p.m. During the spring 2024 semester, talks will be in person in Room 152 of the Smissman Labs building, next to Takeru Higuchi Hall on KU's West Campus (please note that KU parking permits are required). Most will be recorded for our YouTube channel. Schedule changes are sometimes made, and some seminars may move to Higuchi Hall; please check the schedule each week.

Please consult the KU Parking online information and map regarding parking and the transit information online. If you need to park near the building and do not have a KU parking permit, you have a couple of options for parking in nearby Yellow lots (224, 214, 215) and purchasing a one-day $3 permit:

1) Come to campus and park in 224 (mobile zone 3922), 214 (mobile zone 3921) or 215 (mobile zone 3951), give your license plate number and pay through your phone on the website (www.parkingapp.com) OR download the free ParkMobile app, create an account and provide your plate number.

2) Create a visitor parking account ahead of time at https://ku.nupark.com/portal and buy a daily Yellow parking pass for $3 (valid in lots 224, 214 or 215).

Seminar information is emailed weekly on Wednesdays to two lists:

• The current "KBS" list (our research center's current and retired faculty scientists, researchers, staff and students); if you are on this list, you will receive an email reminder to your email ending in ku.edu.
• A special mailing list created specifically to announce these seminars and open to the public; if you would like to join this mailing list for notifications and reminders of upcoming seminars, share your name and email address using our quick webform. Note: If you use Gmail and do not receive an email within a week of requesting to join, please check your Promotions tab and move any emails from us to your Primary tab.

Recordings of some seminars will be posted on our YouTube channel during the following week. (During the following dates, Friday events will be for graduate students and early-career ecologists in our labs only: Feb. 2, March 1, April 5, May 3.)

Our seminars are hosted by Ben Sikes, KU associate professor of ecology & evolutionary biology (EEB) and associate scientist at our research center; Sara Baer, director of our research center and professor of EEB; and other researchers. The host will coordinate introductions at the beginning of each talk as well as the question-and-answer session at the end of the talk. Other researchers may introduce speakers.

Seminars cover a wide range of topics that broadly relate to ecology and/or conservation issues. Often presentations are given by KU faculty, staff or students, but we also have talks by people at nearby colleges and universities and outside the region, as well as state agencies and environmental organizations. Most talks are research-oriented, but this seminar series also has proven to be a good forum for sharing information about nonprofits and government agencies. We interpret "talks" broadly; some are polished presentations, while others are opportunities to discuss ideas or a tentative plan for a project.

The Friday Ecology Seminar series was created by Helen Alexander, KU professor emerita of ecology & evolutionary biology and a very close associate of the KU Field Station.

Parking information

Please consult the KU Parking information and map and the transit information online. If you do not have a KU parking pass and need to purchase a one-time pass for parking on west campus, please use the Event Parking Request Form from KU Parking. 

Working schedule