Lowman lecture

Dr. Margret Lowman, an expert on the environment of plant canopies, spoke at the 10^th annual Marcia Monroe Conery lecture, sponsored by the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,  Feb. 24 before a crowd of students, faculty and members of the community.

Lowman, a professor of biology and environmental studies at the New College of Florida, spoke about her research trips around the world and how the treetop and lower levels of the forest interact. Lowman mixed scientific facts with personal anecdotes in her address to the crowd.

�She was very candid,� Angela Smilanich, a Ph.D. student in insect and plant interactions, said. �She was very engaging especially for a general audience. She had a way of reaching the general public.�

Lowman presented pictorial displays from her research throughout the world. She also was able to present thoughts and tips for students throughout the lecture.

�She gave a pretty good lecture tied in to her life experience,� Tulane College senior and  Ecology and Evolutionary Biology major Chase Carter said. �I liked how she talked about how to get social economics and the government involved in conservation and environmental education.�

Lowman is interested in educating students about the interaction between the forest canopy and the ground underneath.

�I�m not sure if writing for .001 percent of the population (in journals) is saving the rainforest. It�s made me think about the priorities,� she said.

Her work with the JASON educational program is designed to get middle-school students interested in science. Lowman brought students to the Barro Colorado island in the Panama Canal to explore the tropical canopy at the Smithsonian Institution�s main research center in the tropics.

�For kids to see peers doing the actual science is the best way to get them involved in science,� she said. �If we can touch the next generation today, that�s the best thing that we can do.�

Her interest in research has led her all over the world to destinations as remote as Cameroon, Peru and Samoa all the time toting her two children with her.

Her travels to Cameroon allowed her to analyze the rainforests while presenting preservation options and education to locals.

Her group taught the villagers what the true cost of the timber they owned should be and tried to use economic tools to keep the forests intact. She also received an interesting, unexpected education.

�It gets smelly when 39 men don�t wash their socks for three months,� she said.

Lowman said she faced many challenges working in a field without much of a support network for working mothers.

�When I started, there were no women in my field to help mentor me and advise me about how to make the balance between family and research,� she said.

She often asked herself questions such as, �who can watch [the children]� or �where do I take my children now, up in the canopy with me or leave them on the floor with poisonous snakes.� On the latter, the decision was always easy.

Lowman�s children have also learned many things from their travel with her on research trips all over the world.

�When I was at Williams College, my son�s daycare called me to ask if he could properly identify [the poisonous] nightshade plant. I said yes,� she said.

It turned out that a fellow student at the daycare had eaten the berries of the plant.

�It turned out that the child was the son of the provost,� she said. The child was rushed to the emergency room and she jokingly said that her son�s actions �got [her] tenure as a professor.�

Lowman�s efforts to preserve the forests lie in areas other than the canopy. She worked in Samoa to create an ecotourism site that preserved the indigenous people�s way of life from loggers.

Lowman�s work has led to a greater identification within the sciences of the interactions between tree canopies and the forest floor, earning her numerous awards for environmental excellence and the honor of having an asteroid named after her.