February 20, 2008

A Harvard professor will speak at Fresno State about his research on the great apes and on some of the critical environmental issues that are vital to their preservation and to agricultural practices around the world.

Dr. Mark Leighton, a tropical forest ecology professor, will talk about "Conservation Ecology of Great Apes and Strategies for Protecting Rainforest Habitat," inaugurating the Agricultural Research Seminar Series at California State University, Fresno. His talk, which is free and open to the public, will be from noon to 1 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 22, in Ag Science Building, room 109.

It is presented by the College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology's Research and Scholarly Advisory Committee (RSAC) and co-sponsored by the university's Departments of Biology and Anthropology.

Leighton, an international expert on conservation of great apes, chaired the first Scientific Commission of the Great Ape Survival Project, sponsored by the United Nations Environmental Programme and U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. He will present his work at the Gunung Palung National Park in Indonesia and other tropical rainforests around the world.

His talk at Fresno State will address deforestation, protecting rainforest throughout the world and preserving endangered species. Broader issues such as sustainability in agriculture - affected by global warming, climate change, biodiversity and soil erosion - also will be discussed.

"This might sound like an unusual topic for agriculturalists, but forestry and farming are interdependent and we need to have a wholistic approach to ecosystem management," said Dr. Sharon Bennes, RSAC chair and a Fresno State soil science professor.

"Deforestation contributes to soil degradation, climate change, loss of plant and animal biodiversity, and has a long-term negative effect on global agriculture," Bennes explained.