Curator’s Forum
What do the Museum’s curators do? The Curator’s Forum lecture series lets you find out. Get acquainted with the latest Museum research being done in fields ranging from archaeology to zoology.
These informative presentations are held Wednesday evenings in Murch Auditorium. There is a reception after every lecture, to meet the Curator and ask questions. Light refreshments are served. Proceeds support the Museum’s Collections & Research Division.
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Wednesday, February 24, 2010, 7 pm
Dr. Joe Hannibal, Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology
Geologist and paleontologist John Strong Newberry and geologist, archaeologist, and historian Col. Charles Whittlesey were famed nineteenth-century scientists, notable for their many achievements. Dr. Joe Hannibal, Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology, will describe their observations and discoveries, and discuss those objects that were named for them. This included fossils, an archaeological culture, and a volcano. Dr. Hannibal will recount the conflict between these two great Cleveland figures.
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Wednesday, March 17, 2010, 7 pm
Dr. Timothy Matson
Curator of Vertebrate Zoology
Amphibian populations of temperate climates have long been know to experience booms and busts in size. When busts occur at higher frequency than booms we have population declines which may result in local extirpations. Some amphibians in northeastern Ohio have experienced declines and local extirpations have resulted. Dr. Matson, Curator of Vertebrate Zoology, will describe his recent efforts attempting to detect changes in the status of local species of amphibians and at some of the potential causes for observed declines.
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Wednesday, March 31, 2010, 7 pm
Dr. Andy Jones
Curator of Ornithology
Dr. Andy Jones, Curator of Ornithology, will address the status of Ohio's bird life as well as what contributions you can make to the science of ornithology. Just as canaries were an early warning system in coal mines, the status of wild birds is used to gauge the overall health of our planet's ecosystems. Observations of wild birds, by everyone from backyard birdwatchers to professional ornithologists, are used to determine which species are prospering and which are faltering. Some of the longest running datasets in all of biology have been focused on birds, including the Christmas Bird Count. Our understanding of how bird populations are changing through time, often due to human-induced habitat changes, has dramatically improved in the last few decades. More recently, these observations are used to predict the fates of birds in a changing climate.
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Wednesday, April 7, 2010, 7 pm
Kaloyan Ivanov
Ph.D. Candidate, Cleveland State University & Graduate Student,
CMNH Department of Invertebrate Zoology
Ants are often seen as pests, not to be tolerated in our habitation. Kaloyan Ivanov, a Ph.D. candidate from Cleveland State University conducting his research through CMNH's Department of Invertebrate Zoology has spent the past 5 years examining how urban systems affect ants and what these often subterranean creatures tell us about our region. Ants represent seed dispersers, fungus growers, herders, predators, and other ecological roles in northeast Ohio. Invasive plant species and the fragmentation of Ohio's natural areas impact ants in unexpected ways. Mr. Ivanov will explore the roles of ants in northeast Ohio and explain current research into their biology.
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Wednesday, April 28, 2010, 7 pm
Dr. Brian Redmond
Curator of Archaeology
In 2001, the bones of a Jefferson's Ground Sloth (Megalonyx jeffersonii) were found in the Firelands Museum in Norwalk, Ohio. Careful study of this specimen by Curator of Archaeology Dr. Brian Redmond and a multi-disciplinary team of researchers has revealed stone-tool cut marks and an age of 13,500 years. These results provided the first direct evidence for the hunting of the Jefferson's Ground Sloth in North America, and revealed it to be the oldest archaeological specimen in Ohio. In this presentation, Dr. Redmond tells the fascinating story behind the Firelands Ground Sloth, from its excavation at the turn of the twentieth century, through the historical study to relocate its place of origin, to the recent scientific investigation.
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Wednesday, May 19, 2010, 7 pm
Dr. Yohannes Haile-Selassie
Curator of Physical Anthropology
Some of the outstanding questions in human evolutionary studies involve the co-occurrence of more than one early human ancestor in the deep past, and how they might be related to each other. The fossil evidence between 3.6 and 3.8 million years ago was too meager to address these questions until the discovery of the Woranso-Mille Paleontological site in Ethiopia in 2003. Dr. Yohannes Haile-Selassie, Curator of Physical Anthropology, will present preliminary results based on the hominid fossils recovered thus far, with a particular emphasis on the hypothesized ancestor/descendant relationship between “Lucy’s” species Australopithecus afarensis and the earlier Australopithecus anamensis. His presentation will also include results from his 2010 field season.
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The Curator's Forum is sponsored by Cuyahoga County Public Library, WVIZ/WCPN ideastream and Cleveland Magazine. |
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