Wildlife habitat may be shrinking, but author and Professor Doug Tallamy brings refreshing news: anyone with access to a patch of earth can make a difference.

Tallamy will share his insight during an exclusive and intimate lecture and walk on May 17 starting in the Education Building at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Berks County.  The cost is $15, seating is limited and registration is required by calling 610-756-6961.

Later in the day, his talk, “Bringing Nature Home,” based on his award winning book, will be held at 7 p.m. at Alvernia College, Reading.  The cost for the evening talk is also $15 with registration by calling 610-756-6961.

“Tallmy’s book Bringing Nature Home sparked a national conversation about the link between healthy local ecosystems and human well-being, and Hawk Mountain is proud to introduce the concept to more people,” says Sanctuary President Jerry Regan. “Doug shares simple and practical recommendations, and that’s something that can appeal to everyone,” he adds.

Tallamy will explain the unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife — that native insects cannot, or will not, eat alien plants. When native plants disappear, the insects disappear, essentially starving birds and other animals. In many parts of the world, habitat destruction has been so extensive that local wildlife is in crisis and may be headed toward extinction.

As a child, Douglas W. Tallamy learned first-hand about the finality of suburban development as practiced today. Having recently moved with his family into a new house in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, he spent his summer days exploring the "wild" places that surrounded him.

One of his first discoveries was a small pond where thousands of pollywogs wiggled near its shoreline and he took great delight in watching them grow each day. One day as he watched, a bulldozer crested nearby piles of dirt, and — in an act that has been replicated around the nation millions of times since — proceeded to bury the young toads and all of the other living treasures within the pond.

Tallamy is currently Professor and Chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware, where he has written more than 65 research articles and has taught insect taxonomy, behavioral ecology, and other subjects. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities.

In his free time Tallamy enjoys photography (particularly of insects and birds), hiking and backpacking with his wife in remote places, swimming and canoeing, and teaching young people about the importance of the life forms around them.

5/12/2014