KINGSTON, R.I. – March 10, 2010 – Dalhousie University Professor Boris Worm is the third speaker in the University of Rhode Island’s Vetlesen Lecture Series on global environmental change. His lecture, “Saving the Blue Planet: Patterns, Trends and Prospects for Marine Biodiversity,” is on Mar. 16 at 7:30 p.m.

Free and open to the public, the lecture will take place in Edwards Auditorium on the URI Kingston campus.

The lecture series, presented by the URI Graduate School of Oceanography and sponsored by the G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation, is a follow-up to the 2008 Honors Colloquium series that explored human-caused global change, its consequences, and potential human responses.

Worm is a marine research ecologist and associate professor of biology at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, and he is well known for his commitment to public awareness of marine conservation.

His research has shown that populations of the ocean’s large predators have declined by up to 90% in many areas. Most recently he led an international team of scientists that examined efforts to restore marine ecosystems and rebuild fisheries throughout the world. He also provided the first global evaluation of how management practices influence fisheries’ sustainability.

The final speaker in the series is filmmaker and photographer Norbert Wu, whose lecture on “Exploring the World’s Notable and Threatened Underwater Habitats,” will take place on March 30 at 7:30 p.m. in Edwards Auditorium.

For additional information, visit www.uri.edu/vetlesen or contact the URI Honors Center at 401-874-2381 or debg@uri.edu.

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