In January The Merwin Conservancy held its first “Green Room” arts and ecology event of the year, with renowned botanist and Merwin Conservancy researcher-in-residence Dr. Bill Baker. Hosted at the historic Hui Noʻeau Visual Arts Center on Maui, this special event featured Billʻs important work with a team of researchers to complete the tree of life for flowering plants— an evolutionary roadmap that is essential for the exploration of the properties of life on Earth.
The event was captured on video and we hope you will join us on Tuesday, February 28th, at 2:00pm Hawaiʻi / 4:00pm Pacific / 7:00pm Eastern for a virtual broadcast!
This online program is free, and donations are welcome at the virtual “door” to support this public program, now in its tenth year.
We hope you can join us! If you’re unable to make the live broadcast, you can watch the replay for up to one month, as long as you’ve pre-registered.
Mahalo to Anne Swayne Kier and the Keith and Judy Swayne Fund for generously supporting the 10th year of this program as a Green Room Host.
ABOUT DR. BILL BAKER:
Dr. William J. Baker is a systematic biologist, working in the fields of taxonomy, phylogenetics, evolution, biogeography and conservation of flowering plants. His work draws extensively on biological collections, especially at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, spanning herbarium, lab and field to address fundamental questions in plant diversity research.
Dr. Bakerʻs current research interests include:
- The angiosperm tree of life – Dr. Baker leads Kew’s Tree of Life Initiative in which they aim to complete the angiosperm tree of life by sequencing all 13,600 genera using the universal genomic toolkit Angiosperms353.
- Palm systematics and taxonomy – Palms are a model group for tropical research and are of immense ecological and economic importance. Dr. Baker has specialized in the taxonomy, systematics and evolution of this fascinating family for the past three decades.
- Applications of the tree of life – Dr. Baker is interested in exploring uses of the tree of life (and the data that underpin it) in broader comparative and applied research. Recent studies have addressed questions in global biogeography, biome evolution, speciation, trait evolution and sustainable management of natural resources.
