A free, public screening of a new 13-minute film about the work of renowned conservationist and Duke University professor Stuart Pimm will take place at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, at the university's Nasher Museum of Art.
The museum is located at 2001 Campus Drive. Doors will open at 7 p.m.
"Disappearing Worlds: A Scientific Adventure Story," chronicles Pimm and his students on a recent expedition to the Amazon to study endangered bird species that inhabit patches of jungle threatened by logging and other human activities.
The program is hosted by Duke Magazine, in partnership with the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke. Pimm is the Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at the Nicholas School.
Documentary filmmaker Peter Jordan, a 2001 graduate of Duke, accompanied the team on the Amazon trip. Robert J. Bliwise, editor of Duke Magazine, will introduce the film and provide an overview of the project at 7:30. Pimm and his students will field questions from the audience after the film airs.
An article about the project appears in the current issue of Duke Magazine, online at < http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu/dukemag/issues/010206/conservation1.html>.
"We are killing off species at between 100 and 1,000 times the natural rate," Pimm says in the article. "I think we're likely to lose 25 to 50 percent of them over the next century." He says that prompts the question, "What is our moral responsibility?"
Widely cited for his work on biodiversity and habitat loss in environmental hotspots around the globe, Pimm is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The Institute of Scientific Information recognized him in 2002 as one of the world's most highly cited scientists. This spring, he will receive the Edward T. LaRoe III Memorial Award from the Society of Conversation Biology in recognition of his outstanding research, teaching and outreach.
Support for the Amazon project was provided by Duke's Office of the President in addition to Duke Magazine and the Nicholas School.