David Kilper
Peter Wyse Jackson, PhD (left), who has been appointed to succeed Peter H. Raven, PhD, the Engelmann Professor of Botany, as president of the Missouri Botanical Garden, visited the Danforth Campus March 3 to meet biology department faculty and to deliver a seminar on international efforts to slow or halt the loss of biodiversity. Jackson, shown here chatting with his host Kathryn Miller, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Biology in Arts & Sciences, has been very active in international efforts to protect plant species, a third to a fourth of which are threatened with extinction. In his talk, he said he hopes to bring with him to St. Louis the Global Partnership for Plant Conservation, a group he chairs. The partnership is part of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, the key international treaty for sustainable development. Only three nations have yet to ratify the treaty — Andorra, the Vatican and the United States.