All About Apiaceae

Also known as umbellifers, members of this family have flowers arranged in umbels (flat-topped cluster of flowers) radiating from a singular point at the terminal end of the stem. These flowers have 5 petals, 5 stamens, and sometimes 5 sepals. Stems are most often hollow. The leaves are almost always alternate, feather-divided, and sheathed at the base. This family has many well-known edible species such as carrot (Daucus carota subsp. sativus), and parsley (Petroselinum crispum), as well as toxic species such as Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum), and phototoxic species such as Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum).

With nearly 3,780 species described worldwide, there are currently 18 species with research grade observations from the month of June on iNaturalist in NYC. See if you can find them all!

How Reliable is the "Green" in Green Infrastructure?

Dr. Peter M. Groffman, City University of New York, Advanced Science Research Center and Brooklyn College of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Tuesday, June 20, 5:00PM EST

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There is great current interest and creativity in the creation of green infrastructure to address a range of challenging and expensive environmental problems, from coastal resilience to control of combined sewer overflows. The appeal of green infrastructure is that it is often less expensive than traditional constructed "grey" infrastructure and it provides multiple benefits such as biodiversity, aesthetics, and carbon sequestration. However, while highly engineered grey infrastructure has detailed design specifications and reliability specifications, these are largely undeveloped for green infrastructure.
In this talk, Dr. Groffman will review some of the potential applications of green infrastructure in modern environmental science and discuss how concerns about reliability need to be addressed to realize the potential of this new approach.

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Dr. Peter M. Groffman (he/him/his) is a professor at City University of New York, Advanced Science Research Center and Brooklyn College of Earth and Environmental Sciences. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Cary Institute of Research Sciences.

His research focuses on climate effects on ecosystem biogeochemical processes related to carbon and nitrogen cycles. Groffman was a Convening Lead Author for the 2013 U.S. National Climate Assessment Chapter on Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, a lead author for the Second (Wetlands) and Third (North America) Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Program on Climate Change (IPCC), and is on the “Reuters Hot List” of the world’s top 1,000 climate scientists.

Nature Your City: Biodiversity and the Future of New York

Dr. Eric W. Sanderson, Vice President of Urban Conservation, the New York Botanical Garden

Tuesday, June 27, 5:00PM EST

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Climate change is re-writing where we can live and work in New York City based on an ancient template: the historical ecology of New York. In this talk, historian, author, and futurist Dr. Eric Sanderson discusses how we must take nature seriously in our decision-making. Nature will save the city if we give it a chance: here’s the recipe how.

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Eric W. Sanderson, Ph.D., is the inaugural Vice President of Urban Conservation at the New York Botanical Garden. He earned a Ph.D. in Ecology (1998) and a B.A.S. in English and Biochemistry (1989) from the University of California, Davis. He is the author of the best-selling Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City (Abrams, 2009) and three other books about biodiversity loss and climate change. Sanderson is an optimist, despite his work as a historian, conservation biologist, and urbanist.