Speaker: Dr Julian Doberski, U3AC member First degree in Zoology was followed by an MSc in Forestry and a PhD in Cambridge on fungal diseases of elm bark beetles – the carriers of Dutch elm disease. Spent over thirty years lecturing at Anglia Ruskin University centred on ecology. Our students had the good fortune of studying the subject ‘in the field’ as much as in the lecture room. Organised an annual trip to African savannah and forest (typically to Kenya, but with occasional forays to Namibia and South Africa) and to Poland (primeval Bialowieza forest).
In 2024 I published a book entitled: The Science of Garden Biodiversity. This was written for the interested gardener who wanted to look behind the popular advice in the gardening press and media. It is only relatively recently that scientific studies have focussed on garden ecology. Gardens are ecologically complicated because each garden is different, and many contain a range of habitats and ‘mini-ecosystems’. This makes generalising tricky, but in this talk I will explore the main themes of the book starting with a brief review of garden habitats and studies of how species rich gardens can be, then focussing on some of the effects of plant choice and garden management on species diversity – such as native vs non-native plants, what-eats-what, soil, beneficial species and pollinators and some pointers to what gardeners can do to promote biodiversity.
07 May 2025
2:15 pm
Hybrid