OCBILs & YODFELs

 

I recently stumbled upon the OCBIL theory. In the words of Hopper (2009): “OCBIL theory aims to develop an integrated series of hypotheses explaining the evolution and ecology of, and best conservation practices for, biota on very old, climatically buffered, infertile landscapes (OCBILs). Conventional theory for ecology and evolu- tionary and conservation biology has developed primarily from data on species and communities from young, often disturbed, fertile landscapes (YODFELs), mainly in the Northern Hemisphere.” As a geomorphologist, and in particular a biogeomorphologist interested in coevolution of landscapes, biota, and soils, the OCBIL-YODFEL contrast is extremely interesting—mainly because it implies a key role for landscape age, stability, and geomorphic disturbance regimes in the development of ecosystems and evolution of biodiversity patterns.

PHYTOTARIA, SOILS, & LANDFORMS

 

One of my major research interests is the coevolution of soils, landforms, and biota. I’ve been working in this area pretty steadily since about 2000, but until 2013 I was completely unaware of some work being done along the same lines, over about the same time period. This is the work of W.H. Verboom and J.S. Pate from Western Australia, who among other things developed the “phytotarium concept.” Phytotarium defines the specific plants and microbial associates driving specific pedological changes during niche construction. This concept, and a wealth of work on biogenic origins of pedological and geomorphological features such as clay pavements, texture-contrast (duplex, as they call them in Australia) soils, and laterites, was highly relevant to my own thinking (e.g., Phillips, 2009a; 2009b), but though I consider myself familiar with the biogeomorphology and pedogenesis literature, then and now, I had somehow missed it.

Deep sandy duplex (vertical texture contrast) soils, Western Australia. Photo credit: Dept. of Agriculture & Food, Western Australia.

Hispanic Studies to offer Portuguese Language Course

Portuguese is the fifth most spoken language in the world, with more than 250 million speakers worldwide. Aside from its country of origin, Portuguese is the official language of Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde, Acores, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé and Príncipe, and is commonly spoken in seven other countries. A part of the Ibero-Romance language group that descends from Latin dialects, its origins are ancient, but during the Age of Exploration, it spread to many corners of the globe, and is present in many popular forms of music, such as bossa nova and samba.

Year of the Middle East Kickoff

This year our Passport to the World Program will focus on the Middle East: Crossroads of the World. Please mark your calendars to join us for our kickoff event September 4th in the Student Center Lawn.  All faculty, staff and students are invited and welcome to attend.

In addition to the medieval harp and percussion, Vanessa Paloma brings the intimacy of private singing and synagogue prayers to international concert venues.  There will also be cultural tastings of the Middle East offered.

 

MORE INFORMATION:  "Sepharad at the tip of Africa" with Vanessa Paloma

The Jewish community from Morocco has benefited from the history of migrations across the strait of Gibraltar that has brought a cultural, musical and linguistic influx to both sides of the strait. The influences represented in their music and poetry span Africa, the Mediterranean and the Iberian peninsula and will be represented tonight in Vanessa Paloma's performance of Judeo-Spanish Romances, Judeo-Arabic piyyutim and Hebrew prayers. Accompanying herself with a medieval harp and percussion, Paloma brings the intimacy of private singing and synagogue prayers to international concert venues.

Date:
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Location:
Student Center Front Lawn

2015 van Winter Memorial Lecture

TItle: "The Master's Hand" Can image analysis detect the hand of the Master? 

Abstract:  The talk will describe wavelets, a mathematical tool used for the analysis and compression of images (including for digital cinema).Then it will go on to discuss how they have been used recently for the study of paintings by e.g. Van Gogh, Goossen van der Weyden, Gauguin, and Giotto.

About the speaker: Professor Daubechies obtained her Ph.D. in theoretical physics in 1980, and worked at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel until 1987. At the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences in New York, she made her best-known discovery: based on quadrature mirror filter-technology, she constructed compactly supported continuous wavelets that would require only a finite amount of processing. This breakthrough enabled wavelet theory to enter the realm of digital signal processing.

In July 1987, Dr. Daubechies joined the AT&T Bell Laboratories' New Jersey facility at Murray Hill. From 1994 to 2010, Dr. Daubechies was a Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University where she directed the Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics. She was the first female full Professor of Mathematics at Princeton. Dr. Daubechies currently works as a James B. Duke Professor of Mathematics at Duke University.

Professor Daubechies received the Louis Empain Prize for Physics in 1984. In 1994, she received the American Mathematical Society (AMS) Steele Prize for Exposition for her book “Ten Lectures on Wavelets”, and gave a plenary lecture at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Zurich. In 1997, she was awarded the AMS Ruth Lyttle Satter prize. Professor Daubechies was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1998. In 2000, Professor Daubechies became the first woman to receive the National Academy of Sciences Award in Mathematics for excellence in published mathematical research. In 2006 she was the Emmy Noether Lecturer at the San Antonio Joint Mathematics Meetings. She won 2012 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Basic Sciences category (jointly with David Mumford) and the 2012 Nemmers Prize in Mathematics from Northwestern University. She was the first woman president of the International Mathematical Union (2011- 2014).

Additional information is available at www.math.uky.edu/van-winter



Photo credit of Ingrid Daubechies - David von Becker

Date:
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Location:
Chemistry-Physics 155
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