'Conservative' prof discusses ecology

Slides of caterpillars, snakes and exotic landscapes awed a packed lecture hall yesterday as Biology Professor Dan Janzen gave a special preview of his Kyoto Memorial Lecture. Janzen addressed the topic of the "gardenification of wildland nature and how to absorb the human footprint" in his lecture, the full version of which will be presented in Japan early next month. In September, Janzen received the Kyoto Prize in Basic Science -- a "Japanese Nobel Prize" awarded every three years -- for "extraordinary lifetime achievement" in the field of conservation biology. In his address, Janzen was quick to recognize the importance of the award to his controversial field. It "legitimizes conservation of tropical wildlands" as a field of biological study, he said, adding that conservation biologists have been unfairly maligned as a "fringe group" of "greenies and tree-huggers." Janzen also focused on how the environment can survive human domination. "As a society, we have beaten nature," he said. "We can turn it into any piece of garbage we want." To preserve nature, he said it must be transformed into "a garden" for human use, not left to itself to be overrun. With environmentally friendly human management, nature will remain diverse, he added. Janzen described many ways humans can use nature productively without destroying the environment. A "wildlife garden" can filter greenhouse gases, provide high crop yields and serve as a site for tourism, research and education in a self-sustaining system, he said. More than 200 professors and students attended yesterday's lecture at Leidy Laboratories, and many said they were impressed by Janzen and his performance. In his introductory remarks, Biology Department Chairperson Andrew Binns described Janzen as an "intriguing character" and joked about his own son's experiences working for Janzen. He noted that "we have in our midst a very special individual." Referring to Janzen's Kyoto Prize -- which recognized his fieldwork in Costa Rica -- College junior Mollie Parsons added that she "can see why he won the prize." Janzen spends half of each year away from the University to manage the Guanacaste conservation reserve in northwestern Costa Rica, a tropical environment roughly the size of the greater Philadelphia area. Janzen, who thanked the University for allowing him to travel for "good chunks of the year," plans to use the $430,000 Kyoto Prize to set up an endowment for the reserve. During his slide presentation, Janzen noted that the entrance to Guanacaste contains the mantra of his work. Translated from the Spanish, the gate's inscription reads, "The forest is a fountain of life."

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