Biologist Jim McGraw, an expert on the effects of climate change on plants in the arctic, will give a free public lecture at Stetson University at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10.

His lecture, “A Darwinian View of Climate Change: How Long Term Ecological Studies Provide Key Insights,” will be held in the duPont-Ball Library, lower level, Room 25, accessed from the Nemec Courtyard on the north side of the library, 134 E. Minnesota Ave., DeLand. Dr. McGraw’s visit to Stetson is being made possible through the Brown Visiting Scholar Program.

McGraw is the Eberly Family Endowed Professor of Biology at West Virginia University, where he studies plant population dynamics. His current research involves the use of demographic models to predict plant population response to direct and indirect human impacts on the environment.

Beginning in his days as an undergraduate at Stanford University, McGraw has conducted research in the arctic. Most recently, his arctic investigations are focused on understanding the effects of climate change on plant populations. In addition, along with a host of graduate students, he has studied the effects of human harvesting and deer browsing on American ginseng in Appalachia. He work has been published in the journal Science, and has also received coverage from the popular press includingNPR, National Geographic, Scientific American and the New York Times.

McGraw is passionate about increasing communication between scientists, policymakers and the general public. Currently, he is serving as an Aldo Leopold Fellow through the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. As such, he is part of an elite group of academic researchers who are trained in leadership and communication skills that allow scientists to play an active role in the education of the public about environmental issues.