NewsWhore
06-05-2008, 02:30 PM
Eminent US naturalist Edward Osborne Wilson has urged the DR to increase funding for its protected areas, given that the country still boasts the greatest biodiversity in the Caribbean. He argued that protection makes economic sense because several valuable species inhabit these areas, which are of great interest to the scientific community and medical researchers. The DR has 86 protected areas that cover 12% of the national territory.
Edward Osborne Wilson, one of only two winners of the highest US science award, the National Medal of Science, and the highest literary award, the Pulitzer Prize for literature, the latter won twice, was in Punta Cana on the occasion of Environment Day, as the guest of the Punta Cana Ecological Foundation. Wilson won the Pulitzer Prizes for his groundbreaking books, The Ants and On Human Nature. A professor emeritus at Harvard University, he is considered among the leading thinkers of the 20th century.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Science, which awards the Nobel Prize, also has honored Wilson for his work in ecology with the Crawford Prize, an award covering the areas (general biology, oceanography, mathematics, astronomy) that are not covered by the Nobel Prizes.
This is his second visit to the country. On his first occasion, he was decorated with the Christopher Columbus medal for his work to determine the cause of the plague of ants that in 1518 caused the relocating of the first Spanish settlement from the East to the West bank of the Ozama River. His research uncovered that the ants thrived on an insect that had been imported in plants that the Spanish colonizers had brought from the Canary Islands. During his research in the DR, he identified 20 species of ants.
Wilson collected important amber pieces with insect inclusions that are on exhibit at Harvard University. He says that he found remains of a million years old insect that today only still exists in Australia.
On occasion of his visit, the Puntacana Ecological Foundation presented the 2008 film, "Darwin's Natural Heir," on the life of Wilson on occasion of his visit at the Puntacana Resort & Club, with the attendance of visiting students from Columbia University in NY, villa owners, environmentalists and the press. Wilson is a collaborator in research carried out at the Puntacana Ecological Foundation and its Sustainability Center.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)
Edward Osborne Wilson, one of only two winners of the highest US science award, the National Medal of Science, and the highest literary award, the Pulitzer Prize for literature, the latter won twice, was in Punta Cana on the occasion of Environment Day, as the guest of the Punta Cana Ecological Foundation. Wilson won the Pulitzer Prizes for his groundbreaking books, The Ants and On Human Nature. A professor emeritus at Harvard University, he is considered among the leading thinkers of the 20th century.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Science, which awards the Nobel Prize, also has honored Wilson for his work in ecology with the Crawford Prize, an award covering the areas (general biology, oceanography, mathematics, astronomy) that are not covered by the Nobel Prizes.
This is his second visit to the country. On his first occasion, he was decorated with the Christopher Columbus medal for his work to determine the cause of the plague of ants that in 1518 caused the relocating of the first Spanish settlement from the East to the West bank of the Ozama River. His research uncovered that the ants thrived on an insect that had been imported in plants that the Spanish colonizers had brought from the Canary Islands. During his research in the DR, he identified 20 species of ants.
Wilson collected important amber pieces with insect inclusions that are on exhibit at Harvard University. He says that he found remains of a million years old insect that today only still exists in Australia.
On occasion of his visit, the Puntacana Ecological Foundation presented the 2008 film, "Darwin's Natural Heir," on the life of Wilson on occasion of his visit at the Puntacana Resort & Club, with the attendance of visiting students from Columbia University in NY, villa owners, environmentalists and the press. Wilson is a collaborator in research carried out at the Puntacana Ecological Foundation and its Sustainability Center.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)