Nature of Oaks – Doug Tallamy

The Nature of Oaks

UD Professor and author Doug Tallamy

UDBG Friends Members:  FREE;  Nonmembers: $15      (Held via Zoom)

Registration is required for this event. To register and pay via credit card, please use our online form. You will be sent zoom link close to the class time; be sure to download Zoom app.

Once we have decided to restore the ecological integrity of our human-dominated landscapes, we need to decide what plants to add to our properties. Oaks are superior landscape trees throughout most of the U.S. because of their many ecological and aesthetic attributes. They’re one of the powerhouse plants that support the majority of Lepidoptera, the order of insects that includes butterflies and moths.  “More than 500 types of caterpillars use the oak as a food source, allowing for a more complex and thus, more stable food web,” said Tallamy, a conservationist and entomologist.  Using activity on the oaks in his yard each month of the year as examples, Tallamy will compare oak species to other popular shade trees in terms of their ability to support animal diversity, protect watersheds, and sequester carbon dioxide. Come enjoy an informative and inspirational evening.

Doug Tallamy is a professor in the Department of Entomology & Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he has authored 96 research articles and has taught Insect Taxonomy, Behavioral Ecology, Humans and Nature, and other courses for 36 years. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities. His book Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens was published in 2007 and was awarded the 2009 silver medal by the Garden Writer’s Association. Tallamy awards include: the Garden Club of America Margaret Douglas Medal for Conservation and the Tom Dodd Jr. Award of Excellence in 2013 and the 2018 AHS B.Y. Morrison Communication Award.The Living Landscape, co-authored with Rick Darke, was published in 2014. His New York Times bestseller Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard,  was published in 2020. Tallamy’s newest book Oaks will be published in March 2021. Tallamy published a paper in Nature Communications that was selected as one of the top 50 papers in Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences for 2020.