[Ecolunch] Special TUESDAY Ecolunch 4/10

[Leslie Ann Welts]

Please join us for a SPECIAL TUESDAY ECOLUNCH seminar next week on 
Tuesday, April 10th at 12:15 p.m. Our speaker will be Dr. Egbert Leigh 
from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. The title of 
his talk is "Neutral theory: a historical perspective". A brief abstract 
follows below.

Allen

ABSTRACT
The talk will
      1. Point out that the motive for neutral theory in population 
genetics was not anti-adaptationist, and a lot of the best neutral 
theory techniques were first developed to better understand the origin 
of adaptation. In ecology, Hubbell, at least, invented neutral theory to 
see what he could explain without invoking Darwin's principle of 
adaptive divergence
      2. Outline some crucial techniques of neutral theory
      3. Show how the current focus of ecological neutral theory on 
species-abundance distributions is about the least useful possible, 
because the same distribution could be generated by many mechanisms, and 
explore some unfinished tasks of neutral theory that must be finished to 
make it useful.
      4. Observe that the simplicity of neutral assumptions allows null 
theories of many topics, that would serve both as useful null hypotheses 
and stimuli for more realistic theory.
      5. In sum, this is an essay on how urgent it is for neutral 
theorists to "broaden the theory's bottom."



GENERAL INFORMATION Ecolunches are Thursdays, at 12:15 pm (Brown Bag 
Lunch) National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, 735 State 
St., Suite 300, Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Phone: (805) 892-2500

A schedule of upcoming Ecolunch seminars is available on the web at: 
http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/fmt/doc?/nceas-web/center/local/ecolunch.html

DIRECTIONS FROM UCSB BY BUS: You can get to NCEAS by taking the 11:40 
a.m. bus (# 24x) from campus. From the transit center, walk one block 
east to State Street and two blocks south to the Balboa Building at 735 
State Street. To return to campus, you can take the 1:30 p.m. bus (#24x) 
from the transit station and be back on campus by 1:49 p.m. Or you can 
take the 2:20 p.m. bus and arrive on campus at 2:39.

BY CAR: take Highway 101 South. Once in Santa Barbara, exit on Carrillo 
Street. Turn left onto Carrillo. Drive 5 blocks and turn right on State 
Street. NCEAS is located on the right side at 735 State St., Suite 300.
To Park: Drive past NCEAS on State Street and make your first right on 
Ortega Street. Drive 1 block and turn right on Chapala Street. Park in 
the underground Mall parking lot on your right. (First 75 minutes free). 
Once you are at the Balboa Building: We are on the third floor in the 
lounge area.


-- 
Leslie Ann Welts
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
University of California, Santa Barbara
735 State Street, Suite 300
Santa Barbara, CA 93101-3351, USA
http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu
welts at nceas.ucsb.edu
Tel (805) 892-2502
Fax (805) 892-2510