Join us for this New England Aquarium Lecture Series event featuring conservation biologist Dr. Joe Roman, who will discuss his forthcoming book about how ecosystems are sculpted and sustained by animals eating, defecating, and dying.

If forests are the lungs of the planet, then animals migrating across the ocean, streams, and mountains are its heart and arteries, pumping nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients from deep-sea gorges up to mountain peaks. While the number of wild animals has been greatly reduced in recent decades, efforts to conserve and rewild native animals could restore ancient nutrient pathways—helping to combat climate change—by magnifying carbon uptake from the atmosphere.

From a young volcanic island off the coast of Iceland to the kelp forests of Alaska to the Bay of Fundy, where he worked with New England Aquarium researchers studying the North Atlantic right whale, Roman will explore how these fundamental biological functions could play a role in mitigating the climate crisis.

PLEASE NOTE: Virtual registration closes at 2:00 p.m. on June 8.