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TITLE: Insects and Gardens: In Pursuit of a Garden Ecology
SPEAKER: Eric Grissell
EVENT DATE: 07/27/2005
RUNNING TIME: 44 minutes
DESCRIPTION:
Eric Grissell, entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, gave a lecture and slide show on his book, "Insects and Gardens: In Pursuit of a Garden Ecology." Grissell suggests it might be time to declare a truce with insects in the garden. He explains the vital role insects play in every garden ecosystem and writes about the various orders of insects, describing how the insects grow, feed and reproduce.
Speaker Biography: Eric Grissell was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. After receiving his Ph.D in entomology in 1973 from the University of California, Davis, he worked as a taxonomic entomologist for the Florida Department of Agriculture until 1978. From 1978 to the present, he has worked as a research entomologist for the Systematic Entomology Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture, located at the U.S. National Museum of Natural History. He is also a research associate of the Smithsonian Institution and an adjunct associate professor at the University of Maryland. Grissell has gardened since the age of 8 and has been an avid entomologist since the age of 11. He has published two popular books on gardening, several technical books on entomology, more than 75 scientific papers and has 25 years of editorial experience with various scientific journals. His field work has taken him throughout the continental United States and the New World, England, China, India, South Africa, and Australia.