Plenary Speakers
We are pleased to confirm the following Plenary Speakers for ICTC 2023
Dr Joyce Maschinski (retired), Center for Plant Conservation and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
Dr. Joyce Maschinski is a devoted plant conservationist. She recently retired from a joint appointment as the President and CEO of the Center for Plant Conservation and Director of Plant Conservation for San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance in Escondido, California. Prior to those positions, she worked for two Center for Plant Conservation participating institutions: The Arboretum at Flagstaff in Flagstaff, Arizona and Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami, Florida. In all these capacities, she led efforts to conserve endangered plants locally, regionally, and nationally.
Her research interests have centered on understanding factors that limit reproduction, growth, and expansion of rare plant populations. She has examined demography, biotic interactions, genetics, ecological factors, climate change, and the impact of human activities on rare plants and has provided management solutions for the conservation of rare plant species. As an essential strategy to prevent rare plant species extinction, with colleagues at The Arboretum at Flagstaff, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Dr. Maschinski has conducted over 89 reintroductions of 28 endangered plant species in desert, tropical, and Mediterranean ecosystems. Most of these have been published in her 79 peer-reviewed papers or book chapters.
Based on these experiences and working with collaborators at the Center for Plant Conservation, she spearheaded the CPC Best Plant Conservation Practices to Support Species Survival in the Wild, which is now available as an online resource on the Rare Plant Academy (https://saveplants.org/cpc-rare-plant-academy/). Believing that practitioners should share their experiences, she has contributed modules to the CPC Applied Plant Conservation Course. The Center for Plant Conservation has an online Reintroduction Registry (https://saveplants.org/reintroduction-registry/), where users may learn about many reintroductions. Interested parties may contribute reintroduction data as part of CPC’s ongoing efforts to refine best practices for reintroduction.
Joyce received her B.S. and M.Ed. degrees at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, and her doctorate in plant ecology from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. She remains active in plant conservation efforts.
Professor Carlos Ruiz-Miranda, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense
Carlos R Ruiz-Miranda considers himself a conservation biologist that does both project management and science. He has a biology degree from Tulane University of Louisiana (1985) and a PhD in Animal Behavior from the University of California Davis (1991). His current research is on animal behavior applied to conservation, especially effects of animal translocations, fragmentation and linear structures on social behavior, dispersal and habitat use, and ontogeny of behavior. He does field work with golden lion tamarins and sloths, and captive research with piping guans.
He was a Researcher at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoological Park from 1992 to 1997, Associate Professor of the State University of Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro (since 1997), Researcher (since 1993) and current President of the Golden Lion Tamarin Association, research collaborator of SAVE-Brazil in the Jacutingas Reintroduction Project, Member of the IUCN (CTSG/SSC and Primates/SSC) and member of the ICMBio working groups for the national action plan for Primates and Sloths of the Southeast and for translocations of fauna. At UENF he has coordinated the SERCAS (Sector for Ethology, Reintroduction and Conservation of Wild Animals) since 2007 and was the UENF´s International and Interinstitutional Affairs Advisor (2018-2020).
Dr Samantha Fox, Save the Tasmania Devil Program, Tasmania
Dr Samantha Fox is a Wildlife Biologist with the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program in Tasmania. In her 15 years working with wild devil populations’, she has led a trial program looking at the most effective way of translocating healthy devils into wild populations heavily impacted by the contagious cancer, devil facial tumour disease (DFTD). This has focused on ensuring success for the released animals but also attempted to understand the impacts of the release on the incumbent wild population. Sam’s plenary will focus on the introduction of Tasmanian devils onto Maria island off the east coast of Tasmania, in response to the threat of extinction of the species. She will discuss lessons learnt over the past 10 years of managing the devil population on Maria island, including managing public expectations