Monthly Meeting - Life in an Ancient Arctic Rainforest by Jaelyn Eberle.

January's presentation will be Life in an Ancient Arctic Rainforest by Jaelyn Eberle.

Today’s High Arctic is a polar desert characterized by a cold, dry climate and an extreme light regime of continuous daylight in the summer, intervals of twilight in spring and fall, and a long winter night that can last for months. However, there is evidence that the Arctic is warming much faster than the rest of the world and could be ice-free within decades, but the impact on its plant and animal life is unclear. Among the best ancient analogs for a mild, ice-free Arctic, early Eocene (ca. 55 – 50-million-year-old) sediments in Canada’s High Arctic preserve fossil evidence of lush rainforests inhabited by alligators, giant tortoises, lizards, and a host of mammals including primates, tapirs, and hippo-like Coryphodon. Eberle’s talk will introduce you to the rich vertebrate community that thrived in the Eocene Arctic rainforests, with emphasis on the ancient mammals, their evolution, and paleobiology. She will also demonstrate how paleontological fieldwork is done on the Arctic tundra and how these extraordinary fossils were discovered.

Jaelyn is a paleontologist originally from Saskatchewan, Canada. She is Director of the Museum & Field Studies (MFS) Program and Curator of Fossil Vertebrates at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, and Full Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at CU Boulder. Jaelyn’s research focuses on the study of fossil mammals during past intervals of climate change and the recovery and evolution of mammals following the mass extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary that sealed the fate of the dinosaurs. Her field research takes her all over the Rocky Mountain Region and to northern Alaska and Canada's High Arctic. Jaelyn is teaching a new course entitled Mesozoic Monsters: Dinosaurs, Pterosaurs, and Sea Lizards this spring at CU Boulder.

This program is hosted by Jefferson Humanists, a chapter of the American Humanist Association.

Please RSVP on this Meetup or email RSVP@jeffersonhumanists.org so we are sure to set up enough chairs for our audience.
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SCHEDULE
We will serve snacks and refreshments from 4:00 to 4:30, then start the program. A small donation of $3 is suggested for the wine or beer. The program will include announcements and a Humanist Moment before the presentation begins.

We hope to see you at 4:00 pm, on Sunday, January 26th, at Jefferson Unitarian Church! This is an in-person-only event.