What's the oil in your cookie? Forest clearing to create cropland for palm oil plantations is devastating vast swaths of southeast Asia, arguably the hottest of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. Renowned biologist David Wilcove has studied the impacts of both forestry and agriculture on the region’s plants and animals. He will lecture on the “Case of the Killer Cookie: Logging, Oil Palm, and Biodiversity Conservation in Southeast Asia,"  Thursday, March 13.

The talk, part of UVM's Burack Distinguished Lecture Series, will begin 3 p.m. in the Frank Livak Ballroom in UVM's Davis Center. It is free and open to the public.

Wilcove's talk will argue that, based on economic studies, the conservation situation in Asia is grim but far from hopeless.

Wilcove is professor of public affairs and ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School. Prior to joining the faculty of Princeton University, he was senior ecologist for The Wilderness Society and Environmental Defense Fund, where he developed science-based strategies to protect endangered species. He is author of No Way Home: The Decline of the World’s Great Animal Migrations (2008), The Condor’s Shadow: The Loss and Recovery of Wildlife in America (1999), and numerous technical and popular articles in the fields of conservation biology, ornithology, and endangered species protection. Wilcove received the Distinguished Service Award of the Society for Conservation Biology in recognition of his work on behalf of endangered species. He received a doctorate in biology from Princeton University (1985) and a bachelor of science from Yale University (1980).