ESP Doctoral Candidate on TEDxDover – VIDEO

The Rise of Phantom Ecology | Milton Muldrow Jr. | TEDxDover

This talk discussed potential differences, among reef experts regarding their baseline classification of various factors concerning the Florida Keys reef tract, as well as their value of the period in history (measured in time) in which the baseline reef existed in the Florida Keys. If experts are accepting degraded ecosystems as their baseline, this may have a broad impact on reef science and reef management policy moving forward. Is there a trend toward younger experts having lower standards in terms of reef condition, or are standards similar among different age groups? Results here may inform the conservation biology community at large, as well as provide insights on the views of Florida reef experts.

Milton earned a B.S. in Biology from St. Francis University and was then awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate STEM Fellowship to attend the University of Missouri-St. Louis, where he earned an M.S. in Biology. Milton’s Master’s thesis involved a study on tropical forest restoration in the Florida Keys. While working on his Master’s, Milton served as Education Director of the Pigeon Key Foundation in Marathon, Florida Keys, offering marine science education to students of all ages. Milton then pursued a career with the Federal Government at the National Science Foundation, serving in several positions including science assistant (biologist) and analyst for almost five years.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx.