The Sonoran Desert: Biodiversity and the Perils of Human Passage(Online Presentation)

Join us on Zoom for a presentation on the Sonoran Desert by Conservation Biologist Saff Killingsworth.

The Sonoran Desert is an amazingly diverse ecosystem home to fascinating plants and animals and a rich cultural history. It is also the site of centuries-old human migration routes and contentious immigration policy debate. This presentation will discuss the biological processes that contribute to the incredible biodiversity and beauty of this landscape, how those processes intersect with current border policy to create dangerous migration conditions, and how humanitarian aid efforts attempt to mitigate those dangers.

Saff Killingsworth is a biologist based in Tucson, Arizona. She works primarily on the conservation of plants and their pollinators through her work current work with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, and her previous work as a freelance botanist, and with the Tucson Bird Alliance and the National Park Service. She also participates in local humanitarian aid efforts to end death and suffering in the borderlands. She envisions a future where we all have a better understanding of and more regard for the little creatures that make the world go round. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, cooking, hiking, and searching for elusive desert swimming holes.