Where: Ross S137 (Number 30 in York Map)
Attendance is free. We strongly encourage graduate and undergraduates to participate this event.
Organizing Committee:
Alireza Rafiee arafiee@yorku.ca (Chair of the Organizing Committee and Ralph Nicholls Graduate Award)
Brynle Barrett bbarrett@yorku.ca
Carson Mok cmok@yorku.ca
Conference Schedule:
Time Speaker
9:30 Reception
9:50 Opening
10:00 Banafsheh Hashemi Pour
10:20 Xiaoyi Dong (sunne)
10:40 Steven Beals
11:00 Coffee break
11:20 Jesse Rogerson
11:40 Vyacheslav Galymov
12:00 Lunch Provided by PAGE
13:20 Invited Speaker: Dr. Randy Lewis
14:00 Joe Borbely
14:20 Alireza Rafiee
14:40 Yan Sun
15:00 Coffee break
15:20 Carson Mok
15:40 Brynle Barrett
16:00 Invited Speaker: Dr. Tzahi Yavin
16:40 Presenting the Award
17:00 Closing, Election results
Talks are 15+5 minutes and 35+5 minutes long.
About the Woolly Spider Monkey (Other name: Muriquis)
Muriquis have gray, yellow or brown fur; a heavy body; and long limbs. The southern muriqui has a black face, while the northern species’ face is individually mottled. They can weigh up to 15 kg (33 lb). Found in the remnants of the Atlantic coastal forest in Brazil, muriquis are arboreal and diurnal and eat mostly leaves, fruit and flowers. They are able to utilize secondary as well as primary forest. Troops of muriquis have been observed to include from 8 – 43 individuals. They generally contain approximately equal numbers of adult males and adult females. Immature females emigrate from the troop in which they were born in search of a neighboring troop to join. Males remain with their natal troop and reproduce there. There is very little aggression among group members and they are not territorial. A single young is usually born during the dry season (May – September). The range of muriquis may originally have included all Atlantic coastal forests of eastern and southeastern Brazil. Currently, both species are found in highly fragmented subpopulations with low density. The distributions of the two muriqui species do not overlap. B. arachnoides is the southern species, occurring in the states of Sao Paulo and Parana, and B. hypoxanthus is the northern species, in the states of Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, and, at least formerly, Bahia. The two species seem to be separated by the Serra da Mantiqueira which extends east-west in the south of Minas Gerais. Reasons for the decline of the muriquis include hunting for food by local natives, the use of infants as pets, and habitat loss due to clearing of forests for agriculture and human habitation. Currently, the major threats are commercial logging in privately owned forests and illegal hunting in federally or state-owned forests .
Source: animalinfo