Jim Costa, executive director of the Highlands Biological Station, will close out the Highlands Biological Foundation’s summer Zahner Conservation Lecture Series with a talk titled “The Force of Admiration: Wallace and Darwin on the Evolutionary Trail,” 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4 at the Highlands Nature Center. Costa has long studied the work of naturalists Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, co-founders of evolutionary biology. The lecture will trace the independent development of Wallace’s and Darwin’s evolutionary insights and compare their ideas. Costa will also evaluate the ups and downs of their relationship, evaluating the many conspiracy theories surrounding Darwin’s receiving credit for discovering natural selection instead of Wallace. Costa has authored three books on the subject, including Wallace, Darwin and the Origin of Species, first released this spring.
Costa’s lecture will follow that of William Kimler of N.C. State University, who will give a presentation titled “Amazonian Naturalists, Arts, and the Idea of Tropics” exploring the power of the visual image on popular and scientific understanding, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28 at the Highlands Nature Center.
Free. 828.526.2221 or www.highlandsbiological.org.