Science Outreach - Athabasca Book Talk—The Ecological Buffalo: On the Trail of a Keystone Species

Location: Athabasca University Governing Council Chambers, 1 University Drive, Athabasca, Alta.

Once numbering in the tens of millions, these magnificent creatures played a significant role in the varied ecosystems they occupied, and North American Indigenous Peoples depended upon them.

With the arrival of Europeans, the buffalo were all but exterminated, along with their millennia-old intricate food webs and inner-species relationships. Despite a brush with extinction, the buffalo survived, and are slowly recovering. Alongside this recovery, the relationships once shared with thousands of species are being re-established in a remarkable process of ecological healing.

Based on Wes Olson’s 35 years of working intimately with bison—and featuring Johane Janelle’s stunning photography—The Ecological Buffalo takes a journey through the myriad connections
this keystone species has with the Great Plains.

Books will be available for purchase via e-transfer or cash.