Iowa State University professor to speak at Indian Hills Oct. 11

OTTUMWA ? Dr. Diane Debinski, a professor in the department of ecology, evolution and organismal biology at Iowa State University, will discuss ?Prairie Restoration: Putting the Pieces Back Together to Achieve a Functioning Ecosystem? at the annual Borlaug Fall Seminar at Indian Hills Community College Oct. 11. Debinski will speak at 7 p.m. in room 5 of the Rural Health Education Center on the college?s Ottumwa campus.

Debinski is interested in the restoration of prairie habitats and the study of montane meadows and climate change.

Debinski?s prairie research has involved studying regal fritillaries, prairie butterflies resembling a monarch, but with a purple tint and large white spots on their hind wings. She has observed them at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge near Prairie City.

Debinski is attempting to re-establish blue prairie violets, which is the only species of plant that is indigenous to Iowa that the regal fritillary?s larvae will eat.

Debinski?s presentation is free and open to the public.

Her visit is sponsored by the Indian Hills Community College Science Club and IHCC?s Department of Arts and Sciences.