2024
Trees: The Superheroes of the Natural World
On Friday 15th of November Dr. Barbara Doyle Prestwich delivered an engaging presentation titled ‘Trees: The Superheroes of the Natural World’ to UCC staff and final-year Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES) students.
On Friday 15th of November Dr. Barbara Doyle Prestwich delivered an engaging presentation titled ‘Trees: The Superheroes of the Natural World’ to UCC staff and final-year Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES) students.
Barbara took the audience on a journey through the history of the UCC Arboretum, explaining its role in the establishment of University College Cork (UCC) and its significance in early medical education. She also highlighted that the UCC Arboretum is Ireland's longest-running tree collection outreach programme, showcasing its importance as an educational resource.
The talk shared the chronological progress of the UCC arboretum, mentioning previous projects like "Tree Explorers," which involved opening the arboretum to the public and beginning tree tours in 2019. The project also developed posters and a UCC arboretum booklet guide. Barbara moved on to emphasise the benefits of urban trees and their connection to Sustainable Development Goals, showcasing how trees positively impact our communities. Barbara also discussed the arboretum's role in biotechnology, including efforts to conserve the endangered Wollemi pine. She highlighted the medicinal properties of trees like Ginkgo biloba and reminded us of trees' cultural significance in Irish placenames.
Barbara then moved on to discuss the Irish Tree Explorers Network (ITEN), which took the resources and educational tools nationwide. She also mentioned recent international projects that ITEN has collaborated on, including the Tree Root Microbiome Project and the Green Legacy Hiroshima initiative. Barbra noted the growing public enthusiasm for tree knowledge, exemplified by Cork City Council's distribution of 25,000 native tree species during national tree week. She concluded by highlighting the policies and ITEN & UCC Arboretum has afforded a myriad of opportunities including influencing policies such a s Cork City Council Draft Biodiversity and Heritage Plan, and Cork City Council Tree Strategy.
For more on this story contact:
The ITEN team
Based at UCC, the team includes Dr Eoin Lettice, Dr Barbara Doyle Prestwich, Emma Hutchinson and Gabriella Chisholm from the School of BEES and Prof. Claire Connolly and Dr. Claire Nolan from the School of English and Digital Humanities.
To keep up with project news and updates, follow iten_ucc on Twitter and the Irish Tree Explorers Network on Facebook, Instgram and LinkedIn.