Achievement

GLOBES-IGERT trainee Patrick Shirey was invited to write a commentary for the journal Nature as a result of presenting his research last August at the Ecological Society of America meeting in Pittsburgh. In a paper that appeared in the Jan 27, 2011 edition, Shirey and co-author GLOBES faculty advisor Gary Lamberti issued a call for better regulation of commercial trade of rare and endangered plants. In a search of thousands of websites, the study found that 10% of the plants listed under the US Endangered Species Act could be bought online, with most sold without the required permits for interstate commerce. As a follow-up to the Nature commentary, Shirey was interviewed for NPR's "All Things Considered" on Feb. 7, bringing more attention to the need for better regulation and enforcement of existing laws in addition to addressing state law discrepancies. Shirey credited the communications training he received through GLOBES for helping prepare him for the interview session with NPR.