Please join Point Reyes National Seashore staff for Science Lectures, 45 minute presentations on scientific research being performed at Point Reyes and elsewhere in the California. Science Lectures are sponsored by the Pacific Coast Science and Learning Center at Point Reyes National Seashore. They usually occur at noon on many Thursdays throughout the year and are normally held at the Red Barn Classroom at Point Reyes National Seashore's Headquarters. All are welcome and admission is free.
Visit our Science Lectures page to learn about upcoming lectures.
Some of our Brown Bag Lectures in 2011 included:
Date: Thursday, March 31, 2011
Title: "Leatherback Sea Turtles In Northern California: Biology, Ecology, and Conservation Challenges"
Presenter: Dr. Christopher Pincetich, Marine Biologist, Sea Turtle Restoration Project
Date: Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Title: "Sediment, channel form, and habitat for salmonids in the Lagunitas Creek watershed"
Presenter: Dr. Matthew Cover, Assistant Professor, California State University, Stanislaus
Date: Thursday, July 14, 2011
Title: "Training villagers in sign planning and construction at the MBOMIPA Wildlife Management Area in Tanzania, Africa"
Presenter: Deb Lusk, Point Reyes National Seashore Sign Shop Manager
Date: Thursday, August 25, 2011
Note: This Lunchtime Science Talk was cancelled.
Title: "An Approach for Park Managers to Identify Areas of Recreation-Wildlife Conflict: A Tule Elk Case Study"
Presenter: Christopher Moi, Sequoia Riverlands Trust
Date: Thursday, September 1, 2011
Title: "Un-Discovering Wilderness: Protecting Traditional Resource Rights in National Parks"
Presenter: Fernando Villalba, Biologist, NPS - Eugene O'Neill NHS, John Muir NHS, Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front NHP, and Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial
Summary: Using case studies from National Park Service sites and their Native American partners, Fernando will discuss the importance of considering Traditional Resource Rights and intellectual rights when seeking the application of Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Native peoples. He will also talk about significance of building trusting relationships and collaborating with traditionally associated Tribes.
Date: Thursday, September 8, 2011
Title: "The dynamics of an exotic pathogen in a native forest: pitch canker in pines"
Presenter: Dr. Thomas Gordon, Professor, UC Davis
Date: Thursday, October 13, 2011
Title: "Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment for Point Reyes National Seashore"
Presenter: Sarah O. Hameed, Jill H. Baty, Katie A. Holzer, and Angela N. Doerr - UC Davis
Date: Thursday, October 6, 2011
Title: "Zambian Wildlife: Lions, leopards, and spitting cobras"
Presenter: Dr. Gary Fellers - USGS
Date: Thursday, October 27, 2011
Title: "The Manila Galleon San Felipe, 1576"
Presenter: Edward Von der Porten - Naval historian, nautical archaeologist, museum director, and educator
Summary: A slide series tells the San Felipe's saga, shows how she was rediscovered, and describes the contents and meaning of her recovered porcelains and other artifacts. Our ten Mexico-United States expeditions from 1999 to 2011 to a wreck site along the desert shore of Baja California, and study of newly available documents, have enabled us to reconstruct the story of the earliest eastbound Manila galleon shipwreck. The results include identifying the ship as the galleon San Felipe, lost without trace in 1576, recovering her history, and explaining her tragic fate. We have discovered lead sheathing with iron nails from her lower hull, large amounts of wax from her cargo, more than fifteen hundred Ming porcelain and stoneware sherds, a piece of Iberian pottery, a set of compass gimbals, a Chinese bronze mirror, the ship's boat's sounding lead, a Chinese bronze buddhist lion on an incense burner, and a unique cloisonné plate rim. In addition, we have gained a remarkable insight into the Chinese-Philippine-Mexican trade at this early point in the history of the Manila galleons (1573-1815) and developed a bilingual traveling museum exhibit titled "Treasures of the Manila Galleons," which uses material from the wreck to reach a wide range of audiences.
Date: Tuesday, November 8 (Noon - 2 p.m.)Title: "Marine Protected Areas (MPA) Education and Outreach Training"
Sponsor: Presented by the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary Foundation
Summary: This basic overview of MPA science, monitoring, and outreach is intended for volunteers and other interested partners who would like to improve their ability to communicate MPA science and objectives to the public.
Date: Thursday, November 17, 2011 - was originally scheduled for December 8
Title: "Antarctic Toothfish and the Ross Sea"
Presenter: Cassandra Brooks, News Director for the The Last Ocean Project
Date: Thursday, December 1, 2011
Title: "The changing California coast: relationships between climatic variables and coastal vegetation succession"
Presenter: NASA Ames Research Center Interns
Summary: The central California coast is characterized by a precipitation gradient from the relatively wetter and cooler north to the drier and warmer south. The primary objective of this project was to determine if vegetation succession rates are changing for the study area and to identify climatic variables associated with succession, specifically the transition among grassland, shrubland, and forest. To identify vegetation types and rates of succession, we classified two Landsat TM 5 scenes from 1985 to 2010 with a resulting overall accuracy of 82.4%. Vegetation succession was correlated to changes in maximum and minimum temperatures and precipitation. Fog frequency was then compared between the northern and southern regions of the study area for determining the spatial relation between fog frequency and the percent of vegetation change.
For more information about the Brown Bag Lectures, contact Ben Becker at 415-464-5187 by email.