ESRM Lecture Series

Dr. Michael Dawson explores the evolutionary consequences of critters (particularly jellyfish) constrained to limited spaces such as the Marine Lakes of Palau. Dr. Dawson explores the biogeography of marine provinces and asks whether terrestrial theory applies to our marine realm. Along the way we get a wonderful overview of forces popularly thought to influence evolution and speciation as well as an introduction to the fantastic "jellyfish lakes" of Palau.

Here we do a quick demonstration of the capacity of the Eco Healer Storm Drain Filter Media to clean-up contaminated runoff. This exploration of stormdrain water imporvements is part of our ongoing efforts to make CSUCI a more sustainable campus.

How is the National Park Service interpreting Climate Change across all the varied cultural and natural units that comprise the Park System?

Dr. Jan Frouz from Charles University's Institute for Environmental Studies (Prague, Czech Republic) discusses his long-term work in the restoration of degraded terrestrial systems. Here Dr. Frouz contrasts the performance former mining sites which were left as is (i.e. "passive" or "natural" restoration) or "reclaimed" (i.e. partially restored via vegetation or soil tillage). His work spans much of the United States and eastern Europe. He concludes with an exploration of heathland restoration in the Netherlands. Central themes in Dr. Frouz's work are the role of soil infauna (especially earthworms) and the importance of understanding the soil evolution/community development pathways.

A third dry winter has led to extreme drought conditions across much of Southern California, which led to a recent Statewide drought declaration by the Governor. Vegetation fuel moisture levels are some of the driest we have ever seen in recent history, especially in Ventura County. As a result, the duration and severity of wildfire season will potentially be greater if sufficient late season rains do not materialize. In this presentation, Dave Gomberg from the National Weather Service in Oxnard will be teaming up with Captain Brendan Ripley of Ventura County Fire to review the Springs Fire from 2013 and potential fire weather concerns in the year ahead. They will also discuss the importance of fire weather services and partnerships in helping to assist critical agency decision making as well as minimizing the potential loss of life and property. Brendan's talk was the second half of this dual presentation.

A third dry winter has led to extreme drought conditions across much of Southern California, which led to a recent Statewide drought declaration by the Governor. Vegetation fuel moisture levels are some of the driest we have ever seen in recent history, especially in Ventura County. As a result, the duration and severity of wildfire season will potentially be greater if sufficient late season rains do not materialize. In this presentation, Dave Gomberg from the National Weather Service in Oxnard will be teaming up with Captain Brendan Ripley of Ventura County Fire to review the Springs Fire from 2013 and potential fire weather concerns in the year ahead. They will also discuss the importance of fire weather services and partnerships in helping to assist critical agency decision making as well as minimizing the potential loss of life and property. David's talk was the first half of this dual presentation.

This is an overview of sustainable agriculture generally and of agricultural activity in Ventura County specifically. Dr. Hayden-Smith from UC Cooperative Extension gives us a wonderful overview of the concepts underlying a sustainable food system. She covers a wide variety of agricultural production including new crops now being grown here in Ventura County, the 10th most productive agricultural county in the United States.

In this Spring 2012 departmental seminar, Dr. Josip Kusak from Zagreb University summarizes his research over the past two decades on carnivores in Croatia and the surrounding Balkans in eastern Europe. Here Josip describes both the evolution his work as well as the specific lessons learned about wolf and bear behavior before and after major human modification of their landscape (via new road construction). He also begins with a brief introduction to Croatia and ends with a brief summary of our recent collaborative work tracking wolves in eastern Turkey.

Marine spatial planning, such as the design of marine protected areas or renewable energy sites, requires the use of decision support tools for visualizing, analyzing and modeling geospatial information. Historically, these tools have been designed for those with specialized knowledge of geographic information systems (GIS) and not the average stakeholder - average folks with little or no technical background. Tools that can be used by anyone, regardless of their technical ability, will increase buy-in, transparency, and efficiency in planning. Furthermore, web-based decision support tools can be developed to facilitate communication and collaboration amongst disparate stakeholders and encourage participation by more users over a broader geographic region. “GeoDesign” is a term used to describe an iterative process of sketching spatial plans (e.g., prospective marine protected area designs) and receiving immediate feedback on the potential consequences of those designs (e.g., ecosystem protection, economic impacts, etc.). I will argue that web-based applications aimed at stakeholders should implement a collaborative GeoDesign work-flow that allows users to explore full range of options, share and promote prospective designs with other users, and evaluate alternatives using a common, science-based framework. MarineMap and SeaSketch are two web-based applications developed for collaborative GeoDesign. MarineMap, based on open source technologies, is a highly successful tool used by stakeholders for marine spatial planning along the West Coast of the United States. SeaSketch, based on a combination of open-source and ESRI technologies, is a “next-generation” marine spatial planning tool scheduled for use by the New Zealand Department of Conservation in July of this year. I will present the essential features of these tools and illustrate how web-based GeoDesign technologies will transform how citizens are engaged in and ultimately responsible for how ocean space is used and managed.

Author Robert Wagner will bring this semester’s series to close on April 26th with Moby-Dick and the Mythology of Oil. Wagner uses the lens of Herman Melville’s masterpiece and the whaling industry of the 19th century to explore both the nature of industrialism and the growing exploitation of our planet’s the ecosystems. Wagner earned his Ph.D. in Mythological Studies from the Pacifica Graduate Institute. He is a Wall Street banker who has worked in financing for the oil industry both in Houston and now from Westlake Village.

One of the world’s top ornithologists will join us on April 19th to discuss The Future of the World’s Birds in the 21st Century. Dr. Çağan Şekercioğlu of the University of Utah is a leading authority on both bird extinctions and our efforts to recover increasingly rare species. Şekercioğlu earned his Ph.D. in Conservation Biology from Stanford University, where he explored how birds respond to remnant forest fragments in the Costa Rican countryside. Şekercioğlu is the founder and President of the conservation NGO KuzeyDoğa Derneği in his native Turkey. He is establishing a network of bird banding stations across the globe to better document the response of migratory birds to climate change.

Food and our relation to it will be in focus on April 5th with Kitchen Literacy: Forgetting And Remembering Where Our Food Comes From. Historian Ann Vileisis will explore how our perceptions of food have morphed over the decades as events large and small have brought commercial agriculture to its dominant role in American and across the globe. Ms. Vileisis has a master’s degree in history from the University of Utah. Her 1997 book, Discovering the Unknown Landscape: A History of America’s Wetlands, won both the Herbert Feis Award from the American Historical Association and the George Perkins Marsh Prize from the American Society for Environmental History.

Mr. Chris Stanfield will bring us up to speed on Green Tech: Networking and Control Technologies in Energy Saving Applications. As the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Silicon Valley’s Echelon Corporation, Stanfield has been a key member in the rise of one of the world’s leading computer control companies. After obtaining his MBA from USC, Stanfield worked for both Ford Motor Company and the pioneering Silicon Valley telecommunications company ROLM. He left ROLM to join Echelon Corporation in 1989. Echelon’s LonWorks energy management technology is now installed in more than 27 million residential smart meters across Italy, used by industries large and small across the globe, and has been lauded by leaders from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Stanfield will discuss the current state of energy management technology and the role of high tech companies in boosting energy efficiency.

Next, Dr. Kevin Lafferty of the US Geological Survey and UC Santa Barbara will explain his wide-ranging research exploring the deep interrelations between Parasites and Ecosystems on February 22nd. Lafferty is both a parasitologist and an ecologist who has studied parasites from aquatic to marine systems and worked to conserve rare and endangered species around the world. Lafferty and his students are leading advocates for using parasites to explore the health and functioning of our ecosystems far a wide. Lafferty is the Henry Baldwin Ward winner from the American Society of Parasitologists.

We kick the series off on February 8th with an exploration of the state of our local fisheries and the men and women who land them at our docks. Ms. Stephanie Munz from the Commercial Fishermen of Santa Barbara will tell us How To Know Our Fishermen at our first seminar. Munz is a commercial urchin diver working out of Santa Barbara Harbor. She holds a master’s degree in Marine Science from Australia’s James Cook University and is the research coordinator for the Commercial Fishermen of Santa Barbara. She is also a member of the California Sustainable Seafood Initiative charged by the State of California with creating a new sustainable seafood certification program for fish sold in our state.

The Future of Ocean National Parks as They Endure Fishing and Face Global Change

Author and editor Dan Koeppel has discovered the banana that we all know and love, the Cavendish, is rapidly becoming infected with an unstoppable disease, which threatens to wipe out not only whole crops but whole economies. How and why this is happening and what can be done about it, is the core narrative of his book Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World. More than just a food history, Dan's book transverses the globe, modern genetics, and past and present political struggles in a fast-paced narrative that reads more like a travelogue than a textbook. From genetic research labs in Belgium to plantations in the Philippines, to the creation of banana republics of Central America, to the banana (not the apple) as the most likely fruit in the biblical story of Adam and Eve, Koeppel weaves a rich story, where all these seemingly disconnected pieces come together. His work is a remarkable piece of journalism. Anyone interested in the politics and social history of food, or for those just bananas about bananas will appreciate it and this talk.