Discussion Question 1 (History and Biodiversity pattern and process) comments due October 5th

Given that millions of species are yet to be described and named, how should the limited human and financial resources available for taxonomic research be allocated? Should attention be concentrated on poorly known taxa? Should efforts be directed toward areas threatened with habitat destruction so that species can be collected before they are eliminated? Should major efforts be directed to obtain complete 'all taxa" surveys of selected areas? How and by whom should these decisions be made?

Discussion Question 2 (History and Biodiversity pattern and process) comments due Oct 5th

In the near future it may be possible to identify any species from a small, non-destructive, DNA sample. Given this fact, and the fact that acquiring taxonomic expertise can take a lot of time and work, is the ability to identify and classify species a skill that every conservation biologist should possess?

Discussion Question 3 (History and Biodiversity pattern and process) comments due Oct 5th

What are the factors promoting species richness? Why is biological diversity diminished in particular environments? Why aren't species able to overcome these limitations and undergo the process of speciation?

Automatic loss

From an article in the New York Times yesterday: Trying to Lace Together a Consensus on Biodiversity Across a Global Landscape


“Every degree centigrade the planet warms will lead automatically to a 10 percent loss in known species,” said Ahmed Djoghlaf, the executive secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.

That the most annoying thing I think I've read all week. What is especially irritating is that Ahmed Djoghlaf is a really big cheese at the United Nations. 'Executive secretary' is UN speak for the Director of a program so this guy effectively runs the Convention on Biological Diversity. He's certainly well educated with a PhD in political sciences, a Master of Arts, Government and Politics, a Master of Political Sciences and a Law degree. Okay, I think I see the problem there.

Let's see if we can restate that:

"The unknown future climate changes caused by man's alteration of the global atmosphere will most likely have a dramatic effect on many species distributions and abundances. An unknown number of our known and unknown species may go extinct. This may, or may not, matter to ecosystem function."

To be honest I find this far scarier than the 10% per degree scenario. On the bright side if we do screw up the planet astronomers today identified a planet 120 trillion miles away where "The chances for life on this planet are 100 percent."  Sigh.

Best Environmental Photos of 2010

National Geographic just posted their best environmental photos of 2010.

Check them all out. They're all amazing but here are three that caught my eye.

Thousands of Munk's devil rays crowd the Sea of Cortez off Mexico's Baja California Sur state. The aerial image won top honors and the "Underwater World" category in the 2010 Environmental Photographer of the Year awards.

German photographer Florian Schulz said the scope of the ray congregations was unknown until he and a pilot happened upon the gathering while searching for migrating whales.

Perhaps just as rare is the composition Schulz captured. "I was able to show how these rays are jumping out of the water," he said, "and at the same time I'm able to show—almost like an underwater photograph—how there're layers and layers and layers of rays."

Like a soothsayer with a crystal ball, a fly rubs a bead of water in the backyard of Bulgarian photographer Radoslav Radoslavov Valkov, winner of the "Under 21" category of the 2010 Young Environmental Photographer of the Year award.




A green pit viper eyes a hummingbird in Hungarian photographer Bence Mate's winning picture. 

Lab opportunity

Tom Smith, a grad student in  in Cherie Brigg's lab is looking for a couple students to help him sort and ID insects and algae, etc. His project involves describing Sierra Nevada alpine lake communities and their response to extinction of endemic frogs.

Contact Tom directly if you are interested.

Why there are no hyenas in Europe

Wherever possible I like to add links to papers that discuss topics we cover in class. The reason for this is that you can see just how people go about some of the studies I mention.

In the first class I mentioned the impact of early humans on Pleistocene faunas around the world. A paper in Quaternary Science Reviews by Sara Varela et al. last month looked whether changing climate alone could explain the disappearance of hyenas from Europe.

Were the Late Pleistocene climatic changes responsible for the disappearance of the European spotted hyena populations? Hindcasting a species geographic distribution across time 

Climatic conditions in Southern Europe during the Late Pleistocene remained within the spotted hyena climatic tolerance. Hence, climate changes could have directly affected the Northern distribution of the species during the last glaciations. However, climate change alone is not sufficient to have caused the disappearance of the spotted hyena populations in Southern Europe. That is, other factors, such as prey abundance or human ecological impacts, in addition to climatic change, are needed to completely account for extinction of the European spotted hyena.

Tiny Frog and Sea Slugs

The posts of the new species of frog and sea slug inspired me to share my own story. 

I love sea slugs, especially Nudibranchs. While I was in Hawaii over the summer, I trekked down to the Olivine Pools, where I found Haminoea cymbalum, a species of sea slug common to the coastline of Maui. 

I highly recommend visiting Maui. The Haleakalā volcano is spectacular at sunrise. There are many hikes and exciting places to explore on land and in the water. I was scuba certified on Maui, possibly the most amazing experience of my life! There are fairly descent places to go snorkeling and scuba diving on Maui, and the Hawaiian Islands in general. If you stick to the beach resorts and touristy places, Maui isn't that exciting, but once you get off the beaten path it is a lot more interesting. This summer I went with my family and my friend who is studying geology. I am interested in marine biology. It was an educational experience for my parents because my friend and I would not shut up about everything we knew about the geology and biology of Maui. 


Here is a photo of the Olivine Pools where I found Haminoea cymbalum. This picture was taken at the top of  cliff we climbed down to get to the Olivine Pools. At the top there is a rock with a rope tied around it that we had to slide out to and grab a hold of to swing down to a shaky ladder that went down to a landing of boulders. From there you have to navigate through the boulders to the pools. The drop from the top of the cliff to the pools is probably hundreds of feet. 








It is awesome that a UCSB Marine Scientist found a new species of sea slug. It would be a dream come true to discover something like that. 



Also while in Hawaii, on the road to Hana we stopped at the Hana Lava Tube. If you are interested in geology it is pretty spectacular, but not a whole lot of life in the cave. At least not in the "designated tour area." There is a spot along the tour where lava had erupted out of the tube to the surface and in that area light shines down into the tube. There is a small patch where ferns can grow in the lava rock. While I was looking at the ferns something tiny jumped past my line of sight. I spotted and caught it and to my surprise it was a tiny frog. It does not appear to be an adult and will probably grow more. So, it is not the smallest frog ever, but it was only 5mm long. The smallest adult frog on record is 9.8mm long. Here is a picture of the frog on my thumb. Cute isn't it?

Megan Walsh

Tidepooling

I've posted this before on a different blog but in case any of you are new to the Santa Barbara coast here are some of my favorite tidepooling sites - from easy to adventurous and, at the end, the best local tidepooling website.

Campus point is a very convenient place to see some nice intertidal species and some good zonation. What it lacks is some good tidepools where you can spend a whole day hunting for those more elusive creatures - sea hares, nudibranchs (pictured is the Spanish Shawl nudibranch, Flabellina iodinea), octopus etc.

Any tide below 0 is sufficient to reveal interesting tidepools and critters and with lows in the negative range the viewing is probably good for an hour or two before and after low tide. You can pick up printed tide tables at bait shops, boat supply places etc or access them online (there are apps for your phone and gadgets/widgets for pc's and apples ) or use Saltwater Tides.

There are several good local spots for tidepooling. Some require a bit of planning but all are accessible by bike and you should check them all out.

Devereux Point (Coal Oil Point) and the area between there and IV is the most convenient spot for most of you. The point itself has some decent sized rocks and is easy to get to from campus. Straight down Del Playa and keep going on the path along the bluffs when DP runs out. Or just follow the surfers. The flat area of rock that is exposed at a low tide between Coal Oil Point and IV is good for tidepooling.

A better spot is the reef between Elwood Bluffs and Haskell's Beach (now better known as the beach by the Bacara resort). For a weekend outing you could cycle (or drive) west on Hollister until just before it crosses the railway and ends at the Freeway. Take the well signposted turn to Bacara resort. Go about half a mile down here to the public parking lot (free). You can leave your bike here and walk a hundred meters down to the beach. Turn left (East) and at a low tide you can walk for miles, largely in solitude heading back towards campus. The tidepools start getting really good just past the two stubby piers you can see and keep getting better and better. If you get a friend to drop you off you could walk all the way back to campus. I think it would be about 4 miles from Bacara back to campus, less to IV.

Or for a summer adventure check out the Naples coast. Follow the instructions above to Haskells beach at the Bacara resort but head West on the beach (ie turn right away from campus). You'll go past the prominent pier used to ferry workers to and from the oil platforms. Then past a pleasant beach with, as you will see, the appropriate name Driftwoods. There's a surf break here so you'll see the odd surfer. As you leave this beach you may not see anyone again for several hours because there is no further public access until you get to El Capitan State Beach. At a low tide there is then several miles of fabulous tidepooling. You'll also see lots of seals, cormorants and other critters. About 3 miles from Bacara you'll come to Dos Pueblos Canyon, with a somewhat incongruous trailer almost on the beach. (It's actually nicer than it sounds and I believe they hold weddings on this private beach). That's a good point to turn around if you don't want to get cut off by the tide! You need to time this one right, I usually hit the oil pier by Bacara about an hour and a half before low tide and turn around at low tide (assuming a -1 low, which is rare). It's 3 miles from Bacara to Dos Pueblos Canyon and more like 7 from Bacara to El Capitan

You can find some maps of this part of the coast at the SaveNaples website (scroll down this document for cool aerial photographs/maps). This beautiful part of the Gaviota coast is under imminent threat of development although it looks like the current financial situation has both affected the developer and reduced demand for the proposed luxury homes.

Let us know what you find, or better, post some pictures. There's a really nice tide pool website at Santa Barbara City College with a great many of the beautiful pictures taken right by UCSB campus so these are the plants and animals you will see. Check out the 'Treasures' page. These are some of the organisms you might catch sight of.

Party

CCBER (The Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration) and Coastal Fund will be hosting a celebration of the new Lagoon  interpretive signs near the UCEN with a PARTY!

Friday October 1, 12-2pm  CCBER and Coastal Fund will be sharing information about coastal restoration intern opportunities adjacent to the 4 new signs by the lagoon shore!  Food and Drinks will be available!