Conservation Conversations

“What do California’s intertidal anemones have to do with coral reefs?” with Carly Kenkel Ph.D, Wilford & Daris Zinsmeyer Early Career Chair in Marine Studies and Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Southern California.  

The predicted magnitude of climate change will exceed the current physiological limits of many species. The ability to acclimate, adapt, or migrate could determine species persistence in future oceans, but this response may be further complicated by ecological interactions, such as symbioses, where the fitness of one species is dependent on another. California’s intertidal anemones engage in a symbiosis with dinoflagellate algae, identical to their coral cousins, but unlike coral these anemones can withstand a remarkable range of temperatures without exhibiting visible signs of stress. This talk will discuss how we’re using these local anemone models to better understand capacity and constraints on temperature tolerance in these symbiotic systems and how that information can be applied to conservation management.

“Fascinating Fungi of California’s Chaparral Shrublands” with Stu Pickell, mycologist, acclaimed photographer, and Vice President of the Los Angeles Mycological Society.  

Chaparral is often overlooked as simply the dry and drab backdrop of the Southern California landscape. This is especially true of mycologists and mushroom hunters who have historically focused on woodlands when searching for mushrooms. The resulting underdocumentation represents an enormous gap in our knowledge of the state’s biodiversity and our understanding of the ecology in these plant communities. In this talk Stu Pickell will share the world of fascinating and colorful fungi that one finds in the California’s shrublands after rejecting this sylvan bias, discussing the importance of fungal conservation efforts and the ecological implications of some of his most surprising discoveries.

“Rattling Perceptions: Exploring the Social Lives of Rattlesnakes” with Chelsea Martin, herpetologist, behavioral ecologist, and Ph.D. candidate in Biology at Loma Linda University

Snakes are often perceived as unintelligent and unfeeling creatures. This is especially true for venomous snakes, which are often greatly feared but also greatly misunderstood. Research over the last few decades has revealed that snakes are more behaviorally and socially complex than previously assumed. In this talk, Chelsea Martin will explore the recent discoveries about the behavior and social lives of rattlesnakes that make them more similar to humans than previously assumed.

“Putting Science Behind the Stingray Shuffle and Other Observations with the Round Stingray” with Dr. Benjamin Perlman, full-time lecturer at California State University, Long Beach and principal investigator of the STABB Lab

Around the coastal United States, stingray strikes account for nearly 2,500 emergency room visits on an annual basis, in addition to the several hundreds to thousands of less-serious injuries that do not yield a trip to the hospital. Along California beaches, the Haller’s Round Ray (Urobatis halleri), is responsible for the majority of these interactions, with anywhere between 200 and 400 stingray-related injuries being reported each year from Seal Beach alone. During summer months, round stingrays aggregate in warm, shallow sandy-bottom areas along our coast, often coinciding with beach goers. While stingray strikes are generally non-life threatening, their barbs are capable of inflicting deep lacerations while potentially envenomating the victim. Despite the rate at which these encounters occur and the threat that they pose to public safety, very little is known about the behavior of these stingrays and their tail strike events. We use multiple high-speed cameras and motion tracking software to record and describe the tail strike behavior across the size range of the round stingray. This information, along with other experiments we are conducting in my lab with round stingrays, will provide applications relevant to beach safety.

“A Calendar of Color: The Art and Science of Catalina’s Flora” with Kevin Alison, Native Plant Manager at Catalina Island Conservancy

Artists, photographers, scientists, and nature lovers are drawn to Catalina for its astonishingly colorful beauty. Join us as we discuss the chromatic world of plants on Catalina and celebrate the island’s year-round displays of color.

“The Catalina Island Fox: Endearing Endemics and What We Can Do to Protect Them” with Katie Elder, Wildlife Biologist at Catalina Island Conservancy

Join us as we dive into the fascinating world of the diminutive Channel Island foxes, found exclusively on California’s Channel Islands. This talk will cover the remarkable success stories of recovery programs that saved these unique canids from the brink of extinction and the ongoing efforts of the Catalina Island Conservancy and the broader fox community to ensure their continued health and survival. You’ll gain insights into the unique behaviors of these island endemics, the ongoing threats they face, and the actions we can all take to help protect them

“Ocean Jewels Reborn: White Abalone Conservation and the Power of Partnership” with Johnathan Casey, Curator of Fish and Invertebrates at the Aquarium of the Pacific

“Understanding California’s White Sharks: Research, Safety, and Coexistence” with Dr. Chris Lowe, Director of the Shark Lab at California State University

“The chemical weapons in snake-mammal warfare” with Matt Holding Ph. D postdoctoral research fellow at University of Michigan’s Life Sciences Institute.  

Snake venom evokes both fear and fascination. Venom is a remarkable variable feature among individuals, populations, and species of snakes. I will discuss venom resistance in snake prey as a force of natural selection driving snake venoms to become different over evolutionary time, and highlight how mammals such as squirrels and other rodents have evolved incredible levels of natural resistance to snakebite.  

“Risks and benefits of reintroducing the Island-Scrub Jay to Santa Rosa Island” with James Mouton Ph. D , Ecologist, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.

Island-Scrub Jays are only found on Santa Cruz Island and face numerous threats including more frequent wildfire and infectious disease. Reintroducing Jays to nearby Santa Rosa Island may help make the species more robust to these threats. Here, we evaluate how such a reintroduction might impact the community of birds currently living there through. 

 “Catalina’s Charismatic Herpetofauna” with  Makenzie Henk M.S., Wildlife Biologist, Catalina Island Conservancy.

Santa Catalina Island is home to 12 species of native and non-native amphibians and reptiles. These species make-up an important part of the ecosystem acting as both predators and prey and bio-indicators for ecosystem health. Since the Catalina Island Conservancy was created 50 years ago, there have been only a handful of studies looking at species distribution and abundance across the island. In 2022 and 2023 the Conservancy started new surveys to learn more about these charismatic mini-fauna.

 “Lichen are Fascinating Little Ecosystems” with  Rikke Naesborg Ph.D., Tucker Lichenologist, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

Lichens are everywhere, but they are often overlooked. California hosts around 2000 lichen species, spanning a fantastic array of colors and shapes. Join our foray into these fascinating little ecosystems.

 “Catalina Island Marine Studies” with Karen Norris, Catalina Marine Society

Learn about ongoing and past research by the Catalina Marine Society and how scientific experiments on Catalina Island reveal important oceanographic results applicable to global concerns. This month’s speaker, Karen Norris, will cover these topics and dive into the concepts of ocean acidification and ocean warming to discuss how climate change may directly impact the ecology of Catalina Island waters.

 “Sunflower Sea Stars: Forging a Path to Recovery” with Ashley Kidd, Sunflower Sea Star Lab

It was the epidemic no one ever saw. By 2018, ninety-five percent of sunflower sea stars disappeared off the coast of North America in a staggeringly short 5 years.  After a decade of living in California, the hypnotic kelp forests have compelled Ashley to work towards restoring these ecosystems, and is thrilled to share the story of a sea star that once roamed the nearshore waters off Catalina Island. The last time a sunflower star was observed in Southern California was 2014, and only a handful of  stars have been observed since 2018 in northern California. Ashley looks forward to introducing you to the intrepid community of partners that are working towards a sustainable way to manage the return of sunflower sea stars to restore kelp ecosystems, and the mesmerizing life history of a sea star we didn’t know we didn’t know.

 “California Bumble Bees: Ecology and Conservation” with Leif Richardson, Conservation Biologist, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

As pollinators of native plants, bumble bees play a key role in structuring ecosystems. Wild bumble bees also deliver the ecosystem service of pollination to agricultural crop plants, making them critical to human food production. These bees are negatively impacted by habitat loss, agricultural practices, and climate change, with one-quarter of species native to North America now threatened with extinction. California is a bee biodiversity hotspot, but systematic surveys to document bumble bees have never been performed here. The California Bumble Bee Atlas is a community science collaboration filling this gap, with volunteers gathering non-lethal survey data around the state, identifying species in need of conservation, and assisting partners with recovery efforts. In this talk, we’ll discuss the biology of bumble bees, why they are imperiled, and what you can do to help.

 “Saving Catalina’s Rarest Plants” with Kevin Alison, M.SC., Rare Plant Ecologist, Catalina Island Conservancy

In this talk, Kevin Alison describes the methods used to grow and conserve rare plants on Catalina Island. Kevin will detail challenges threatening the survival of rare plants on the island and how the Conservation team responds with traditional and cutting-edge strategies to ensure these unique plants don’t go extinct.

“Marine Biodiversity of Catalina Island” with David Ginsburg Professor of Environmental Studies University of Southern California

 Catalina Island is home to the Blue Cavern Onshore State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA), which is recognized by California as a marine life refuge. Ginsburg and colleagues recently compiled a checklist of intertidal and subtidal marine macroalgae, seagrasses, invertebrates, and fishes documented from Blue Cavern Onshore SMCA (1,090 total species from 18 taxonomic groups). Among the marine taxa documented, 37 species either have undergone a geographic range shift or were introduced as the result of human activities, while another 4 species are listed as threatened, endangered or critically endangered. These findings provide an important baseline of species richness in the California Channel Islands and will help to improve efforts by resource managers and policy makers to conserve and manage similar habitats in the coastal waters off Southern California. 

“Rare plant conservation on Catalina Island” with Roya Miller, Horticulturist, Catalina Island Conservancy

The Catalina Island Conservancy invests heavily in plant conservation through the three arms of the program: rare plants, restoration, and invasive plant mitigation. This talk will journey through the accomplishments, challenges, and lessons of all three – from propagating Island rush rose, to roadside weed abatement, and landscape level restoration. Conservation Horticulturist, Roya Miller, will provide an overview of her crew’s work in these arenas and discuss the next steps for the plant program.

“Co-existing with the Southern Pacific Rattlesnake on Catalina Island” with William Hayes, Professor of Biology, Loma Linda University

Catalina Island’s population of the Southern Pacific Rattlesnake differs somewhat from those on the mainland, being smaller in size. This follows the standard pattern of evolution on islands. Animals on islands are also usually tamer because fewer predators are present. However, the Southern Pacific Rattlesnakes on Catalina Island vigorously defend themselves from attacks. What causes this unusual behavior? Can we learn to co-exist safely with these important components of Catalina’s unique ecosystems?

“The Rocks of Catalina Island — Messengers from the Abyss” with Paul Asimow, Professor of Geology, California Institute of Technology

Santa Catalina Island offers the chance to see a series of rocks that are at the same time both unique and general — as the best exposures above sea level of the Southern California Inner Borderland terrain and also as preserved examples of the rocks that form wherever and whenever oceanic and continental plates converge. We will review the significance of the major rock types that can be seen around Catalina, their mineralogy, their ages, and the structural relations between them. Then we will put them together into a story of the development and evolution of the West coast of North America over the last 125 million years. 

“Bats of Catalina” with Joseph Curti, Ph.D Student, University of California Los Angeles

Join UCLA researcher Joseph Curti to learn which bats are on Catalina, their ecology and natural history, and what he hopes to learn in his research on Catalina. This will be followed by a look at a short bat film put together by Curti and Aaron Lemle, a film student at UCLA. The film is the story about a young man who goes on a quest to understand the disappearance of bats under a bridge near his house, enlisting a UCLA biologist along the way.

“Shorelines past, present, and future- Gateways to the submerged heritage of humanity” with Lynn Dodd Ph. D, Professor, USC Wrigley Institute

For tens of thousands of years, changing sea levels have submerged coastal villages, work sites, and burial places on Santa Catalina (Pimu) Island, along the California coastline, and globally. The ocean, rivers and lakes of California contain more traces of human history than all its museums combined. With this awareness, the enormous implications of changing sea levels for coastal planning, land use, tourism, recreation, and development are coming into sharp focus. In this time together, we’ll investigate what we know now about ancient or paleo-shorelines in Catalina and California, how this island has–and hasn’t–changed, and what we can learn about our human past and future by looking closely at Santa Catalina island on the easternmost edge of the great Pacific Ocean.