Talk History

Feb 17

Neil Havlick & Doug Drynan — Carrizo Plain NM

Mike Harris — Recovery of Southern Sea Otters

Kyle Nessen — Trees of SLO

Steve Schubert — Morro Rock Peregrine Falcon Recovery

Steve Hendricks — Restoration of the Piedras Blancas ONA

Pat Brown — Restoration of the Elfin Forest

Heather Liwanag — Recovery of Northern Elephant Seals

40th Anniversary!

Oct 28

Kyle Nessen — Wind resilience in overwintering monarch butterflies

Cindy Roessler — Bumblebees of the Central Coast

Apr 7

Emily Taylor — Lizards in Wonderland: California's Bounty of Scaly, 4-legged Life

Max Roberts — Spying on Sunbathers: Investigating Environmental Tradeoffs in Rattlesnake behavior

Owen Bachhuber — A Snakey Community: Interactions of Reptile Sociality Research and Outreach

Feb 10

Dave Hacker — From Recent Abundance to Present Obscurity: the History, Current Status, and Management of Pronghorn in the Carrizo Plains

Scott Appleby — Giant Kangaroo Rats on the Carrizo Plain: Cutesy, Demure Ecosystem Engineers Under Pressure

Nov 4

Bill Hass — Bats of the Central Coast

Sarah Jennings & Eva Moylan — Assessing responses of North American bird populations to long-term anthropogenic and environmental change

Apr 29

Susan Lema — The Pupfishes of Death Valley: Life at the Extremes

Erin Johnston — 17 Years of Collaborative Fisheries Research in Central CA

Feb 8

Cooper Lienhart — Beavers: Creating a wetter and more resilient Central Coast

Meredith Hardy — Improve, Restore and Don't Give Up! Steelhead Habitat

Feb 18

Heather Liwang — Studying Elephant Seals at Piedras Blancas

Kate Riordan — Are Sea Otter Pups More Vulnerable to Oiling than Adults?

COVID hiatus began - meetings resumed in February 2024

Oct 22

Freddy Otte — Pacific Lamprey Return to San Luis Obispo

Ethan Bell — Addressing Ecological Impacts of Dams

May 14

Nishi Rajakaruna — Serpentine: A model habitat for ecological, evolutionary, and applied research

Kristen Nelson & Terra Verde — Serpentine Endemism in San Luis Obispo County

Feb 26

Jessica Griffiths — The Mysteries of Monarch Migration

Ashley Fisher — Modeling Monarch Migration

Oct 23

Laurie McConnico — From Crypto to Micro-Rodolith Algae

Silvio Favoreto — Slime Mold Prevalence on Eelgrass in Morro Bay

May 8

Jeff Ebner — Using Mapping to Look at Landscapes with New Eyes

Marc Horney — Applications of drones/UAVs for wildlife monitoring: General principles and current Cal Poly projects

Feb 27

Luis Burgos — Hot in Here -- Thermal tolerance of Western Fence Lizards

Hayley Crowell — Rattlesnake thermal ecology

Nov 2

Erin Aiello — Understanding the Decline of the Morro Bay Eelgrass Population and Assessing the Suitability of Locations for its Restoration

Kyle Nessen — Ecological Applications of Drone Technology

May 11

Julia Harencar — The Birds and the Genes: Investigating the Consequences of Morro Bay Eelgrass Loss

George Trevelyan — Farming Between the Tides: Oysters in Morro Bay

Feb 16

Dylan Gomes — Sensory Disturbances: Bats Foraging Under Noisy Conditions

Alissa Petrelli — Soundscapes and their Influence on Wild Birds and Human Well-being

Oct 27

Trevor Ruppert — Thermal Ecology of the Common Chuckwalla

Ron Ruppert — CA Gila Monsters: Natural History and Status

Apr 21

Jason Johns — Lean in a Southern Hemisphere Conifer, Araucaria columnaris

Lindsay Whitaker — Botanical Conservation at the Guadalupe Dunes: An experiment on invasive veldt grass

Feb 11

Sara Weinstein — Wormy Wildlife: Local wildlife parasites with a particular emphasis on the raccoon roundworm

30th Anniversary Celebration

Oct 22

Dave Johnston — Bat Conservation in the Central California Coast: A Review of the Species and Emerging Challenges

John Roser — The Brant of Morro Bay: Past, Present, and Future

May 14

Heather Price — Bryozoans: A Look at the Fascinating Lives of the Mossy Animals

Ian Robbins — Ocean Observing on the Central Coast

Feb 12

Pete Raimondi — Overview of Seastar Wasting Along the West Coast of North America

Jen Nix — Eelgrass Wasting Disease

Oct 23

Ben Ruttenberg — Fear, Loathing, and Monitoring in the Caribbean: Maintaining Optimism in an Ecosystem in Decline

Crow White — High Seas Fisheries

May 8

Jen Yost — Speciation in Plants

Steve Schubert — Fire Ecology in SLO County...the '94 Hwy. 41 Fire, the '96 Hwy 58 Fire and the '97 and 2012 Montana de Oro Fires

Feb 6

John Perrine — Camera Stations in Student Wildlife Research: Making Connections while Reducing Collisions

Clinton Francis — How Noisy Humans Impact Wildlife: Changes in the Perceptual Environment Unravel Ecosystems

Oct 10

Mark Capelli — Steelhead Recovery Plan of the South-Central California Coast

Mark Capelli — History of the Steelhead Fishery of the Santa Ynez River

Apr 25

Chris Kitts — Using Microbial Tracking to Identify the Source of E. coli Contamination in San Luis Creek

Jared Ervin — The Source Identification Protocol Project (SIPP) and Microbial Source Tracking at Arroyo Burro Beach, Santa Barbara

Feb 21

Stacy Enoch & Aurianna Woodson — Managing Special Status Species on Military Lands: National Guard, Camp Roberts and Camp SLO

Arthur Hazebrook — Bridging the Gap Between the Environment and Military Training at Fort Hunter Liggett

Oct 25

Melissa Miller — A Status Update on the California Sea Otter and the Land-Sea Connection

Joe Burnett — The Condors of California's Central Coast: Status and Current Threats

Apr 19

Gita Kolluru — The Need for Speed: Burrowing Behavior in Pacific Sand Crabs (Emerita analoga)

Kristin Hardy — Life in a Hypoxic Ocean: How Changing Oxygen Conditions Influence Crab Anatomy and Behavior

Feb 16

Ed Himelblau — Learn by Doing Laboratory and Teacher Preparation at Cal Poly

Anne Marie Bergen — Connect, Engage, Inspire---Building a Science Educational Community

Oct 27

Cameron Shields — The Science behind Corneal Transplantation

Larry Shields — Trends in Maternal Mortality in California

May 5

Peggy Coon — Staying Alive: Butterfly Characteristics, Survival Behaviors and Adaptations

Jessica Griffiths — Monarch Butterflies: The royalty of the Butterfly World

Feb 3

John Perrine — Ghost in the Sierra: Ecology and Management of the Endangered Sierra Nevada Red Fox

Lisa Drake — Island Fox: Road to Recovery

Oct 28

Todd Alan Hagobian — Will Exercise Make You Thin?

Jason Blank — Hypergravity Exercise Training/Human-Powered Centrifuge

May 13

David Keil — Wildflowers and Open Spaces of San Luis Obispo

Matt Ritter — Trees in California

Feb 18

Emily Taylor — Suck it To Me: The Host-Parasite Relationship of the Western Fence Lizard and Western Black-legged Tick

Tony Frazier — Natural History of the Northern Pacific Rattlesnake on the California Central Coast

Oct 15

Dean Wendt — Introduction to SLOSEA

Grant Waltz — Effects of Visitation on Rocky Intertidal Communities

Lisa Needles — Scale Dependent Controls of Community Invasion and Formation in Marine Fouling Communities

Sarah Johnson — The Ubiquitous Distribution of Alkylphenols: the Next Emerging Wave of Contaminants along Coastal Waters

Mar 19

Salvador Jorgensen — Central California White Sharks: A Tale of Fidelity, Homing and Population Isolation

Steven Wilson — Electronic Tagging Reveals Population Structure and Migrations of Giant Bluefin Tuna

Oct 30

Lars Tomanek — Biochemical Adaptations of Marine Organisms

Laurie McConnico — Algal Hotspots in Warm Waters....Tales of Travel, Sun, Diving, Mobile Seaweeds, Cryptofauna and Much More

Apr 17

Nikki Adams — Sea Urchins and Sunlight: Sunburns to Sunscreen

Grace Goschke & Sarah Strickler — Checking on Cellular Damage in Sea Urchin Embryos

Joseph Campanale — The Sea Urchin Embryo: A Sea of Proteins

Sarah Gravem — Some for Me, Some for My Larvae: Sunscreen Allocation by Purple Sea Urchins

Feb 21

Michael Caterino — The Diversity of California Beetles

Scott Jefferys — Colony Collapse Syndrome in Honey Bees

Oct 18

Freddy Otte — Natural Resources Program of the City of SLO

David A Kisner — The Effect of Arundo donax on Sensitive Riparian Birds in Southern California

Apr 19

Bob Stafford — Resource Assessment and Research at the Carrizo Plain Ecological Reserve

Jen Moonjian — Current Distribution and Dietary Diversity of San Joaquin Kit Fox in SLO County

Feb 15

Debra Stakes — Highlights of the 2003 ROV Tiburon Exploration of the Guaymas Hot Vents, Gulf of California

Noah Doughty — USS Macon: a Deep-water Archeological Survey of a USS Navy Dirigible

Oct 26

Charlene Ng & Don Weston — Tracking the Source of Pyrethroid Pesticides in both Urban and Agricultural Creeks

Christopher Rose — Monitoring Results for E. coli in the Lower Salinas River Watershed

Apr 6

Students of Mark Moline, Cal Poly — Short talks on Marine Biology: Cells to Swells - Marine Phytoplankton Across Scales

Feb 9

Darwin Long & Henry Pontarelli — Common Loons of Morro Bay

20th Year Celebration

Oct 20

Sam Sweet — Management of Endangered Amphibians

David Pilliod — Conservation Biology of Amphibians

Apr 14

Dean Wendt & Students — Marine Biology at Cal Poly

Feb 17

Julie Schneider — CA Red-legged Frogs of Guadalupe Dunes

Scott Kimura — Are We Loving Our Tidepools to Death?

Oct 21

Rich Little — West Nile Virus

Marc Lea — Invasive Weeds in SLO County

May 6

Nancy Dalman — Toxin Defense Mechanisms in Mussels

Greg Smith — Recreation & Western Snowy Plover Habitat

Feb 5

Gregor Cailliet — Elasmobranch Fishes and the Shark Research Center

Gregor Cailliet — Longevity in Deep Sea Fishes

Oct 30

Michele Roest — Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary

Kathryn Karako — Elephant Seals

May 8

Cal Poly Team & Francis Villablanca — Hi Mountain Lookout Research

Feb 20

Howell Thomas — Fossil Pathology

Harry Fierstine — Exceptional Billfish Fossil from the Austrian Tyrol

Nov 7

David Epel — Uncertain World of Sea Orphans (Larvae)

Steve Webster — Coral Bleaching

May 16

Jenny Langford — Restoration of the Former Guadalupe Oilfield

Nancy Marsh — Anaerobic Bacteria at Guadalupe Oilfield

Feb 28

Jack Levy — Butterfly Endemism along the CA Central Coast

Frank Hovore — Rain Beetles in CA

Oct 25

Laird Henkel — Snowy Plovers at Oceano Dunes

Steve Schubert — Peregrine Falcons of Morro Rock

May 17

Deb Wilson — Rockfish Management in California

John Steinbeck — Effects of Power Plant Cooling on Nearshore Fish

Feb 15

Richard Block — Understanding Biodiversity

David Keil — Plant Biodiversity

Oct 19

Melissa Chechowitz — Sea Otter Diseases

Jack Ames — Sea Otter Deaths

Apr 1

Morro Manzanita

Banded Dune Snails in the Morro Bay Ecosystem

Feb 10

Chris Kitts — E. coli in Morro Bay

Matt Oliver — Pacific Oysters and Microbes in Morro Bay

Oct 21

Dave Johnston — Bat Biology

Richard Davis — Fleas, Ticks and Hantavirus

Apr 22

Andy Cohen — Invasive Species in San Francisco Bay

Mike Behrens — Introduced Sea Slug in Morro Bay

Feb 25

Richard Krejsa — Conodonts

Oct 15

Larry Saslaw — Effect of Weeds on Native Animals in Carrizo Plains

Brent Hallock — Monitoring the Morro Bay Watershed

Apr 23

Peggy Rice — Medicinal Plant Compounds

Bret Niedens — Microbial Alternatives to Medicinal Plant Compounds

Feb 5

Dennis Sheridan — Herpetology of the Amazon

Sean McKeown — Herpetology of Islands in the Indian Ocean

Nov 6

Milton Love — Fish Communities of Local Oil Platforms

John Stephens, Jr. — Are the Fish Assemblages of Southern California a Healthy Resource?

Apr 24

Kate Symonds — Conservation of Los Osos Dune Scrub

Deb Hillyard — Managing Monterey Pine; the Hospice Plan

Feb 13

Robert Turbow — Human Newborn Intensive Care

Bonnie Markoff — Veterinary Cardiology

Oct 17

James Harrington — Use of Rapid Bioassessment Protocols for Streams

Mike Fry — Biodiversity Conservation on Private Lands: PG&E

Feb 8

Robert Lea — Sharks and Shark/Human Interactions

Tom Rice & Royden Nakamura — Sources of Mercury Pollution in the Lake Nacimiento Watershed

Nov 2

VL Holland — Biological Studies on Vandenberg Air Base

Kyler Hamman — Feral Pigs on Vandenberg Air Base

May 18

Don Morris — Santa Rosa Island Pygmy Mammoths

Harry Fierstine — Fossil Vertebrates of SLO County

Feb 9

David Summerville — Alternative Biofouling Control Methods for Powerplants

Alison Murray — New Approaches for Assaying Marine Microbial Diversity

Oct 27

Michael Soule — The N American Wilderness Recovery Plan

Norman Scott — Reptiles & Amphibians of Coastal Wetlands

May 5

David Keil — Preparation of 'The Jepson Manual'

Norm Pillsbury — Aspen (Populus tremuloides) Inventory in Sequoia National Forest

Feb 10

Chris Barr — Current Status of California Condors

John Rosser — Costa Rica Biology

Oct 28

Donald Smilovitz — Valley Fever and Local Infectious Diseases

Inui Choi — Forensic Dentistry and Its Use in Studying Non-human Primates

Apr 15

Richard Frankel — Morro Bay's Magnetic Bacteria

Hendrik Poinar — Amber Organisms and PaleoDNA

Feb 4

Suzanne Benech — Sea Otters of the Central Coast

Royden Nakamura & Ben Stephens — Hagfish Biology

Oct 15

Dennis Frey — Monarch Butterflies

Dennis Sheridan — Insects of Nipomo Dunes

Apr 22

Steve Junak — Flora of Santa Cruz Island

Paul Collins — Biology of the CA Island Fox

Jan 30

Greg Forbes — Feeding Ecology of Green Sea Turtles

Fred Andoli — Tortoises and Other Animals of Galapagos Islands

Oct 10

Kurt Kline — Bioassay Technique

James Kelley — Larval Abalone Bioassay for M.B. Power Plant Outflow

Apr 25

Harry Thiers — A Look at the Mushrooms of Central California

Michael Doyle — Natural History of the Juan Fernandez Islands

Feb 7

Raul Cano — Detecting Diseases with DNA Molecules

Francis Villablanca — New Approaches using DNA from Museum Specimens

Oct 11

Joel Hedgpeth — Ecology of San Francisco Bay

Michael Herz — Baykeeping: S.F., East Coast and Morro Bay?

May 10

Dan Holland — Natural History of Western Pond Turtles

Mark Jennings — Natural History of CA Redlegged Frogs

Feb 8

Dennis Hynes — Craneflies and Other Insects of New Caledonia

Adrian Wenner — Bee-lining Insects of Santa Cruz Island

Oct 19

Michael Horn — Intertidal Fishes of the Central Coast

Shirley Sparling — Marine Algae of the Central Coast

Apr 20

Chuck Warner — Carrizo Plains: Research and Progress

Dick Anderson — Biological Inventory of Carrizo Plains

Jan 26

C. Woodhouse — Cetacean Census Along the Central Coast

Gary Page & Lynne Stenzel — Snowy Plover Biology

Oct 20

Jo Ann Wheatly — Happenings in Entomology

Chris Nagano — Making the World Safe for Monarch Butterflies

Apr 7

Ron Ritschard — Impacts of Oil and Thermal Discharge as Indicated by Satellite Data

Galen Rathbun — Mermaids, Manatees, Sea Cows and Satellites

Jan 21

David Keil — Rare Plants of San Luis Obispo County

Timothy Plumb — Fire Ecology and Plant Communities in SLO Co.

Oct 22

Harry Fierstine — Fishing for Billfish with Scalpel and Shovel

Carl Benz — S. Sea Otter Translocation Program

Apr 5

Tom Ruehr — The Kesterson Water Problem

Camm Swift — Natural History of the Tidewater Goby

Feb 5

Richard Krejsa — A New Look at Craniate Origins

Lawrence Barnes — Fossil Marine Mammals of the Central Coast

Oct 16

Eric Johnson — California Condor

Aryan Roest — Endangered Mammals on the Central Coast

Apr 17

Norm Pillsbury — Hardwood Management on the Central Coast

Ron Ruppert — Lopez Lake and Biotic Diversity

Feb 13

Bud Laurent — Morro Bay Ghost Shrimp Controversy

Dave Sommerville — The Salmon Project at Avila Bay

First CCBS meeting