This short course was taped for broadcast on University of California Television (UCTV). The course's topics will be broadcast at 4:00 pm PDT on the following days in 2005:

Faulting California: Tues, Sept 6 & Thurs, Sept 22
California Dinosaurs...: Thurs, Sept 8 & Tues, Sept 27
California's Sharks...: Tues, Sept 13 & Thurs, Sept 29
Yosemite Revisited...: Thurs, Sept 15
California's Coast Redwood...: Tues, Sept 20

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Saturday, April 30, 2005 (with optional Sunday, May 1 field trip)
8:15 am to 4:00 pm
2040 Valley Life Sciences Building (map),
UC Berkeley campus (parking)

AGENDA

8:15

8:45–9:00

9:00–10:00

Registration

Welcome and Logistics

Faulting California
   Jere Lipps, UC Museum of Paleontology & Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley
California's enormous diversity of geology, landforms, and biology has been shaped by more than 200 million years of seismic activity. In one way or another, faulting produced our mountains and valleys, our bays and coasts, our unique habitats for offshore fish, onshore plants and animals, and even determined the settings for our cities. Faulting continues to change California and shape our decisions, as we adjust to ongoing geological processes.

10:10–11:10

California Dinosaurs and the Environments in which They Lived
   Richard P. Hilton, Sierra College
Dinosaurs once lived in California, but what does the fossil record tell us about these past inhabitants? What was the environment like at that time and with whom did they interact? The answers to many of these questions remain in flux, but we have learned a great deal during the last 100 years. This talk will take you on a journey back in time to when California was smaller, but alive with creatures and plants — some familiar, and many not.

11:20–12:20

California's Sharks — Past and Present
   Douglas Long, California Academy of Sciences
California has an incredibly diverse shark fauna, representing a combination of ancient taxa and recently-evolved species. Our state has perhaps the most complete and continuous fossil record of sharks anywhere in the world. Dr. Long will explain how the present-day shark fauna formed, by looking at both the fossil record and major changes in climate and geography, and how several species co-evolved with other marine organisms.

12:20–1:30

1:30–2:30

Break for Lunch

Yosemite Revisited: Distributional Shifts of California's Terrestrial Vertebrates
   James L. Patton, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, UC Berkeley
The terrestrial vertebrate fauna of California is being re-surveyed at a series of specific sites originally studied in the early 1900s, with current focus on a transect from the Central Valley through Yosemite National Park to Mono Lake. These surveys have revealed significant elevational and latitudinal shifts in species' ranges over this short time period. Whether species have responded as a collective group to general phenomena, such as global warming, or individually to particular shifts in the habitat, remains the substantive question to answer.

2:45–3:45

California's Coast Redwood and the Land-Sea Connection
   Todd Dawson, Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley
California's State Tree, the coast redwood, is the tallest on Earth and sustains some of the highest growth rates ever measured in a conifer. How is this possible in a Mediterranean climate characterized by summer drought? One answer lies in understanding the unique coastal climate of California and the connection between near-shore redwood forests, the Pacific Ocean and the resources it can provide, and the biology of our State Tree.

3:45–4:00

Closing comments

SUNDAY FIELD TRIP: You will also have the opportunity to learn about upcoming activities for the 1906 Earthquake Centennial that may be of interest to you. And for those of you who would like to join the *optional field trip on Sunday, you can see for yourselves how subduction zone and transform faulting have shaped the San Francisco Bay Area. Jere Lipps, from the UC Museum of Paleontology, will take you on an exploration of one of the geologically most dynamic places on Earth, from the Golden Gate to Pt. Reyes and Tomales Bay. We will return to campus shortly after 4:00 pm.

Click for a printable REGISTRATION form.

For more information, contact Judy Scotchmoor at (510) 642-4877.

 
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