Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force Meeting - California-Nevada Working Group (January 2005)

This annual meeting was held on the Berkeley campus in 2005 and room and refreshment expenses were provided by CBC allowing the meeting to be a free event for all participants. The meeting attracted 120 participants, principally from California, and from both academic institutions and state agencies. There were keynote speeches from Professors Dave Wake and Tyrone Hayes of the University of California Berkeley, thirty other oral presentations plus a number of poster presentations.

History of California Seminar Series (Spring 2005)

The aims of the seminar series are to bring faculty and other interested locals together in an informal setting to overview and exchange ideas on all aspects of the history of California so as to identify possible areas for interaction between researchers, to identify possible gaps in our knowledge and to identify useful areas for review papers etc.

• Jan 26 - Malcolm Hughes - 'The temporal texture of climate variability in western N. America in recent millennia' or 'Why you shouldn't think of climate as a randomly varying external factor.'
  
• Feb 9 - Michael Loik - Title to be confirmned, probably concerning physiological responses of plants and ecosystems to climate change
• February 16 - Scott Stine - Title to be confirmed, probably concerning climate in CA over last few hundred years.
• March 2- Harvey Kelsey - 'The northern California Coast Ranges over the last 6 My: evolving coastlines, drainages and intermontane valleys driven by plate tectonics'

Botanical Foray (March 19-22 2005)

The California Biodiversity Center provided sponsorship for the 10th Spring Outing; Botanical Excursion; Foray, Retreat, and Escape to the Environment (SO BE FREE). This event was also sponsored by the Bryolab, UC Berkeley; The Southern Oregon University Herbarium; and the Northwest Botanical Institute. In 2005 the foray was held at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB), Charleston, Oregon, and included a mix of Californian and Oregonian botanists.

To further its mission of fostering collaborations between the Berkely Natural History Museums and the UC Field Stations the CBC offered a mini-fellowship to cover food costs for all students attending.

California Ecological Observatory Network (2005- )

CBC is a sponsor of the California Ecological Observatory Network (CalEON) - a regional network of field sites, natural history museums, and university labs. CBC has provided the following support for CalEON

• Financial sponsorship for the third and final planning meeting for CalEON, the California region of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) being developed at the National Science Foundation, will take place on April 22, 2005 on the University of California, Davis campus.
• Collaboration in design of CBC logo and masthead.
• Production of links pages for CalEON, the most comprehensive listing of resources for the study of biodiversity, ecology and ecological change currently available on the web.
  

Stream Food-Web and Nutrient Spiraling Workshop (April 25-29 2005)

Profs. Beth Boyer (U.C. Berkeley), Jacques Finlay (U. Minnesota) and Prof. Alex Flecker and Steve Thomas (Cornell Univ.) visited the Berkeley campus and the Angelo Reserve for a stream food-web and nutrient spiraling workshop. Alex Flecker gave a presentation on his work to a graduate class attended by graduate students from ESPM and IB and Steve Thomas then led a discussion on his work on nutrient spiraling in rivers, and its response to landscape variables. This was followed by a field trip to the Angelo Reserve. CBC sponsored the workshop, providing travel and food expenses.

Ecological Flora of California (June 30 2005 and ongoing)

The Ecological Flora of California (EFCal) is a new component of the Jepson Flora Project that will provide ecological information on the California flora. EFCal will serve as a comprehensive database of ecological characteristics including life history, phenology, morphology and other traits for the California flora. CBC sponsored an advisory board meeting and is collaborating with other funding sources to provide funding to start development of the database.

Berkeley Field Reserves Brochure (Fall 2005)

In order to increase the visibility of the UC Berkeley Field Reserves CBC is sponsoring the design and production of a color brochure which will be made available to the reserves for distribution to interested parties and, especially, potential donors. The brochure will highlight the four main field reserves (Angelo, Hastings, Moorea, Sagehen and the Central Sierra Field Research Stations) and will also include sections on the interactions between the Berkeley Natural History Museums and the reserves, on other resources for field research and on how to make donations to the reserves.

Ecology and Management of California Grasslands Author's Conference and Writing Workshop (September 30-October 1, 2005)

The editors and authors of 'The Ecology and Management of California Grasslands', a book to be published by the University of California Press in 2007, held an Author's Conference and Writing Workshop at Bodega Marine Lab. Seventeen participants came to Bodega, representing approximately three-quarters of the chapters. The book will be an invaluable resource to scientists, habitat managers, and policy makers throughout the state. and highlights the biodiversity present in California's grasslands and the threats they face. CBC provided financial sponsorship for the meeting.

Morphology, Morphodynamics and Ecology of Mountain Rivers Short Course (December 11-12, 2005)

CBC provided support for a short course on the Morphology, Morphodynamics and Ecology of Mountain Rivers immediately following the American geophysical Union Annual meeting in San Francisco.

The course was held on the Berkeley campus and was hosted by NCED (National Center for Earth Surface Dynamics). About 40 students attended.