SPEAKER SERIES: CONNECTING CREATURES, CLIMATE AND COMMUNITY

Big or small, nature is constantly putting on a show. A visit to any ecosystem of the River Park can reveal dazzling displays, sometimes front and center and sometimes behind the scenes. Our speaker series, “Connecting Creatures, Climate and Community,” invites experts to talk about natural forces and the characters at play on nature’s stage.

Presentations

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The Allure of the San Dieguito River Valley

Speaker: Chris Khouri

Our own Dr. Chris Khoury walks us through the river valley and the decades-long community initiative to protect it.

California killifish: The Unsung Hero of the Wetlands

Speaker: Drew Talley

Dr. Drew Talley discusses the critical contributions of the California killifish to wetlands. Dr. Drew Talley, Professor and Graduate Program Director in Environmental and Ocean Sciences at the University of San Diego, introduces us to the California killifish and the critical role it plays on the food web of the wetlands. In his talk, Talley examines complex connections among coastal habitats—some of them miles apart—through the activities of birds, mammals (including us), microscopic organisms and, of course, the California killifish. The killifish is a proxy for successful marsh restoration, he explains, and exploring the ecology and life history of the little fish adds to our understanding and appreciation tidal salt marshes. Professor Talley is Graduate Program Director in Environmental and Ocean Sciences at University of San Diego. He has studied southern and Baja California wetland systems since 1994.

The Awesome Ability of Wetlands to Capture Carbon

Speaker: Serge Dedina

Serge Dedina of WILDCOAST discusses our collaboration on the blue carbon project at San Dieguito Lagoon. As CEO and cofounder of WILDCOAST, Serge Dedina leads a conversation on coastal lagoons and their tremendous capacity to capture and store carbon. WILDCOAST is a great partner, and we are pleased to have worked with them on a blue carbon project at San Dieguito Lagoon. A former ocean lifeguard and two-term mayor of Imperial Beach, Dedina has received numerous awards and international media coverage for his innovations in ocean conservation. As a speaker, he has addressed numerous conferences, has given a TedX talk, and delivered the keynote address at the U.S. National Climate Adaptation Forum. Dedina earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from UC San Diego, a master’s degree in geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a doctorate in geography from the University of Texas at Austin.

Geology of San Diego County: The Formative Years

Speaker: Mike Thacker

In his rockin’ talk, Mike Thacker covers 200 million years of our geological history in about an hour. Mike Thacker explains how the awesome forces of tectonics, volcanism and erosion are responsible for sculpting our local landscapes. In about an hour, Thacker covers some 200 million years of geological history from the Salton Sea to the San Diego County coast. A resident of Escondido, Thacker is a retired Senior Staff Research and Development Scientist at Thermo Fisher Scientific in Carlsbad. As an inventor he secured eight patents. He earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology from San Diego State University and has studied zoology, anthropology and archaeology. Thacker is a board member of the San Diego Archaeological Center. His passion is geology, he says, and his expertise in the field is mostly self-taught.

Unwelcome Guests: Super-abundant, Nonnative Honey Bees

Speaker: Josh Kohn

Local honey bees are mostly nonnative. Dr. Josh Kohn explains why that’s not good for native plants. Retired UC San Diego Professor Josh Kohn examines the balance of power among honey bees. In San Diego County, he explains, nonnative honey bees comprise more than 80% of visitors to our native plants. Consequently, the flowers they pollinate are less than half as fit as those which are a pollinated by native insects. Kohn’s research in the Department of Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution centered on plant mating system evolution, pollination ecology and the evolution of floral traits. He has studied bird communities of the High Sierra and the foraging ecology of endangered Hawaiian honeycreepers. Being a sub-par birder drove him to botany. His lab began studying honey bees locally in response to the overwhelming number of nonnative bees that pollinate nonnative plants in our area.