Thursday, ​December 10, 2015
2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. EST
Registration HERE

Overview: The California Phenology Project (CPP) was established in 2010 with funding from the NPS Climate Change Response Program to track the effects of climate change on the California flora by recruiting, training, and engaging volunteers and national park staff in the monitoring of the phenological status of hundreds of plants in 30 species across the state. The CPP is a collaboration among seven NPS units (Joshua Tree National Park, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Redwood National and State Parks, and John Muir National Historic Monument), the Californian Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, the University of California (Santa Barbara), and the USA-National Phenology Network (USA-NPN). As of November 2015, more than 1,124,000 observations recorded by natural resource managers, park interns, and visitors trained by the CPP have been contributed to the USA-NPN Database. Analyses of the four best-monitored species (Baccharis pilularis, Quercus lobata, Sambucus nigra, and Eriogonum fasciculatum) reveal that species and phenophases differ with respect to their sensitivities to winter monthly minimum temperature, rainfall, and their interaction. Comparisons across sites and years enable preliminary forecasts regarding how different species will respond to climate change, although strong interactions between temperature and rainfall suggest that precise predictions will be elusive.

About the Speaker​​:​

​​Dr. Susan Mazer has been a professor of plant ecology, genetics, and evolution at UCSB since 1988. Her research aims to detect the processes and results of evolution by natural selection, particularly for plant reproductive traits that contribute to the adaptation of plants to stressful environments, such as gas exchange rates, water use efficiency, seed size, age at flowering, flower size, and pollen and ovule production. She has worked with a wide variety of species and plant communities to detect reproductive and physiological adaptations, ranging from South American tropical rainforests to the Sierra Nevada and Coastal Ranges of California. Her current research is investigating the factors that influence the evolution of mating system (self-fertilization vs. outcrossing), physiological performance, age at flowering, flowering phenology, and drought-avoidance in the California native wildflower genus, Clarkia.

About the Webinar Series

This monthly climate change webinar series is presented by the NPS Climate Change Response Program. The purpose of the series is to connect NPS employees, volunteers, and partners with scientists and experts in the field of climate change research. The webinar series is a Service-wide forum where researchers can share credible, up-to-date information and research materials about the impacts of changing climate in national parks and provide participants the opportunity to engage with them in discussion.

Presentations begin at 2 PM EST, on the second Thursday of the month, and last about 90 minutes. They are viewed by logging into GoToWebinar on-line at the time of the presentation. Audio is available via a call-in number (toll charges apply) or through your computer’s speakers (free, but may be limited by connection speed).

For more information about this webinar series or to be added to the mailing list, contact .