JRBP('O'O) October 2024 Newsletter
October 2024
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Welcome to new administrative program manager Elise DeBuysser! Elise will join the Jasper Ridge team next Monday, Oct 28. She joins us with great programmatic and administrative experience from Stanford School of Medicine. She brings with her experiences from Crystal Springs Upland School, The Nature Conservancy and Redwood City Parks. Elise graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in 2012 and M.S. in Earth Systems in 2014. See our new staff poster and stop by to welcome Elise to our community!
Jorge Ramos was inducted as a California Academy of Science Fellow.
The California Academy of Sciences is pleased to announce that Jorge Ramos, along with other 13 new members will join the ranks of the Academy Fellows, a governing group of more than 500 distinguished scientists and other leaders who have made notable contributions to scientific research, education, and communication.
Fore more about this recognition see this press release by Cal Academy: https://www.calacademy.org/press/releases/california-academy-of-sciences-welcomes-14-new-fellows-bestows-four-prestigious
October 27, 9:30 AM Continuing Education event: Trees and Shrubs of Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve.
The Continuing Education group has planned an exciting series of docent-led lectures and interpretive walks for the coming academic year. The first is a “Trees and Shrubs” walk on Sunday, October 27 at 9:30 AM, which will feature fall vegetation on the preserve. Please check your jrdocent-chat messages for details, or reach out to Susan Walz (walkknit@sbcglobal.net) to RSVP.
November 19, 2024: Tuesday Evening Lectures with Lauren Esposito, Ph.D.
Join us on Tuesday November 19, 2024, 4-6 PM to meet and be in conversation with Lauren Esposito, Ph.D., Curator and Schlinger Chair of Arachnology at California Academy of Sciences. Lauren will share their presentation titled: "Amazing Arachnids". For more information visit the event webpage. Bring a new friend with you!
JRBP Sun Field Station Updates: The plan is to weather-proof the building the next few weeks for the winter and pause the construction on November 15th. The installation of the new siding will restart when the materials become available in winter of 2025.
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NATURAL HISTORY NOTE
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New Natural History Note: Long distance wildlife tracking reveals waypoints from Jasper Ridge to Mexico
Trevor Hebert and Adriana Hernandez wrote a blog summarizing recent findings from our new Motus radio tower. Results suggest that California’s Channel Islands are a popular pit stop for the Swainson’s thrushes as they migrate south.
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RESEARCH
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Publications:
New research publication that includes results from the JRGCE and multiple affiliates of Jasper Ridge: Rapid shifts in grassland communities driven by climate change.
Brief summary from the journal: "Compositional shifts in forest communities are known to not keep pace with climate change, which leads to accumulating ‘climatic debts’. We show that grassland communities in California are transforming rapidly, at a pace similar to that of climate warming and drying, and are paying off their climatic debts continuously.”
Zhu K., Song, Y., Lesage, J.C., Luong, J.C., Bartolome, J.W., Chiariello, N.R., Dudney, J., Field, C.B., Hallett, L.M., Hammond, M., Harrison, S.P., Hayes, G.F., Hobbs, R.J., Holl, K.D., Hopkinson, P., Larios, L., Loik, M.E., & Prugh, L.R. (2024) Rapid shifts in grassland communities driven by climate change. Nature Ecology and Evolution. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02552-z
A research briefing can found here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02561-y
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EDUCATION
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Oct 27, 9:30 AM Continuing Education event: Trees and Shrubs of Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve
The Continuing Education group has planned an exciting series of docent-led lectures and interpretive walks for the coming academic year. The first is a “Trees and Shrubs” walk on Sunday, October 27 at 9:30 AM, which will feature fall vegetation on the preserve. Please check your jrdocent-chat messages for details, or reach out to Susan Walz (walkknit@sbcglobal.net) to RSVP.
Thank you from Katie Glover!
Katie sends a big thank you to this community for all the class visits and tours you’ve been covering. Recent visitors from Stanford include the Alumni Association’s Womens’ Impact Network, the Office of Sustainability, the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, and Outdoor House.
Additional links of interest:
Safe Field Practices and Culture of Respect at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve (′Ootchamin ′Ooyakma)
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STEWARDSHIP
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Collaborating with SLAC on stewardship
SLAC line vegetation management is nearly complete after several months of planning and implementation. This annual maintenance under the SLAC lines is completed by SLAC staff and contractors who work closely with Jasper Ridge staff to evaluate tree management (trimming and cutting) to minimize disturbance while mitigating the risk of wildfire risk from SLAC lines.
New Living Lab Fellow Student
Jasper Ridge is excited to welcome this year’s Living Lab Fellow, Stanford senior Rachael Lit, who will be co-mentored by stewardship scientist, Sheena Sidhu and Cody Hill from LBRE. Rachel will be building upon the work of last year’s Living Lab Fellow in helping to evaluate different strategies to maintain fuel reduction treatments that were initially implemented in 2023.
Collaboration with Fire Safe BBQ
On Wednesday October 17th, Fire Safe of San Mateo County hosted their annual BBQ at Jasper Ridge. The event was attended by the Woodside Fire Protection District, CalFire and other local and state agencies and listened to presentations from Bowen Kyle of Ladris Technologies and Shea Broussard of FlameMapper.
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GRACIAS! THANK YOU!
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Thanks to docents that helped lead tours in September of 2024: Bohdan Kamets, Rodolfo Dirzo, Rodrigo Carvalho, Stu Koretz, Jonathan Segal, Dan Quinn, Derek Knowles, Marty Freeland, Sonoo Thadaney Israni, Bob Siegel, Vivian Neou, Cheryl Gold, Jane Moss, Klaus Porzig, Sue Schmitt and Kim Beil
Thanks to docents that assisted in research projects in September of 2024: Perry McCarty
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PICTURE OF THE MONTH
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Camera trap photo of mountain lion at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma). We get these images all the time at 'Ootchamin 'Ooyakma, but this one is unusual in that it's in broad daylight. Our network of wireless digital camera traps provide unprecedented & detailed information, e.g. abundance & behavior of wildlife and the nature of corridors linking JRBP to other areas. With new and future stewardship work at JRBP, this technology is key to our research needs. Photo by Trevor Hebert.
