JRBP('O'O) April 2025 Newsletter

April 2025

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Wednesday, April 23, 4 PM. Evening Lectures with Dr. Laureano Gherardi, UC Berkeley

Join us on Wednesday April 23, 4-6 PM to meet and be in conversation with Dr. Laureano Gherardi, from UC Berkeley. Laureano will share his presentation titled: “Grassland Ecology Upside Down: A roadmap to belowground processes”. Bring a friend with you! Visit our events page for more information on this link.

 

The 2023-2024 report celebrates the 50th anniversary of our community and the preserve, highlighting its legacy of significant contributions to ecological research and education. You can pick up your copy at the field station, email us if you would like a copy delivered to you, or view the online version in this link. 

 

The siding materials have arrived, and the installation is currently underway. We immensely thank Steve for overseeing this long process, and we all look forward to the crew finishing the renovation project in June.

 

Docents Dawn Neisser, Julien Wright-Ueda, and the entire docent community were recognized with the Award of Merit during the Stanford Associates Awards Ceremony on Saturday, March 29, 2025. To read more about this event, visit the updated blog on this link.

 

Congratulations to Prof. Rodolfo Dirzo and Chrysanthe Frangos, Mellon grant awardee on their write up, visit the following link to read their research findings: Long-term studies at Jasper Ridge yield insights into oak ecosystems 

 

A new visual display of Jasper Ridge titled Two Seasons at Jasper Ridge by the School of Humanities and Sciences team with contributions from our very own docent Dan Quinn. 

 

May 13, 2025, 4 PM. Evening Lecture with Dr. Brody Sandel, Santa Clara University

 

June 5, 2025, 4 PM. Graduation Ceremony and Community Picnic. Join us to celebrate and meet the new graduates and docents from the BIO / ESYS 105 Ecology and Natural History of Jasper Ridge class of 2025.

 

Conference: Environmental Justice through the Lens of Indigenous Peoples. This environmental justice conference seeks to amplify the voices of Indigenous Peoples in relation to environmental justice. To learn more and attend, visit this link. 

 

 

Burning research update! Read more about the fire-related research ongoing one year after the pile burning. The new blog reviews the progress, updates and discussion around the future of fire at the preserve and beyond. Read the blog and watch the video of the convening by visiting this link.

 

Ethan VanValkenburg, PhD student working with Prof. and Faculty Director, Tad Fukami, and Director of Research, Adriana Hernández, is conducting an experimental research project on how various weeding strategies affect the ratio of invasive to native plant cover in the serpentine grassland, with the goal of reducing invasive seed set and biomass. Seed harvesting, raking, and both seed harvesting and raking will be used to reduce invasive grasses like Italian rye grass (Festuca perennis also called Lolium multiflorum) and soft chess (Bromus hordeaceus). Soil depth, overall plant community composition and diversity, and seed dispersal will also be quantified. You might see that plots are marked with colored bamboo stakes throughout the serpentine. See image below.

 

Prof. Justen Whittall at Santa Clara University and Dr. Katie LaBarbera, Science Director at the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory, with support from Assoc. Dean and Prof. Rodolfo Dirzo, are collecting avian scat samples during bird banding activities to assess if birds are eating native or invasive vegetation. The scat is used for extracting and sequencing plant DNA where samples from the preserve will be compared with samples from Coyote Creek Field Station.

 

Dr. Rosa McGuire, postdoctoral scholar working with Prof. and Faculty Director, Tad Fukami, will be conducting a second round of experiments on monkeyflowers, Diplacus aurantiacus, in the chaparral east of Searsville reservoir to examine the effects of temperature on bacteria and yeast in floral nectar and, ultimately, seed set.

 

 

NSF SOAR RCN grant continues to spread its wings. The SOAR network expands its reach to new partners, students, and opportunities to engage undergraduates in ornithology research, classes, and field experiences in the southern San Francisco Bay Area. To read more about the second symposium visit the link here.

 

The Jasper Ridge Continuing Education group will host the talk “Biological Mimicry” by fellow docent Stu Koretz on Saturday April 19 from 10 AM - 12 PM. If you’d like to attend, please RSVP to Susan Walz (walkknit@sbcglobal.net). The talk will take place in the Sun Field Station classroom.

 

In the spirit of the 50th anniversary of the JRBP docent class (1975-2025), we are seeking your help to organize its rich history. Over the years, we have accumulated hundreds of photographs dating back to 1975 that capture countless field adventures! These photos, the people, the activities, and all of the memories narrate part of our history, and we need your help to organize them. Feel free to stop by the preserve during working hours and assist us in sorting them out.

 

 

 

As part of the ongoing process to build a comprehensive Jasper Ridge invasive vegetation management plan, Stewardship Scientist, Sheena Sidhu will be co-organizing and hosting a series of events. This past Sunday, staff members Sheena and Elise hosted Kelly Chauvin (former Jasper Ridge postdoc), Oriane Lavolé (PhD student, Religious Studies), and 17 other volunteers for a Contemplative Stewardship French Broom Pull. Volunteers participated in guided meditation between sessions of pulling French broom along Trail 18, where there have been previous volunteer efforts to manage this invasive species. This event also served as a pilot project for more data-driven, volunteer-led invasive species initiatives. Read more about this activtiy by visiting this link and contact Sheena for more information. 

 

 

Many thanks to the docents who led tours in March: Jackie Magno, Claire Elliot, Jonathan Segal, Catherine Magill, Dawn Neisser, Mary Bernstein, Adelaide Nye, Sue Schmitt, Cheryl Gold Shaffer, Adelaide, Eva Yu Shen, Zander Opperman, Caroline Blythe, Paul Heiple, and Kim Beil. 

 

 

Thank you, to docents Bill Gomez, Mary Bernstein, Kit Gordon, for helping researchers.

 

 

To support JRBP ('O'O) in its new challenges, please visit our Donate page (link here), thank you!

 

 

Adriana Hernández, Ethan VanValkenburg, and Tad Fukami (not pictured) are working on a research project to investigate how various weeding strategies affect the ratio of invasive to native plant cover in the serpentine grassland. In the image above, Adriana (left) and Ethan (right) are seen setting up the transects during the first week of the April wildflower bloom. Picture by Jorge Ramos.