Upcoming Events

General Meeting, Wednesday, May 29th 6PM - 9:30 ish.

Please join us on Wednesday May 29th for the BASK General Meeting to hear David Lindberg present: “Gray Whales:  Past, Present, and Future”

Presentation Summary:

Gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) are thought to undertake long migrations, from Baja California to Alaska, where the feed on the seasonally productive benthos of the Bering and Chukchi seas. The invertebrates that form their primary prey are restricted to shallow water environments, but global sea-level changes during the Pleistocene eliminated or reduced this critical habitat multiple times. The fossil record of gray whales is coincident with the onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation, and it is obvious that gray whales survived these massive changes to their feeding habitat.  It was unclear until recently how they may have done this.  Their survival following the disappearance of their primary feeding ground appears to have resulted from the fact that they still maintain behavior and sufficient morphology to utilize their ancestral feeding modes.  The recovery of gray whale populations has provided opportunities to observe more and more individuals, which in turn has revealed a much larger repertoire of feeding modes, migratory patterns, and breeding habitats than previously suspected.  Using past historical events to gauge the evolutionary capacity of taxa helps inform biodiversity planning and policy in a rapidly changing world.

Speaker Bio:

David R. Lindberg is Professor of Integrative Biology, Curator in the UC Museum of Paleontology, and a member of the Center for Computational Biology at UC Berkeley. Prof. Lindberg has conducted research and field work along the rocky shores of the Pacific Rim for over 30 years, and is the author of over 100 scientific papers and 3 books on the evolutionary history of nearshore marine organisms and their habitats.  His teaching comprises 3 courses – marine mammals, non-vertebrate zoology and a 2 semester, co-taught phylogenetics course.  In addition to his research and teaching, Prof. Lindberg is actively involved in K–16 outreach projects at the UC Museum of Paleontology, focusing on the use of broadband to increase access to scientific resources, and the training of teachers in process of science and evolutionary biology.