• The Point Reyes Beach as viewed from the Point Reyes Headlands

    Point Reyes

    National Seashore California

There are park alerts in effect.
show Alerts »

  • Operational Changes Took Effect on May 1

    The Lighthouse Visitor Center is now only open Fridays through Mondays. The Kenneth C. Patrick Visitor Center will be closed through late December 2013. More »

  • 2013 Harbor Seal Pupping Season Closures

    From March 1 through June 30, the park implements closures of certain Tomales Bay beaches and Drakes Estero to water-based recreation to protect harbor seals during the pupping season. Please avoid disturbing seals to ensure a successful pupping season. More »

Science Lectures

Please join Point Reyes National Seashore staff for Science Lectures, 45 minute presentations on scientific research being performed at Point Reyes and elsewhere in the California. Science Lectures are sponsored by the Pacific Coast Science and Learning Center at Point Reyes National Seashore. They usually occur at noon on many Thursdays throughout the year and are normally held at the Red Barn Classroom at Point Reyes National Seashore's Headquarters. All are welcome and admission is free.

To get to the Red Barn Classroom, follow the Directions to get to the Bear Valley Visitor Center. After turning off of Bear Valley Road, proceed up the two-lane, paved driveway toward the Bear Valley Visitor Center. You will see the Red Barn on the left and after about 0.1 miles, there is a brown road sign pointing left to the Red Barn Classroom. Turn left on to the gravel driveway and proceed across the bridge to the parking lot. The Red Barn Classroom is on the end closest to this parking lot.

 

Upcoming Brown Bag Lectures:

 

Date: Thursday, June 6, 2013
Title: "Biological diversity of an Endangered Community: the Abbott's Lagoon Insect Inventory."
Presenter: Paul DaSilva, College of Marin
Time: Noon

 

Our Brown Bag Lectures earlier this year included:

 

Date: Thursday, January 31, 2013
Title: "Natural History of Antarctica."
Presenter: Gary Fellers, US Geological Survey

Top of Page

 
Aerial photo of Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Courtesy of the state of California.

Date: Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Title: "The Bay Delta Conservation Plan"
Presenter: Jerry Meral, Ph.D., Deputy Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency
Website: Bay Delta Conservation Plan

 
Hippopotamus lunging out of a river in Africa. Photo courtesy of Lacey Hughey.

Date: Thursday, April 4, 2013
Title: "Straight from the hippo's mouth: an investigation of hippopotamus ecology and the people that investigate it."
Presenters: Lacey Hughey and Dylan Voeller, UC Berkeley
Summary: Though one of the largest land mammals in existence today, there has been relatively little research into the ecology and behavior of the common hippopotamus. In response, a team of UC Berkeley researchers has set up camp in Laikipia, Kenya, in hopes of elucidating some of the mysteries that link these peculiar giants with the greater river ecosystem. Attendees learned what the researchers have discovered so far and got a glimpse into the life of a field biologist in the Kenyan bush.
Website: Mpala Research Centre and Mpala Wildlife Foundation

 
Steelhead Trout. Photo courtesy of the USDA.

Date: Thursday, April 18, 2013
Title: "Disrupting the flow: Effects of stream fragmentation on juvenile steelhead ecology."
Presenter: Jason Hwan, UC Berkeley

 
Bishop pine forest landscape. NPS.

Date: Thursday, May 2, 2013
Title: "What can natural disturbance regimes tell us about effects of global change? A macroecological case study with Pinus muricata."
Presenter: Erica Newman, UC Berkeley

 

Check out what the Science Lecture topics were for:
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008

For more information about the Brown Bag Lectures, contact Ben Becker at 415-464-5187 or by email.


Ocean Film and Lecture Series
June 12, 2009 Ocean Film Series Flyer (124 KB PDF)
Ocean Lecture Series April 2008 flyer (143 KB PDF)

Top of Page

Did You Know?

The pernicious Cig Egret makes its nest in beaches, estuaries, and marshes. Physical removal is the only means of eradication.

40 percent of all debris items picked up during California Coastal Cleanup Days are cigarette butts. In 2008, volunteers picked up over 340,000 of them in only three hours. 2008 was the 24th straight year in which cigarette butts were the most numerous debris item picked up. More...