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| Richard Minnich |
Titled "Climate's Control of California Landscapes," the hour-long lecture will begin at 7 p.m. in Room 302, Highlander Union Building, formerly the Commons. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. Seating is open.
In his talk, Minnich, a professor of geography in UC Riverside's Department of Earth Sciences, will discuss climate and vegetation change over the past 50 million years, with emphasis on California since the last ice age; global warming over the past 100 years; and how Sierra Nevada glaciers and California's vegetation have been affected by recent global warming.
"I also will offer some comments on the recent siege of large fires in Southern California," he said. "And I will address the great tree die-off due to extreme drought in 2002."
Research in Minnich's lab focuses on the ecology of the Mediterranean ecosystem, including chaparral and forests in Southern California and northern Baja California, Mexico.
Specifically, he studies the fire and structure of mountain forests in Southern California under fire suppression compared with those in Baja California without suppression. He has studied extensively the patterns of forest die-off from the 2002 drought and how global warming influenced these patterns.
Minnich's interest in weather and climate began in childhood. In the Department of Earth Sciences, he expanded his interest to paleoclimate over geologic time.
"Paleoclimate and geologic processes such as plate tectonics help me understand such topics as how California — my primary research area — has acquired its modern vegetation; the nature of glaciation in the Sierra Nevada; when did our deserts support large lakes; and when did summer drought develop," he said.
Minnich obtained his doctoral degree from UCLA in 1978. He is the author or coauthor of 64 refereed papers and book chapters, as well as two books, including "California's Fading Wildflowers: Lost Legacy and Biological Invasions" (University of California Publications, 2008).
His talk is hosted by UC Riverside's College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences and the Science Circle, a group of university and community members committed to advancing science at UC Riverside and in inland Southern California.
The talk is the second of five lectures scheduled this year. The lecture series, "Global Climate Change: Causes, Impacts, Solutions," aims to boost the public's awareness and understanding of climate change and of how science works.
More information about the lecture series can be obtained by visiting www.cnas.ucr.edu, calling (951) 827-6555 or e-mailing Carol Lerner.
Teachers interested in receiving professional development credit for attending the lecture series must make arrangements in advance with University Extension.
Climate change symposium
Graduate students from the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences will give short presentations on climate related research at UC Riverside's first annual symposium on climate change.
Titled "The Science of Climate Change: Perspectives, Trends, and Projections," the symposium is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 24, in Engineering II, Room 138.
The symposium, which is free of charge, aims to give graduate students working in the multiple disciplines of climate science an opportunity to present their research to a public audience and discuss the relevant social implications.
The Richard Moscarello Family Foundation and UC Riverside's Department of Earth Sciences, Center for Conservation Biology and College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences are sponsoring the symposium.
The University of California, Riverside is a doctoral research university, a living laboratory for groundbreaking exploration of issues critical to inland Southern California, the state and communities around the world. Reflecting California's diverse culture, UC Riverside's enrollment of over 19,000 is expected to grow to 21,000 students by 2020. The campus is planning a medical school and has reached the heart of the Coachella Valley by way of the UC Riverside Palm Desert Graduate Center. The campus has an annual statewide economic impact of more than $1 billion.