California's iconic landscapes and vegetation communities have long been shaped by dynamic climate and terrestrial processes. Often, changes in these forces are what can push an ecosystem to transition to a different, yet stable, state. In this talk, Dr. Katie Glover will draw upon her research in paleoecology that used California's fossil record from lake cores and the La Brea Tar Pits to show how ecosystems shifted in response to climate change and fire during the last Ice Age. The tools and botanical evidence used in these studies are powerful to help us understand landscape response before human-induced impacts, and to inform the changes we can expect in a warmer world. Yet one doesn't have to be a trained paleoecologist to imagine – and teach about – past worlds. We live in a time and place with rich educational resources and access to natural spaces, which can help teach the next generation how to spot the evidence for ecosystem transitions.
Dr. Katie Glover has a lifelong love for lakes and landscapes, which led to many years teaching environmental science curriculum, and researching Ice Age landscape change in North America. During her Ph.D. in Geography at UCLA, she developed a 120,000-year environmental history from lake sediment cores in the San Bernardino Mountains and worked with the La Brea Tar Pits fossil plant collection. Katie is the Associate Director of Environmental Education at Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve (‘Ootchamin ‘Ooyakma), and is grateful that she can highlight the beauty and complexity of California's native ecosystems every day to students, docents, colleagues, and visitors.