Southern Sierra Science Symposium planned for Visalia

MANAGING FOR POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON PLANTS AND ECOSYSTEMS
NANCY GRULKE
US Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station

Nancy Grulke is a research plant physiologist for the Pacific Southwest Research Station, US Forest Service, in Riverside, CA. She has investigated conifer and oak response to ozone, excess nitrogen deposition, and drought stress over the last 20 years.

TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING THE CURRENT AND FUTURE EFFECTS OF INVASIVE ORGANISMS ON ECOSYSTEMS IN THE SIERRA NEVADA: ASSESSMENTS; COMPLEXITIES, PERSPECTIVES, AND APPROACHES
ROBERT KLINGER
USGS-BRD, Yosemite Field Station-Bishop Office

Robert Klinger is an ecologist with the USGS whose primary research interests are plant-animal interactions, invasive species (principally feral animals and non-native plants), fire, and climate change. His main focus in these areas are population and community dynamics and species-distribution modeling.

SCIENCE-BASED MANAGEMENT OF INVASIVE SPECIES
MATTHEW BROOKS
US Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, Yosemite Field Station

Matt Brooks received his PhD in Biology from U.C. Riverside. He is currently a Research Botanist for the US Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, in El Portal California. Matt's personal research emphasis is on the ecology and management of alien plants and fire. His research staff who are located in El Portal, Wawona, and Bishop focus on these themes, plus climate change, wildlife ecology, rare plants, ecological restoration, and the ecological effects of various land-use regimes.

HOW THE FIVE AGENTS OF CHANGE MAY AFFECT THE VERTEBRATES OF THE SOUTHERN SIERRA NEVADA
GRABER, DAVID M.
Chief Scientist, Pacific West Region, National Park Service

David has been an ecologist and science manager working for the National Park Service for more than 30 years. He presently serves as the Chief Scientist for the Pacific West Region of NPS, which includes the 6 western-most states and territories south of Alaska. He has long been based at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, in the Sierra Nevada of California. During much of his career, David was a field research biologist with NPS as well as USGS, studying species-habitat relationships and exploring the use of extensive field inventories combined with GIS for improved environmental analyses. In more recent years, his efforts have been concentrated on better informing park and reserve conservation and management, as well as the management of broader mixed-use landscapes, through science. This has included the management of plant and animal populations, wilderness stewardship, biotic inventories, and environmental monitoring. Over the years, David has served on a variety of Congressional, agency, and NGO advisory panels, including the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project; Giant Sequoia National Monument Science Advisory Committee; National Wilderness Steering Committee; Sierra Nevada Forest Plan amendment Science Panel; Trust for Public Land Science Advisory Panel. He also serves on several endangered species recovery teams. He was awarded the U.S. Department of Interior Meritorious Service medal in 2000. David graduated from the University of California with a B.A, in Political Science (1970). After several years of work and adventure, he returned to U.C. Berkeley's College of Natural Resources to obtain an M.S. (1976) and then Ph.D. (1981) in Wildland Resources Science. His doctoral dissertation was Ecology and management of black bears in Yosemite National Park.