Abstract Details

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5/23/2016  |   09:15 - 10:00   |  Hall DE

PLENARY
AQUATIC CALIFORNIA: ENDEMIC BIOTA, ENDEMIC PROBLEMS, ENDEMIC SOLUTIONS California is distinctive aquatic bioregion, with a high degree of endemism in its biota. The best-studied group, the fishes, is 79% endemic to the state or adjacent regions. Endemic species are widely distributed around the state but most are concentrated in ‘hot spots’. Aquatic invertebrates follow the same pattern. California is the hydraulic society, so there is intense competition between humans and aquatic ecosystems for water. The ecosystems are losing. Most are highly altered and/or highly invaded by alien species, creating novel ecosystems. As a result 93 of 124 extant native fishes have some official designation as endangered, threatened, or special concern. Such severe stress requires new approaches and large-scale solutions. 'Reconciliation ecology' is an approach that seems to resonate with managers and can provide a basis for state-wide conservation strategies that are broad in scope but local in impact.

Peter Moyle (Primary Presenter), Center for Watershed Sciences and Department of Wildlife Fish and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, pbmoyle@ucdavis.edu;
Peter Moyle has been working on the ecology California's freshwater and estuarine fishes since 1969, culminating in Inland Fishes of California (2002, UC Press). He has co-authored numerous papers on the ecology, status and trends of California’s native and alien fishes, including documenting declines of salmon, steelhead, and other anadromous fishes in California. Present research focuses on climate change, effects of drought on fishes, floodplain management, and reconciliation ecology. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Wildlife Fish and Conservation Biology and associate director of the Center for Watershed Sciences, UC Davis.