January 1, 2024

January 5th 2024! Don't miss free zoom talk by Dr. Noah Whiteman about Nature's Poisons - 7-8 pm

Please join us for a special talk by Dr. Noah Whiteman of UC Berkeley.
FREE zoom on Friday January 5th 7-8 pm.

REGISTER HERE.
https://LakesideChat38_most-delicious-poison-drwhiteman.eventbrite.com
We will send you the zoom link to join the program by email from Eventbrite.

Dr. Whiteman will discuss themes in his new book, “Most Delicious Poison: The Story of Nature's Toxins―from Spices to Vices”. He will explore connections between the evolved chemical defenses of plants and the rest of the ecosystem including humans – with insights into our cravings, medicines, addictions and social life. Don’t miss it!

Katie Noonan and David Wofford, Co-chairs

Rotary Nature Center Friends
https://sites.google.com/view/rotary-nature-center-friends/home

Rotary Nature Center Friends is an all-volunteer community 501c3 nonprofit advocating for the Rotary Nature Center in Lakeside Park as an interpretive education and science center for all the people of Oakland and as the Steward for the Lake Merritt Wildlife Refuge.

Posted on January 1, 2024 09:41 PM by ktnoon ktnoon | 0 comments | Leave a comment

October 26, 2023

Please join the re-survey a full year and two months since the catastrophic fish kill!

Heterosigma akashiwo caused ecosystem devastation in Lake Merritt Oakland in 2022. Last October 2022 we set up a project to track the rebound of species in the lake. It's now 1 year and 2 months since the fish kill and time to take another close look. It has been a tough year with atmospheric rivers and low oxygen in some locations.
Please join us for the re-survey of life in Lake Merritt Oakland in the weeks of October 28th 2023 to November 11th 2023. Be sure to indicate whether the organism you are observing is alive or dead using the using the Annotation Attribute dead or alive or ?.
We will have a table at the Lake Merritt Boating Center parking lot and docks area at 568 Bellevue Ave 94610 from 10 am to 1 pm to help people with iNaturalist and track our findings on-site.

Note: There is a $5 fee for Lakeside Park entrance and parking may be limited. There is usually street parking nearby.
We will continue to collect observations for the project before and after this 2-week period, so keep observing!

Katie Noonan
ktnoon@aol.com

Posted on October 26, 2023 11:03 PM by ktnoon ktnoon | 0 comments | Leave a comment

April 13, 2023

Online interactive nature and social justice-oriented program about Alfred Russel Wallace, founder of the field of evolutionary biogeography.

Lakeside Chat#29 -“Radical by Nature: The Revolutionary Life of Alfred Russel Wallace.” Dr. James Costa will explore Alfred Russel Wallace’s epic life and achievements, his passion for science and social justice.

Imagine if he'd had iNat!
Join us by zoom on April 14th, 7-8 p.m., for Lakeside Chat #29 with Biologist and Naturalist. Dr. James Costa. His talk is entitled “Radical by Nature: The Revolutionary Life of Alfred Russel Wallace.” Jim will explore Alfred Russel Wallace’s epic life & achievements, his passion for science & social justice .
https://alfred-russel-wallace_radical-by-nature_with-dr-james-costa.eventbrite.com

More: One of the most famed naturalists of the Victorian age by the end of his long life in 1913, Alfred Russel Wallace's expeditions to remote Amazonia and southeast Asia became the stuff of legend: a collector of thousands of species new to science, he shared in the discovery of natural selection with Darwin and founded the field of evolutionary biogeography. Yet Wallace also courted controversy with nonscientific pursuits from spiritualism to socialism, becoming the archetypal socially engaged scientist tirelessly campaigning for social justice: land and labor reform, women’s rights, and more. Two hundred years after his birth in 1823, Wallace continues to inspire and instruct. In this talk, Jim Costa celebrates the complex and multifaceted life of Alfred Russel Wallace, the subject of his new book.
Free online event by Zoom.

Sponsored by Rotary Nature Center Friends at Lake Merritt, Oakland CA
https://sites.google.com/view/rotary-nature-center-friends/home

Posted on April 13, 2023 06:43 PM by ktnoon ktnoon | 0 comments | Leave a comment

January 6, 2023

Don't miss Robin Agarwal's zoom talk tonight about the nudibranchs coming to Lake Merritt after the catastrophic fish kill in August.

Join us by zoom on January 6th as we celebrate the New Year with Lakeside Chat #26 by nudibranch specialist and journalist Robin Agarwal.
REGISTER HERE=> https://nudibranchs-in-lake-merritt-RobinAgarwal.eventbrite.com

Robin's talk is entitled “What Led to a "Nudibranch Boomtown” in Lake Merritt?” Robin will introduce us to the sea slugs of Lake Merritt and explore reasons for their puzzling recent success. Free!

Zoom link:
https://ousd.zoom.us/j/86113750922?pwd=MklIUEN6clAxOExpTVhXWk5oZSsxUT09

Meeting ID: 861 1375 0922
Passcode: 984239
One tap mobile
+16699009128,,86113750922#,,,,*984239# US (San Jose)
+12532158782,,86113750922#,,,,*984239# US (Tacoma)

See you there! If you don't make it, but register, you will be sent the recording.

Posted on January 6, 2023 03:41 PM by ktnoon ktnoon | 0 comments | Leave a comment

September 29, 2022

Please join project to document species alive in Lake Merritt after the HAB

If you are doing iNaturalist and are in Oakland, please help us observe living species at Lake Merritt after the fish kill in August. Open to all taxa, not limited to invertebrates

JOIN HERE:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/harmful-algal-bloom-at-lake-merritt-are-there-any-survivors

Posted on September 29, 2022 06:41 PM by ktnoon ktnoon | 0 comments | Leave a comment

August 29, 2022

Please upload photos of dead fish and marine organisms

If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area and come across dead or dying fish or other marine organisms possibly affected by the recent plankton bloom, please upload them. This will give researchers an idea of which species were affected and what the geographic extent of the possible effects of the Heterosigma akashiwo plankton bloom.

Posted on August 29, 2022 04:00 PM by ktnoon ktnoon | 0 comments | Leave a comment

June 26, 2022

Snapshot Cal Coast 2022 at Lake Merritt -Table Sat July 2nd 10 am to 2 pm

Help the CA Academy of Sciences gather critical biodiversity data from the California coast. Yes! Lake Merritt is part of the CA coastline.

Registration is helpful but not required. https://snapshot-calcoast-at-lake-merritt.eventbrite.com Drop by our table at edge of the parking lot by the Lake Merritt Boating Center to learn how to participate on your own or work with naturalists to survey and identify species on the docks and shoreline of Lake Merritt. Rotary Nature Center Friends will provide help in getting and using the iNat App. We are sure to find several exotic target species in Lake Merritt. Maybe some new ones this year! Join us.

We will follow all public health guidelines. Observe social distancing. Be prepared to wear a mask if required. This event will be outdoors.

Posted on June 26, 2022 03:13 PM by ktnoon ktnoon | 0 comments | Leave a comment

January 3, 2022

Talk by Dr. Jim Covel about the Lake Merritt Tubeworm Ficopomatus enigmaticus-free, online Friday Jan 7th 7 pm

Rotary Nature Center Friends is hosting a free online talk by Dr. Carlton. A great way to start off the year!
James T. Carlton, Professor of Marine Sciences Emeritus, Williams College (Williamstown, Massachusetts) and Director Emeritus, The Ocean & Coastal Studies Program of Williams College and Mystic Seaport, Mystic, Connecticut

Title: “The Lake’s Most Famous Animal: The Enigmatic Story (and the 100th Anniversary!) of the Lake Merritt Tubeworm”

Description: First discovered in Lake Merritt 100 years ago, the brackish-water tubeworm Ficopomatus enigmaticus (known before the 1980s to Lake naturalists as Mercierella enigmatica) has a long and fascinating global history. What exactly is it, what does it eat, and how does it reproduce? Where did it come from and how did it get to San Francisco Bay? Why did a French scientist give it the name enigmaticus? And why did the tubeworm remain only in San Francisco Bay until the 1990s, after which it began to appear elsewhere in California? Today the Lake Merritt tubeworm is also found in Europe, the North American Atlantic coast, Argentina, South Africa, Australia, Hawaii, and elsewhere. We’ll explore some of the scientific techniques that have been used to explore out where its (probable) original home port was.

Register here: to https://lakeside-chat-14-the-lakes-most-famous-animal.eventbrite.com
You will receive zoom link in confirmation email.
Rotary Nature Center Friends is a community 501c3 nonprofit advocating for the Rotary Nature Center in Lakeside Park as an interpretive education and science center for all the people of Oakland and as the Steward for the Lake Merritt Wildlife Refuge.
https://sites.google.com/view/rotary-nature-center-friends/home

Posted on January 3, 2022 03:04 PM by ktnoon ktnoon | 0 comments | Leave a comment

January 1, 2021

Jan 8th 7-8 pm PST-Lakeside Chat with James Covel: Stories from the Early Days at Lake Merritt

Please register here: https://lakemerrittstoriesearlydays.eventbrite.com
Before there was iNaturalist, before there were smart phones, even before earth-observing satellites, the first municipal naturalist in the United States Paul Covel developed a philosophy and practice of citizen science in Oakland, CA. His motto, "Bringing Nature and People Together" resonates today.
Wishing everyone a safe, healthy and peaceful New Year. We would like to invite you to join us for the first Lakeside Chat of 2021, "Stories from the Early Days at Lake Merritt", featuring James Covel of the Monterey Bay Aquarium (and son of legendary Rotary Nature Center Naturalist Paul Covel).
Friday January 8th from 7 pm-8 pm PST. There will be a 30 minute illustrated talk followed by questions and answers, a trivia game with prizes and discussion. Please share widely with your members and social media.
Description: The story of Lake Merritt is a story of people connecting to nature in the heart of a big city. The city established the first municipal naturalist program in the country (at the first waterfowl refuge in the country) to nurture that connection to nature. We'll dig into this story, and talk about the people that were involved, including Paul Covel, the City's first naturalist.
This is a free, completely online program. A zoom link will be sent to eventbrite registrants before the show.
We are looking forward to brighter days at Lake Merritt and around the world. Take care and hope to seeing you on the 8th.

Posted on January 1, 2021 04:20 PM by ktnoon ktnoon | 0 comments | Leave a comment

December 21, 2020

Lakeside Chat Recording - Dr. James Carlton - “An Unsolved San Francisco Bay Mystery: The Enigmatic Beach-Hopper of Lake Merritt”

Dr. Carlton's December 4th talk brought us up to date on ongoing scientific research into the origin of the little amphipod found only in the 340 acre tidal lagoon in the heart of urban Oakland, CA. It was fun and a great opportunity to talk with Jim.
If you missed the talk you can view it at https://youtu.be/LHZU24X3OWA.

Answers to questions in Chat can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m-dfU4C6WjDyyHgRMGmNUVuonzHImLfT/view?usp=sharing

Lakeside Chats are a monthly series of free online talks about a variety of topics related to Lake Merritt. They are sponsored by Rotary Nature Center Friends (https://sites.google.com/view/stem-at-lake-merritt/home). Please join us for future talks listed on our website.

Posted on December 21, 2020 02:19 AM by ktnoon ktnoon | 0 comments | Leave a comment