The faculties of the Biological Sciences Department of Cal Poly Pomona and the Instituto de Zoologia Tropical of the Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, are jointly doing two field courses, The Ecology of Southern California and Tropical Field Biology in Venezuela.

The 2001 course in Southern California has been postponed, but the schedule below has been retained here to indicate what will be tentatively included when the course in next offered.

Ecology of Southern California Schedule for 2001:

June 1 arrival of 6-8 Venezuelans

June 2 Meet and Greet at CPU, introduction to the course, lectures by Dave Berry (geology), Peter Castro (coastal marine), Ron Quinn (fire ecology), drive to Zzyzx

June 3-8, at Zzyzx (orientation lectures, project), possible site visits - Granite Mts., Death Valley (possible side trips to Owens Valley, China Ranch, Shoshone) - Glenn Stewart, Steve Bryant and Jonathan Baskin.

June 9 - 14, at James Reserve (project), Director Mike Hamilton in charge, possible visits - Salton Sea area (Laszlo Szijj), chaparral, Bee Canyon.

June 15 - 18, at Santa Margarita Station, Chris George in charge, project and possible site visits - Oak Woodland, SM River (Curtis Clark), Coastal chaparral, Santa Rosa Plateau (Marcelo N. Pires).

June 19 - 22 at CPU ( lectures, various faculty) possible visits to coastal marine habitats and ocean cruise (June 22 to Santa Catalina Island, Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, U.S.C.), San Dimas Experimental Forest, CPU campus (College of Science, Center for Regenerative Studies, International Center) Santa Clara and/or San Gabriel Rivers, University of California Riverside Entomology Laboratory and other local sites (Jonathan Baskin, Tom Haglund, Glenn Stewart, Laszlo Szijj and others).

June 22 last day of course.

Ecology of Southern California field sites:
Cal State University Desert Studies Center, Zzyzx Springs
Death Valley National Park
James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve
Owens Valley and Eastern Sierra Nevada
Salton Sea
San Diego State University Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve

Click here for a text only Description of Sites and Activities.

Click here for topographic maps.

Click here for more information on Universidad Central.