S’more Science Event

Participants will enjoy a lecture series composed of short presentations on drought adaptations by plants, bee biology, and the impacts of air pollution.

• Anyone may attend! No expertise or experience is required.

• Entry to Joshua Tree National Park is not needed for this event.

• S’mores ingredients are provided.

• Participants are responsible for their own transportation.

Schedule of Presentations:

4:00 - 4:05: Introductions 

4:05 - 4:35: Lecture 1 with Angela Buehlman

4:35 - 5:05: Lecture 2 with Tallisker Weiss

5:05 - 5:20: Break, refreshments

5:20 - 6:00: Lecture 3 with Lelia Hawkins

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4:05 – 4:35 PM | Angela Buehlman presents: Leveraging an Outlier Desert Population to Characterize Drought Adaptation in a Chaparral Species

Manzanitas (Arctostaphylos) are some of the most recognizable and emblematic shrubs of California's iconic chaparral habitats. The genus is highly diverse, with the majority of the approximately 60 species occupying restricted ranges in the coastal regions of Central and Northern California. Within Joshua Tree National Park is a very unusual population of one of the few widespread manzanita species, Arctostaphylos glauca, the big berry manzanita. Though the species is widespread and occurs in various habitat types throughout much of California and into Baja California, the Joshua Tree population of big berry manzanita faces extremes in both heat and drought not experienced by chaparral populations. It is also likely to be the easternmost population of the species and may represent the adaptive limit of big berry manzanita. The Joshua Tree population provides an exceptional opportunity to assess the presence of adaptive features that allow this population to withstand the extremes of the Mojave Desert compared to its chaparral counterparts.

Traits which reflect how a species interacts with or responds to its environment are called "functional traits." There are a number of leaf functional traits which are associated with drought tolerance. Angela and her team selected several of those traits for comparison between the Joshua Tree big berry manzanita population and two chaparral populations. These comparisons can provide insights and improve our understanding about how populations in different habitats respond to drought, and what the limitations of drought tolerance in the species may be. Such information is valuable for creating effective conservation and management strategies as heat and drought events become more frequent and intense.

Angela Buehlman is a first-generation college student born and raised in Southern California. She transferred from community college to the University of California, Riverside to complete her undergraduate education in plant biology with a concentration in genetics. After earning her bachelor's degree, she enrolled in the Plant Biology PhD program at UCR and joined Team Manzanita, led by PI Amy Litt. Her research interests are in the genetic variation and Eco physiological traits of natural plant populations, particularly within and around the California Floristic Province.

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4:35 – 5:05 PM | Tallisker "Talli" Weiss presents: Joshua Tree Bees: Heavy Metals and Microbiome Health

Wild bees are essential pollinators that maintain fragile ecosystems. However, these vital insects face unprecedented pressures from human interference. California's pollinators are increasingly exposed to environmental heavy metal pollution. Two sources of this stress stem from legacy contaminants from historic gold rush-era mines and climate-driven wildfires that spread contaminants. Because heavy metals migrate from contaminated soils into plants, they can concentrate directly in the pollen and nectar that foraging pollinators ingest. How the bioaccumulation of these toxins affects the complex microbial communities in bee guts remains poorly understood. This talk will explore the types of bees found in Joshua Tree National Park, explain the differences between solitary and social bees, and present a proposed study on how heavy metal exposure influences the bee gut microbiome. Using a combination of environmental soil analysis, floral surface sequencing, and high-throughput bee gut sequencing, this research will examine a variety of bee species to test whether large social colonies help protect individuals from toxic stress or whether heavy metal exposure triggers a dominance of protective, metal-tolerant microbes. Ultimately, this research aims to identify pollution hotspots, establishing wild desert bees as bioindicators to inform public land management, species restoration, and human exposure risks.

Tallisker "Talli" Weiss is a PhD student in the Department of Entomology at the University of California, Riverside, studying the relationship between bee microbiomes and environmental contamination. She graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University, where she majored in Interdisciplinary Studies, minored in Science Communication, and completed an honors thesis on bumblebee foraging patterns in the McArt lab.

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5:20 – 6:00 PM | Dr. Lelia Hawkins presents: New developments in air pollution research in Joshua Tree National Park

Air pollution is one of several intricately connected atmospheric phenomena that impact our health and well-being, as well as the quality of our environment. Air pollution research in Joshua Tree National Park has recently been advanced with an investment from the National Science Foundation, designed to increase the amount of detail scientists have about the kinds and amounts of air pollutants impacting visibility and air quality in this pristine, Class I airspace. This talk will share what new measurements have been added and what researchers are already learning from them, as well as the connection between measurements in JTNP and the other 11 sites across the U.S. that make up the Atmospheric Science and Chemistry mEasurement NeTwork (ASCENT). The talk will also cover how some air pollutants are influenced by extreme weather such as heat waves, and how particulate matter, the focus of this study, impacts our atmosphere.

Professor Lelia Hawkins is an atmospheric chemist who specializes in the chemistry of fine particulate matter (PM) and its impacts on human health and the climate system. Her doctoral work in climate science at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography addressed atmospheric PM and marine clouds in the Pacific Ocean, and their complex relationship. Since 2011, Professor Hawkins has been a member of the faculty at Harvey Mudd College where she has taught introductory and advanced courses in chemistry and in climate science, including interdisciplinary courses which span climate science, human behavior, and societal impact. She has mentored undergraduate research students in air pollution research taking place all over the world, in urban and remote locations. In 2022, Professor Hawkins was appointed to build, and lead, the Hixon Center for Climate and the Environment — a new interdisciplinary effort to expand climate education at HMC including new faculty, new courses, and new major programs. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the Research Corporation for Science Advancement.

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This event is leisurely. It requires no walking, seating and restrooms are available on-site.

Required Items:

• Water (if desired)

• Registration is highly encouraged so we can have enough seating available

Photo Credit: JTNPA/Reilly Powell