Ecology and Conservation of the Gulf of the Farallones

Peter Pyle

Berkeley
Thursday, May 16
6:30 p.m. refreshments,
7p.m. program

The Gulf of the Farallones lies within an “Eastern Boundary Current System,” one of five such current systems around the world, where cold ocean currents and other environmental factors lead to high ocean productivity; an estimated 85-95% of the world’s seafood originates from these five systems. Peter’s talk will cover the ecology and conservation of the Gulf’s marine vertebrates, from birds to pinnipeds to cetaceans, with emphasis on his main research species, breeding and pelagic seabirds, and great white sharks. We will not only learn about some of the Gulf’s keystone species, but will look in on the excellent research that has been undertaken in the Gulf and the conservation and management actions that have resulted.

Peter Pyle has worked as an ornithologist and marine biologist throughout the Pacific. From the 1980’s to the 2000’s much of his research was conducted on birds and white sharks at the Farallon Islands, California. He is now an identification specialist and consultant for the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary’s Beach Watch program. He is a Research Associate both at the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, and the B.P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu. To date he has authored over 170 papers in scientific journals and two books, and has described a new species of shearwater (Puffinus bryani) and named it after his grandfather, Edwin Bryan. Peter currently works as a staff biologist for the Institute for Bird Populations in Point Reyes Station.