EDITOR'S NOTE: News from AAAS is embargoed until the time of each symposium presentation or news briefing, whichever comes first. Several faculty members and graduate students from the University of California, Davis, will present research at the annual meeting of American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco, Feb. 15 through 20. Below are summaries of nine presentations. PATTERNS IN PLANT EVOLUTION PAPER: Macroevolution of the Green Plants AUTHOR: Michael Sanderson, associate professor, Section of Evolution and Ecology SYMPOSIUM DATE AND TIME: Friday, Feb. 16, 2:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. SYMPOSIUM NAME: Deep Green: Phylogeny, Evolution and Genomics of the Green Plants ONLINE PROGRAM: http://www.aaas.org/meetings/2001/6088.00.htm Species diversity is not distributed randomly in time, space or across the phylogenetic tree of life. Some groups, such as flowering plants, have very large numbers of species, but are relatively recent; other groups are much older but, surprisingly, have far fewer species. New insights about patterns in green-plant species richness have been achieved by combining phylogenetic methods with data from the fossil record and estimates of the timing of ancient events based on molecular variation. This talk reviews patterns of species diversity at three scales: across all flowering plants, a group dating back 140 million years; within one very species-rich family of flowering plants, the legumes, dating back perhaps 60 million years; and within a much more recent radiation of plants in Hawaii, which is probably less than 10 million years old. Contact: Michael Sanderson, Evolution and Ecology, (530) 754-9229, mjsanderson@ucdavis.edu. DOES EATING MEAT REDUCE WORLD FOOD SUPPLY? PAPER: Inputs and Outputs From Livestock Production AUTHOR: G. Eric Bradford, professor emeritus, Department of Animal Science SYMPOSIUM DATE AND TIME: Friday, Feb. 16, 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. SYMPOSIUM NAME: The Livestock Revolution -- Implications for Human Nutrition, Resource Use and Environment ONLINE PROGRAM: http://www.aaas.org/meetings/2001/6016.00.htm As the rapidly growing global population increases the demand for food, it's frequently suggested that livestock and poultry are actually depleting rather than contributing to the world food supply for humans. Not so, says Bradford. In addition to grains, which humans also eat, livestock consume large quantities of feeds that are inedible to humans such as crop residues, byproducts of food and fiber processing, and forage from land unsuitable for farming. In so doing, they make a net contribution to the food supply and help recycle nutrients and byproducts that otherwise would have to be disposed of. The overall effect of animal production on the human food supply varies according to the animal species, the product they yield, production methods and the type of feed they consume. The best available estimates indicate that feeding human-edible feeds to food-animals results in a slight reduction in the total human food supply, but is balanced by the yield of meat, milk and eggs that are of higher nutrient density than the grains those animals consumed. Contact: G. Eric Bradford, Animal Science, (530) 752-7602, gebradford@ucdavis.edu. MAXIMIZED DESIGN OF MARINE RESERVES PAPER: Are Reserves Good Fishery Management Tools? AUTHOR: Loo Botsford, professor, Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology SYMPOSIUM DATE and TIME: Saturday, Feb. 17, 9 a.m.-noon SYMPOSIUM NAME: The Scientific Theory of Marine Reserves ONLINE PROGRAM: http://www.aaas.org/meetings/2001/6130.00.htm Symposium organizer Jane Lubchenco of Oregon State University, a former president of AAAS, will release a scientific consensus statement, signed by Loo Botsford and other leading marine researchers, declaring that well-designed marine reserves conserve both fisheries and biodiversity, and they are urgently needed to replenish the oceans. Botsford will discuss the results of recent mathematical modeling studies showing that fisheries management using reserves could yield as much as management by conventional means. He will also discuss findings that the size and spacing of reserves should be determined by the dispersal and migration rates of the species of concern. His UC Davis collaborator on the studies was Alan Hastings, a mathematical ecologist. Contact: Loo Botsford, Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, (530) 752-6169, lwbotsford@ucdavis.edu. GENETICS SHEDS LIGHT ON ORIGINS OF FARMING PAPER: Questions Raised by the Use of Molecular Information in Domestication Studies AUTHOR: Paul Gepts, professor and chair, Department of Agronomy and Range Science SYMPOSIUM DATE AND TIME: Saturday, Feb. 17, 9 a.m. to noon SYMPOSIUM NAME: Understanding Domestication: New Biological and Archaeological Approaches ONLINE PROGRAM: http://www.aaas.org/meetings/2001/6068.00.htm Traditionally, both biologists and archaeologists have studied the origins and evolution of crop plants with very little interaction between the two disciplines. In recent years, however, the two fields have been going through something of a "rapprochement" as they pursue greater interaction, says Gepts. An example of that trend is the AAAS symposium on "Understanding Domestication: New Biological and Archaeological Approaches." During his presentation in this symposium, Gepts will suggest that outcrossing between wild and domesticated forms of a plant may have introduced confounding effects that prevent pinpointing the specific geographical region of domestication for that plant. He also will propose that the reason most genes for domestication are linked on specific chromosomes may be that this chromosomal linkage is a necessary condition for domestication to occur in the face of regular outcrossing between wild and domesticated forms of a crop. Contact: Paul Gepts, Agronomy and Range Science, (530) 752-7323, plgepts@ucdavis.edu. LEARNING THE LANGUAGE OF WINE TASTING PAPER: Describing Wine Aromas Is Easy If... AUTHOR: Ann Noble, professor, Department of Viticulture and Enology, SYMPOSIUM DATE AND TIME: Sunday, Feb. 18, 9 a.m. to noon SYMPOSIUM NAME: Wine and Conversation: The Semantics of Talking About Taste ONLINE PROGRAM: http://www.aaas.org/meetings/2001/6042.00.htm Learning to identify and describe the aromas of various wines is a Catch 22 situation for novice wine tasters, says Noble. To develop a mental catalog of different aromas, one needs to have had sufficient wine-smelling experiences and the vocabulary with which to describe and remember them. Unfortunately it's hard to retain the memory of various odors without the appropriate words to describe them, and it's likewise difficult to develop such a vocabulary without sufficient wine-tasting experiences. The process is simplified a bit if descriptive words such as "strawberry jam" or "old socks" are used to characterize the aromas of wines rather than poetic, judgmental adjectives such as "elegant" or "harmonious," she stresses. Noble, a sensory scientist, used the more specific, analytical words in developing her "Wine Aroma Wheel." The wheel provides standard terminology that will help inexperienced wine tasters train their brains and noses to connect the aromas with the appropriate terms. Contact: Ann Noble, Viticulture and Enology, (530) 752-0387, acnoble@ucdavis.edu. SCIENCE OF CHEESEMAKING PAPER: Current and Future Scientific and Technological Challenges in Manufacturing High-Quality Cheese AUTHOR: Moshe Rosenberg, Cooperative Extension Dairy Food Engineering Specialist, Department of Food Science and Technology SYMPOSIUM DATE AND TIME: Sunday, Feb. 18, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. SYMPOSIUM NAME: Advances in Wine and Cheese ONLINE PROGRAM: http://www.aaas.org/meetings/2001/6132.00.htm Cheesemaking has been practiced from the early days of civilization but in recent decades has evolved from an art to a multidisciplinary science. Today cheese quality is not defined by the absence of defects, but rather by a balance of texture, flavor, functionality and nutritional value, says Rosenberg. Modern cheese makers have the challenge of translating the qualities valued by consumers into quantitative data, using mathematical models to integrate the biochemical, microbiological and physio-chemical processes involved in cheesemaking. Furthermore, cheese makers must now consider cheese not only as a final product but also as an ingredient of many different foods, each requiring cheese with different functional and physio-chemical properties. More than ever before, high-quality cheese manufacturing must now draw on a broad spectrum of scientific disciplines ranging from analytical chemistry to materials science to process engineering. Contact: Moshe Rosenberg, Food Science and Technology, (530) 752-4682, mrosenberg@ucdavis.edu. DYNAMICS OF NATURAL COMMUNITIES SYMPOSIUM NAME: External and Internal Influences on Community Structure: A New Paradigm SYMPOSIUM DATE AND TIME: Monday, Feb. 19, 3 p.m.-6 p.m. ONLINE PROGRAM: http://www.aaas.org/meetings/2001/6185.00.htm This symposium honors the scientific contributions of the late Gary Polis, former chair of the UC Davis Department of Environmental Science and Policy. UC Davis presenters are symposium organizer Alan Hastings, professor of environmental science and policy, and Gary Huxel, postgraduate researcher in environmental science and policy. Understanding the dynamics of natural communities in space and time has been, until recently, a relatively neglected issue in ecology. Plants and animals live in habitats that vary greatly in productivity, resource abundance, consumer behavior and demography. Even ecosystems with clearly defined boundaries, such as islands in seas, or streams in forests, are actually subject to myriad outside influences. Yet ecologists have largely neglected the consideration of how those spatial patterns and processes affect the structure and functioning of food webs -- the basic descriptions of who eats (and does not eat) whom and the consequences for determining how species affect other species. Speakers will describe new evidence that cross-habitat exchange, such as the flow of nutrients between sea and land, is a common, important factor determining the dynamics and function of diverse systems. Contact: Alan Hastings, Environmental Science and Policy, (530) 752-8116, amhastings@ucdavis.edu. SCIENCE OF SAVING LAKE TAHOE PAPER: Role of Science in the Water Issues of Lake Tahoe AUTHOR: Charles Goldman, professor, Department of Environmental Science and Policy SYMPOSIUM DATE AND TIME: Tuesday, Feb. 20, 8 a.m.-11 a.m. SYMPOSIUM NAME: Role of Science in the Water Issues of Northern California ONLINE PROGRAM: http://www.aaas.org/meetings/2001/6046.00.htm Aquatic ecosystems worldwide are under increasing stress from human activities. This means that basic environmental studies must be rapidly converted into far-reaching management decisions. Lake Tahoe is losing its remarkable transparency at a rate of about one foot per year as algal growth rates increase about 5 percent per year. In the Tahoe Basin, a multidisciplinary approach has been essential to developing effective water-management strategies for solving increasingly complex environmental problems. Long-term data collection, including paleolimnological studies of sedimentation and pollutants, has been key to better understanding and managing the lake, its surrounding watershed and basin air quality. Contact: Charles Goldman, Environmental Science and Policy, (530) 752-1557, crgoldman@ucdavis.edu. INVASIVE CORDGRASS IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY PAPER: Invasive Plant Issues in Estuarine Restoration AUTHOR: Debra Ayres, postdoctoral researcher, Section of Evolution and Ecology SYMPOSIUM DATE AND TIME: Tuesday, Feb. 20, 8 a.m.-11 a.m. SYMPOSIUM NAME: Role of Science in the Water Issues of Northern California ONLINE PROGRAM: http://www.aaas.org/meetings/2001/6046.00.htm Ayres will discuss her studies, with UC Davis professor Donald Strong, of Spartina alterniflora, an invasive species of cordgrass introduced into San Francisco Bay 25 years ago. Ayres has found that hybrid offspring of S. alterniflora and a related native cordgrass, S. foliosa, are rapidly eliminating the native species in large sections of the bay. Ayres will also report that the invasive grass and the hybrids are "ecosystem engineers" capable of modifying the ecosystem by physically elevating tidal mudflats and converting them into Spartina meadows. Those open mudflats are critical feeding habitat for millions of migratory waterfowl and resident shorebirds. Contact: Debra Ayres, Evolution and Ecology, (530) 752-6852, drayres@ucdavis.edu.