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Barbara Jean Ertter PhD
Barbara Ertter
Nationality	United States of America
Education	College of Idaho, University of Maryland, College Park, City University of New York, (joint program with The New York Botanical Garden)
Awards	Distinguished Alumni Award, College of Idaho, 6 October 2006
Scientific career
Fields	Botany, Systematics, Floristics, Taxonomy
Institutions	Idaho Fish & Game Department, New York Botanical Garden, University of Texas at Austin, University and Jepson Herbaria of the University of California
Theses	PhD: "Revision of the Juncus triformis complex, a group of dwarf rushes centered in California."  (1986) MS: "Revision of Oxytheca, an annual derivative of Eriogonum centered in southern California." (1977)
Academic advisors	Patricia L. Packard, James L. Reveal, Arthur Cronquist
Author abbrev. (botany)	Ertter

Dr. Barbara Ertter is a botanist who works in the United States of America. She is a prolific and significant figure in the world of botany with research that focuses in four major areas. The first is Western Floristics, or floristics projects in the western United States of America. These kinds of projects involve inventorying the botanical populations of different geographic sites for a variety of research projects. The second area of her research is Systematics, or "the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time." As a part of this work she has conducted work with the genus Potentilla. The third area of her work is History of Science. Finally, the fourth area of her work is flora of the country of Iran. For her work in Iran, Ertter received grant funding from the prestigious National Geographic Society.

Education

Ertter's studies from undergraduate work through her PhD focused on the flora of the Western United States. As an undergraduate, she was a part of the team that discovered the botanical treasures of Leslie Gulch, working under the botanist Patricia L. Packard in eastern Oregon. Also during her undergraduate career she worked for two summers for the Idaho Fish & Game Department doing vegetation mapping. This would be a precursor for her floristics work. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from College of Idaho in 1975.

After completing her undergraduate degree, Ertter decided to work with the authors of the Intermountain Flora, the authoritative field guide and source for information about the vascular plants between the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada ranges in the western United States. At this time, the forty-year project was still relatively young. The Intermountain Flora project, which was envisioned by botanist Bassett Maguire, began in the 1960s with the work of Arthur Holmgren and Arthur Cronquist. (Ertter would work with Cronquist during her PhD.) Volume 1 of the series was authored by Cronquist, James L. Reveal, (Ertter's major professor for her MS), Holmgren, and Holmgren's son, Noel H. Holmgren whose wife, Patricia Kern Holmgren, also contributed to this volume and later co-directed, co-authored, and co-edited the remainder of the 7 volume series with her husband In addition to studying with the Holmgrens, Ertter also learned from Rupert Barneby during this time.

For her Masters of Science in Botany, Ertter worked with James L. Reveal at the University of Maryland. For her masters degree, Ertter worked with the family Polygonaceae, producing the thesis "Revision of Oxytheca, an annual derivative of Eriogonum centered in southern California." In this work, Ertter described two new varieties to science, the taxa Oxytheca parishii var. goodmaniana and Oxytheca parishii var. cienegensis, both varieties of Oxytheca parishii. Although the taxonomy of Oxytheca genus is considered to be in flux, Ertter's taxonomy has been upheld by Andrew C. Sanders. Ertter completed her masters degree in 1977, and moved on from Maryland to New York City where she would work with Arthur Cronquist.

Ertter's doctoral work was through the City University of New York and The New York Botanical Garden with advisor Arthur Cronquist. For her dissertation, Ertter worked with another plant group native to California. Her dissertation was titled "Revision of the Juncus triformis complex, a group of dwarf rushes centered in California". In this work, Ertter described three new taxa - two species and one variety - Juncus luciensis, Juncus tiehmii, and Juncus leiospermus var. ahartii.

Career

University of Texas at Austin

From 1982 until 1985 Ertter worked as Herbarium Curator of the University of Texas at Austin. In this role, Ertter curated an 800,000-specimen herbarium. This included collecting and identifying new accessions as well as planning and overseeing the herbarium's move.

This experience prepared her for her work at the University of California where she spent the majority of her career.

University of California

Herbarium administration and design

Ertter joined the University Herbarium and Jepson Herbarium, University of California at Berkeley in 1985 as a Collections Manager. From 1994 until 2006 she was the Administrative Curator of the herbarium. In this role, she was responsible for the management of a 2,100,000 specimen collection. This is the sixth largest herbarium in the United States of America and the twenty-eighth largest in the world, as of 2016.. In this role, Ertter was involved in a renovation of the University and Jepson Herbaria, a project that lasted for ten years and involved three herbarium designs and moves. Ertter wrote of her experiences during this move for the 1999 publication "Managing the modern herbarium : an inter-disciplinary approach." This joint project with the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections and the Royal Ontario Museum is a valued resource for curators of scientific and scholarly natural history collections worldwide.

Managing a herbarium involves both collection management as well as strong administrative skills. In brief, herbarium collection management involves providing access to plant specimens, providing and maintaining facilities to prepare, house, and preserve plant specimens, and establishing policies that ensure the longterm availability of plant specimens for current and future research projects.

Ertter has also worked as Curator of Western North American Flora from 2003 until 2017. Since taking early retirement in 2006, she maintained this position on a part time basis from her home in Boise, Idaho. She is currently Emeritus Research Botanist with the University and Jepson Herbaria. In this capacity, Ertter conducts and coordinates research related to the flora of Western North America. This includes managing outreach programs and building the herbarium collections with specimens from this region. Towards the end of 2016, Ertter's number of plant collections was 22,791, a testament to her prolific and active career of collecting. A 1994 profile of Ertter notes that:

If only one thing could be said about Barbara, it would be that she eats, sleeps, and lives botany. She is one of the most enthusiastic and knowledgeable field people here in the herbarium ... tramping moutains, hills, and valleys, seeking out special plants and special places.

Floristics, biogeography, and evolutionary patterns in western North America

Although Ertter's administrative work is one of her most significant contributions to science, she is also an active taxonomist and floristics worker. Notably, Ertter authored Annotated Checklist of the East Bay Flora: Native and Naturalized Vascular Plants of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, California. The original 1997 publication was a joint project of the Jepson Herbarium and East Bay Chapter of the California Native Plants Society. For the 1997 edition Ertter collaborated with Tony Morosco. The 2013 second edition was co-authored by Lech Naumovich. This work is a comprehensive summary of all plants occuring spontaneously in the East Bay of California. It contains 1,837 species, subspecies, and/or varieties of both native and non-native status. Ertter also authored The Flowering Plants and Ferns of Mount Diablo, California with Mary L. Bowerman for this iconic centerpiece of the East Bay.

Systematics/Taxonomy

Ertter's primary taxonomic research topic is the genus Potentilla, for which she relies heavily on in situ field studies. She also works with related genera including Ivesia, Horkelia, and Drymocallis, and with native Rosa, Juncus, Abronia, and Monardella (see list of publications for further detail).

Ertter contributed the Potentilla treatment to the Jepson eFlora. She is also lead author on Potentilla and related genera for the authoritative multi-volume Flora of North America North of Mexico, with on-going work on unresolved taxonomic questions in western North America. Additionally, Ertter authored Floristic Surprises in North America North of Mexico for the Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden in 2000.

Analysis of and Advocacy for Floristics, Taxonomy, and Conservation

A major ongoing theme throughout Ertter's career has been analyzing the scientific underpinning and advocating for increased appreciation and support for "traditional" floristics and taxonomy, which are arguably in serious decline (the "taxonomic impediment" of other authors), and the correlation to conservation. Highlighted publications on this theme are The Changing Face of Western Botany (1995), Taxonomic Grays vs. Black and White Expectations (1997), and Floristic Surprises in North America (2000), based on a presentation at the 1998 Annual Systematics Symposium of the Missouri Botanical Garden).

The conservation connection includes Ertter's time as chair of the Rare Plant Scientific Advisory Committee for CNPS, during which time the 2001 Inventory was produced. Ertter also promotes ground-based stewardship and citizen science.

Botanical History

Ertter produced 2000 and 2004 overviews of the development of natural history institutions in California. People, Plants and Politics: The Development of Institution-based Botany in California, 1853-1906 was published in 2000, followed by The Flowering of Natural History Institutions in California in 2004. The latter was based on an invited presentation at the AAAS Pacific Division Annual Meeting in conjunction with the 150th Anniversary of the California Academy of Sciences.

Another significant work of this nature created by Ertter is the website Carl Albert Purpus and his collecting activities in western North America for which she collaborated with T. Schweich.

Comparative floristics with Iran

In 1999 Ertter was invited by several universities in Iran to visit the country on a three week academic visit. During these weeks, Ertter and Dr. Fosiee Tahbaz (the primary organizer) collected plants and met with faculty, staff, and students as a part of efforts to reinitiate scientific interchange between the two countries. During their visit to the country, Ertter and Tahbaz visited northern and central Iran including Tehran, Mashhad, Mazandaran, and Tabriz where they were hosted by various universities and gave presentations. They also had the opportunity to visit field sites where they observed natural vegetation and land use practices. Their visit during the month of May allowed for them to be in the field during the peak flowering season. Ertter and Tahbaz became the first scientists based in the United States of America to be formally invited back to Iran in two decades.

Ertter noted that "the biogeographic similarities between Iran and the interior West are just awesome." In addition to documenting similarities in landscape and biological diversity, this trip was intended to promote the scientific interchange between the two nations in ways that would benefit both countries and their scientists. Following the 1999 visit, Ertter presented in her home country of the United States on the topics of biogeography and land use management of Iran. Ertter obtained National Geographic Society funding to organize two subsequent botanical trips to Iran in 2002 and 2004. These trips involved further scientists from the two countries. Ertter wrote about the 2002 trip in an essay for the collection Love and Pomegranates edited by Meghan Sayres and published in 2013.

Iraq

In 2010 Ertter was invited to Iraqi Kurdistan to participate in the inaugural botanical survey for the Flora of Iraq project. The project is a floristic survey of Mount Piramagrun.

Research Associate Positions

Ertter is a Research Associate at the Missouri Botanical Garden where she has mostly worked on the genus Rosa in North America with Walter Lewis.

Since 2006 she has been a Research Associate/Visiting Scholar at the Snake River Plains Herbarium of Boise State University and Research Associate for the Biology Department and Orma J. Smith Museum of Natural History of the College of Idaho.

Ertter has also been a Research Associate at the California Academy of Sciences from 1987 until the present day. She has also served as the president of the California Botanical Society and been involved with the California Native Plant Society.

Current Projects

Ertter maintains active research projects in the following areas:

• Floristics, biogeography, and evolutionary patterns in western North America
• Systematics/Taxonomy
• Analysis of and Advocacy for Floristics, Taxonomy, and Conservation
• Botanical History

Additionally, Ertter is involved in several projects related to botany and botanical education outreach.

Miocene fossil flora in McCall, Idaho

Ertter is currently involved in a new Miocene fossil flora in McCall, Idaho. This work is in collaboration with Patrick Fields, a trained Paleobotanist. In 2013 Ertter discovered a Miocene leaf fossil site in Payette Lake, Valley County, Idaho, in fall of 2013. Since the site's discovery Ertter has made collections and brought the site to the attention of paleobotanical community and the staff of Ponderosa State Park.

Potentilla

Ertter's ongoing work with Potentilla has led to the description of several new species, and will likely result in more newly named species in the future. Her continued work with Idaho floristics, in particular the flora of the Boise Front is in process and not yet published.

Plants and Pollinators

She also assists with pollinator workshops, notably a bee-pollinator workshop with Ron Bitner et al. (cosponsored by the Orma J. Smith Museum Of Natural History and Idaho Botanical Garden) in June of 2016. Having been recruited as the "plant person" by bee biologist Gordon Frankie, Ertter's work in this area is focused on outreach, teaching the public what plants are good for attracting various pollinators, and why.

Fostering local conservation efforts and citizen scientists

In particular, Ertter's work in this area includes site stewardship and weed warrior activities. She also serves as Chair of the Board for a small local natural history museum.

Aquatic plants

Returning to an undergraduate senior project, Ertter's interest in this area periodically manifests itself in the form of workshops.

Epynomy

These taxa have been named after Ertter.

• Senecio ertterae Barkley from southeastern Oregon
• Astragalus ertterae Barneby & Shevock from the southern Sierra Nevada, California
• Rosa woodsii [subsp. arizonica] var. ertterae W. H. Lewis from Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona
• Eriastrum ertterae D. Gowen from Lime Ridge, Contra Costa Co., California

New Species and Infraspecies Authored or Co-authored

• Abronia mellifera Douglas ex Hook. var. pahoveorum Ertter & Nosratinia -- Phytoneuron 2016-20: 1, figs. 1-3. [3 Mar 2016]
• Artemisia packardiae J.W.Grimes & Ertter -- Brittonia 31: 454 (-456), fig. 1979
• Drymocallis deseretica Ertter -- J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 1(1): 41 (-43; fig. 2). 2007 [10 Aug 2007]
• Drymocallis pseudorupestris (Rydb.) Rydb. var. crumiana D.D.Keck ex Ertter -- J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 1(1): 39 (-40; fig. 1G-L). 2007 [10 Aug 2007]
• Drymocallis pseudorupestris (Rydb.) Rydb. var. saxicola Ertter -- J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 1(1): 37 (-39; fig. 1M-R). 2007 [10 Aug 2007]
• Horkelia yadonii Ertter -- Syst. Bot. 18: 139-141, fig. 2. 1993
• Ivesia aperta (J.T.Howell) Munz var. canina Ertter -- Brittonia 40: 398, fig. 1988
• Ivesia argyrocoma Rydb. var. moranii Ertter & Reveal -- Novon 17(3): 320 (-321; fig. 1). 2007 [10 Sep 2007]
• Ivesia gordonii (Hook.) Torr. & A.Gray var. wasatchensis N.H.Holmgren ex Ertter & Reveal -- Novon 17(3): 323 (-324). 2007 [10 Sep 2007]
• Ivesia longibracteata Ertter -- Syst. Bot. 14: 233, fig. 1989
• Ivesia pityocharis Ertter -- Syst. Bot. 14: 241, fig. 1989
• Ivesia rhypara Ertter & Reveal -- Madroño 24: 224 (224-227, fig. 1). 1977
• Ivesia rhypara var. shellyi Ertter -- Syst. Bot. 14: 239, fig. 1989
• Ivesia shockleyi S.Watson var. ostleri Ertter -- Syst. Bot. 14: 237, fig. 1989
• Juncus leiospermus F.J.Herm. var. ahartii Ertter -- Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 39: 49, fig. 1986
• Juncus luciensis Ertter -- Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 39: 58, fig. 1986
• Juncus tiehmii Ertter -- Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 39: 60, fig. 1986
• Lomatium observatorium Constance & Ertter -- Madroño 43: 515, fig. 1997 [19960
• Monardella angustifolia Elvin, Ertter & Mansfield -- Novon 23(3): 269. 2014 [4 Nov 2014]
• Monardella beneolens Shevock, Ertter & Jokerst -- Madroño 36: 271 (-272; fig. 1). 1990 [1989]
• Neviusia cliftonii Shevock, Ertter & D.W.Taylor -- Novon 2(4): 286 (-288; fig. 1). 1992 [22 Dec 1992]
• Oxytheca parishii var. cienegensis Ertter -- Brittonia 32: 89 (-90). 1980
• Oxytheca parishii var. goodmaniana Ertter -- Brittonia 32: 90. 1980
• Paronychia ahartii Ertter -- Madroño 32: 87 (-88), fig. 1985,
• Potentilla amicarum Ertter -- J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 11: 11—18. 2017.
• Potentilla basaltica Tiehm & Ertter -- Brittonia 36: 228(-229), fig. 1984
• Potentilla demotica Ertter -- J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 1(1): 53 (-56; fig. 2). 2007 [10 Aug 2007]
• Potentilla gracilis Douglas ex Hook. var. owyheensis Ertter & Mansfield -- Madroño 54(2): 181 (180-184; fig. 1). 2007 [9 Oct 2007]
• Potentilla hookeriana var. charletii Ertter -- Phytoneuron 2018-2: 9. [26 Feb 2018]
• Potentilla hudsonii Ertter – Phytoneuron 2018-2: 1. [26 Feb 2018]
• Potentilla jepsonii Ertter -- J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 2(1): 202. 2008 [24 Jul 2008] {nom. nov. for P. pensylvanica var. ovium Jepson)
• Potentilla morefieldii Ertter -- Brittonia 44: 432 (fig. 1). 199
• Potentilla rhyolitica Ertter -- J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 1(1): 50 (-52, 55-56; fig. 1A-G). 2007 [10 Aug 2007]
• Potentilla rhyolitica Ertter var. chiricahuensis Ertter -- J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 1(1): 52 (55-56; fig. 1h). 2007 [10 Aug 2007]
• Potentilla uliginosa B.C.Johnst. & Ertter -- J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 4(1): 14 (13-18; fig. 1). 2010 [29 Jul 2010]
• Potentilla versicolor Rydb. var. darrachii Ertter & DiNicola -- Phytoneuron 2017-65: 1—8. 2017.
• Rosa gymnocarpa Nutt. var. serpentina Ertter & W.H.Lewis -- Madroño 55(2): 174 (-177; fig. 2). 2008 [15 Dec 2008]
• Rosa pisocarpa A.Gray subsp. ahartii Ertter & W.H.Lewis -- Madroño 55(2): 171 (-174; fig. 1). 2008 [15 Dec 2008]

Selected works and publications

Additional publications can be viewed on Ertter's cv.

• 1980. A revision of the genus Oxytheca Nutt. (Polygonaceae). Brittonia 32: 70-102.
• 1986. The Juncus triformis complex. Mem. N.Y. Bot. Gard. 39: 1—90. [based on doctoral dissertation]
• 1989. Revisionary studies in Ivesia (Rosaceae: Potentilleae). Syst. Bot. 14: 231-244.
• 1992. A re-evaluation of Potentilla drummondii and P. breweri (Rosaceae), with the new species Potentilla morefieldii. Brittonia: 44: 429- 435.
• 1992. Neviusia cliftonii (Rosaceae: Kerriae), an intriguing new species from California. Novon 2: 285—289. (with J. Shevock and D. Taylor)
• 1993. A re-evaluation of the Horkelia bolanderi (Rosaceae) complex, with the new species Horkelia yadonii. Syst. Bot. 18: 137-144.
• 1993 [1992]. Floristic regions of Idaho. J. Idaho Acad. Sci. 28(2): 57-70. (with B. Moseley)
• 1993. Acaena, Agrimonia, Aphanes, Duchesnea, Fragaria, Geum, Horkelia, Horkeliella, Ivesia, Neviusia, Potentilla, Rosa, Rubus, Sanguisorba, Sibbaldia. pp. 945—946, 948, 950—961, 962, 964—969, 972—975 In: J. Hickman, ed., The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University of California Press, Berkeley.
• 1995. The changing face of western botany. Kalmiopsis V5 1995: 18—25.
• 1997. Annotated checklist of the East Bay Flora: native and naturalized vascular plants of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, California. Special Publication No. 3 of the California Native Plant Society, East Bay Chapter. 114 pp.
• 1997. Taxonomic grays vs. black and white expectations: implications for conservation management of diversity. pp. 11—13 In: T. N. Kaye, A. Liston, R. M. Love, D. L. Luoma, R. J. Meinke, & M. V. Wilson., eds. Conservation and Management of Native Plants and Fungi. Native Plant Society of Oregon, Corvallis, Oregon. [conference proceedings]
• 1998. Community site stewardship. Sierra Club Yodeler 61(8) [August]: 1, 3—4. [reprinted in the newsletter of the Yerba Buena Chapter of the California Native Plant Society].
• 1999. Elements of herbarium layout and design. Chapter 6 in Metsger, D.A. and S.C. Byers editors, Managing the Modern Herbarium: an Interdisciplinary Approach. Elton-Wolf Publishing, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
• 2000. Floristic surprises in North American north of Mexico. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 87: 81—109.
• 2000. People, plants, and politics: the development of institution-based botany in California, 1853—1906. In: M.T. Ghiselin & A.E. Leviton, editors, Cultures and Institutions of Natural History. California Academy of Sciences Memoir 25: 203—248.
• 2001. Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants of California (6th edition). Rare Plant Scientific Advisory Committee [chair: B. Ertter] (David Tibor, Convening Editor). California Native Plant Society, Sacramento.
• 2002. The Flowering Plants and Ferns of Mount Diablo, California. California Native Plant Society, Sacramento. 424 pp. (with M. L. Bowerman)
• 2004. The Flowering of Natural History Institutions in California. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 55, suppl. 1 (4): 58—87.
• 2007. Generic realignments in tribe Potentilleae and revision of Drymocallis (Rosoideae: Rosaceae) in North America. J. Bot. Res. Inst. Texas 1: 31--46.
• 2008. Catalogue of nonnative vascular plants occurring spontaneously in California beyond those addressed in the Jepson Manual--Part II. Madroño 55: 93--112. (E. Dean, F. Hrusa, G. Leppig, A. Sanders, & B. Ertter)
• 2013. Annotated checklist of the East Bay flora: native and naturalized vascular plants of Alameda and Contra Costa counties (second edition). California Native Plant Society—East Bay Chapter, Berkeley. (B. Ertter & L. Naumovich).
• 2013. A Persian picnic, with plants. pp. 213—215. In: Sayres, M. N., editor, Love and Pomegranates: Artists and Wayfarers on Iran. Nortia Press, Santa Ana, California.
• 2014. Bees & Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists. Heyday Press, Berkeley, CA. 296 pp. (G. W. Frankie, R. W. Thorp, R. E. Coville, & B. Ertter)
• 2014. A new species of Monardella (Lamiaceae) from southeastern Oregon and adjacent Idaho, U.S.A. Novon 23: 268—274. (Elvin, M. A., D. H. Mansfield, & B. Ertter)
• 2014. California Bees and Blooms. (Contributor to the chapter on pollintation biology from plant's point of view.)
• 2015 [2014]. Rosa. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+. Flora of North America North of Mexico. 18+ vols. New York and Oxford. 9: 75—119. (W. H. Lewis, B. Ertter, A. Bruneau)
• 2015 [2014]. Potentilla. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+. Flora of North America North of Mexico. 18+ vols. New York and Oxford. 9: 121--218. (B. Ertter, R. Elven, J. L. Reveal, D. F. Murray)
• 2015 [2014]. Ivesia. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+. Flora of North America North of Mexico. 18+ vols. New York and Oxford. 9: 219--246. (B. Ertter & J. L. Reveal)
• 2015 [2014]. Horkelia. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+. Flora of North America North of Mexico. 18+ vols. New York and Oxford. 9: 246--270. (B. Ertter & J. L. Reveal)
• 2015 [2014]. Drymocallis. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+. Flora of North America North of Mexico. 18+ vols. New York and Oxford. 9: 280--295.

Select Presentations and Public Talks

Additional talks are shared on Ertter's cv.

• 27 March 1992, Boone Symposium on Idaho Botany, Idaho Academy of Sciences Annual Meeting: "Floristic Regions of Idaho"
• 15 November 1995, symposium on Conservation and Management of Oregon's Native Flora, Native Plant Society of Oregon and Oregon State University, Corvallis: "Taxonomic Grays vs. Black-and-White Expectations: Implications for Conservation Management of Biodiversity"
• 10 October 1998, 45th Annual Systematics Symposium, Missouri Botanical Garden, Our Unknown Planet: Recent Discoveries and the Future: “Floristic Surprises in North America”. [variation on same talk given at University and Jepson Herbaria botany lunch series, 2 October 1998; East Bay Chapter CNPS, 18 November 1998; Idaho Rare Plant Workshop, 11 February 1999; Cal Day, 17 April 1999; California Horticultural Society, October 1999; Marin Chapter CNPS, 3 January 2000; East Bay Regional Parks 60th Anniversary celebration, 13 May 2000; Native Plant Society of Oregon Annual Banquet, 24 June 2000; Sonoma State University Biology Colloquium, 19 September 2000]
• 16 June 2003, Institutions of Natural History: Past, Present, and Future (one of three symposia celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the California Academy of Sciences), AAAS Pacific Division 84th Annual Meeting, San Francisco State University: “The Flowering of Natural History Institutions in Californa” [variation given to East Bay Chapter CNPS, 24 September 2003; Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, UC-Berkeley, 11 March 2009]
• 19 July 2005, XVII International Botanical Congress, symposium on Compilation of Floras — a method of summarizing information on plant diversity: “California as a case study in the evolution of floristic modeling”
• 6 Feb 2017, Albany Library lunchtime series: “Reflections on Albany Hill: An Island in an Urban Sea”