Oakland, CA–November 6, 2008. Mills College professor of biology Bruce Pavlik's latest book, The California Deserts: An Ecological Rediscovery (University of California Press) may alter the way we address environmental challenges.

In his research on the California deserts, Pavlik discovered how native peoples who inhabited these arid lands for 12,000 years experienced extreme climate change.

"From the last glaciations to the rapid spread of drought and high temperatures, they adjusted their technologies and lifestyles to new environmental limitations," he said.
"And they did this without destroying the evolving landscape. We have much to learn from them."

Pavlik said the desert landscape is rich with life, has a complex history, and is inspirationally beautiful, yet there is no book on the ecological relationships of arid lands that includes humans.

Pavlik writes about native people changing their behaviors and devising new technologies in response to environmental changes. For example, they shifted their diet to small animals and insects, such as jackrabbits and grasshoppers when mastodon, horse and giant ground sloth became extinct. This required new hunting weapons armed with small, notched arrowheads instead of large, fluted spearheads. By the time the landscape became desert, Pavlik said, the native peoples found ways to use available plants and animals for medicine and food.

"This book is my attempt to integrate humans into the web of desert life, and to pay homage to the first California ecologists, the native Americans," he said. "I also hope the book will help people think carefully and creatively about the ecological challenges we face."

Pavlik said that we often respond poorly to ecological limits and economic needs. For example, in response to global climate change and population growth, he said we may choose options such as the development of solar power, the installation of carbon dioxide "scrubbers," and increased groundwater pumping. Yet these projects would industrialize California deserts and destroy vast tracts of biologically rich, intact habitat, he said. Instead, Pavlik said we should use already impacted places such as landfills, residential areas, and out-of-production agricultural lands for responding to environmental challenges.

"My research attempts to blend science with land management, and help agencies and companies make informed decisions when natural resources and development collide," he said.

Pavlik extends his enthusiasm for science with his students. He currently has students working at the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, a desert wetland with many unique plant and animal species outside of Death Valley National Park. They are investigating the role of native bees in maintaining populations of rare and endangered desert plants. Bees play a critical role in the pollination of all flowering species, without them, ecological systems would be seriously degraded.

More information is available about the Mills College Biology Department housed in the newly built state-of-the-art Betty Irene Moore Natural Sciences Building.

Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California, Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering a dynamic progressive education that fosters leadership, social responsibility, and creativity to approximately 950 undergraduate women and 500 graduate women and men. Since 2000, applications to Mills College have more than doubled. The College is named one of the top colleges in the West by U.S. News & World Report, one of the Best 368 Colleges by the Princeton Review, and ranks 75th among America's best colleges by Forbes.com. Visit us at www.mills.edu.

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