LAKEPORT – Local biologists will host a presentation on the fascinating and complex web of life in Clear Lake at a special workshop on Thursday, July 15.

The workshop will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 15, in the Board of Supervisors chambers at the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.

The Lake County Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee is sponsoring the event.

Biologist and ecologists with the Lake County Vector Control District have worked over the past month to create a living tour of the little creatures that share the water and make up the basic building blocks of the Clear Lake food chain, according to Greg Giusti of the University of California Cooperative Extension in Lakeport.

“It's a great program,” said Giusti, who chairs the Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee as well as the county's Invasive Species Council.

He said the workshop will highlight the lake's unique biological system which has “lots of really cool critters.”

Giusti said it's also an opportunity to exhibit the work being done by Lake County Vector Control.

“They are very competent scientists who really know this lake probably better than anyone,” he said.

Vector Control staff will explain the work they're doing and help people understand how the lake works, extending from tiny plankton all the way up to fish and birds, Giusti said.

Special attention will be given to the little life forms in the lake, with live phytoplankton and zooplankton specimens to be on display, according to Giusti.

“The little things often get overlooked, until they cause a problem,” he said. “Most of the time they're really the driver of the whole food web.”

In addition to Vector Control staff, Giusti said other notable biologists in attendance will include Dr. Bob Lane of the University of California, Berkeley, who identified Lyme disease on the West coast, and Lake County's own Dr. Harry Lyons, a professors at Yuba College and a recognized expert on Clear Lake.

“The assembled talent in the room that night will be quite impressive,” Giusti said.

He estimated that the program itself should run about an hour and a half, with time afterward for community members to ask their questions.

“It'll be educational but I think it'll be fun,” said Giusti, adding that he hopes it will give people a chance for an “oh my” kind of moment.

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