Field Research

Emma Steigerwald, a PhD candidate at UC Berkeley, moves in to collect a spider that will be used as part of the California Conservation genomics project (CCGP). A project focusing on Californian biodiversity and aiming to build the most comprehensive genomic dataset ever assembled for conservation science.

Pollution

A red bellied water snake basking on a discarded tire in its wetland habitat that is choked with thrown away tires.

Pollution (II)

A barred owl sits in its habitat choked with discarded tires.

Endangered Species Monitoring

A scientist holds a marbled water frog (Telmatobius marmoratus) after taking measurements and swabbing for the deadly (to frogs) chytrid fungus. This is a threatened species whose populations are threatened by climate change, over harvesting, and the chytrid pandemic.

Cat induced bird declines

Outdoor cats kill billion of birds a year and are one of the leading causes of bird population declines.

California Drought

California newts (Taricha torosa) in a dried up pond taking shelter during a heatwave in the cracks in the mud. They will likely remain here until the rains arrive. Many newts in this pond will die but the ones that picked the deepest coolest cracks will live to breed another year.

Surveying Biodiversity

Biologists and members of a Peruvian Biodiversity survey observe and take photos of a enigmatic glass frog species as it perches on a leaf in the nighttime jungle. Boots on the ground research like this is critical to gathering baseline data on species' distributions, populations status and other trends to inform conservation work.

Bird Mortality

An unfortunate tundra swan that appears to have met its end when it flew into powerlines. While exact numbers are a mystery its thought that millions of birds are killed in the United States annually from collisions with electric utility lines.

Endangered Species Research

Santa Cruz Long-toed Salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum croceum), an endangered subspecies that only breeds in a handful of ponds in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties in California. Habitat development, climate change, and rising sea levels put this species future in jeopardy - none of its current breeding ponds will still be suitable within the next half century. Biologists investigate their ecology in order to construct artificial ponds to ensure their future.

Amphibian Disease

A dead California newt, outwardly it looked like it was in good health prior to its death. Amphibians are often indicator species so deceased individuals are cause for concern and can indicate issues with water quality. Or potentially a sign of disease like chytrid which has killed off amphibians around the globe.

Urban Sprawl

A male bobcat (Lynx rufus) at the edge of a housing development which encroaches at the edge of its habitat. Highly adaptable and able to survive in a wide variety of ecosystems, bobcats are still vulnerable to habitat loss and the dangers of urban sprawl and problems that it comes with. Road mortality, rodenticide poisoning, antagonistic encounters with domestic animals and the diseases they spread, decrease of prey abundance - it all goes hand in hand with living near residential neighborhoods which creep into the bobcats habitat.

Marine plastics

Our plastic waste has permeated every ecosystem including marine ones. Here a sea urchin covers itself with a discarded plastic wrapper. This covering behavior is natural, urchins are known to do it when exposed to wave surge - however usually small rocks and bits of debris are used rather than plastic.

Nest Protection

An endangered western snowy plover at its nest surrounded by a mesh cage. The gaps in the mesh allow the plover to come and go freely but are small enough to keep potential nest predators like ravens away. Nest mortality due to predators like ravens can be quite high, so this is an easy way to protect a nest until the young hatch.

Human wildlife conflict

A gray fox stealing food from a picnic area.

Tragedy of the Commons

It is legal to harvest a certain amount of mussels and various sealife from various portions of the California coast. However certain areas like Pillar point have become too popular to be sustainable. At low tides crowds of 100s of people regularly descend upon the tidepools in a relatively small section of coast to legally harvest sealife such as mussels. These mussels may take close to a decade to grow back. A good example of tragedy of the commons, too many people making use of a common resource until it is depleted or destroyed. Thats not even mentioning the people who chisel away at the rock with prybars or screwdrivers (illegal) or harvest well beyond limits or take species that shouldn't be harvested whether through ignorance or greed. Fish and wildlife regularly issues tickets for violations here but that doesn't undo the damage that is already done. I believe this bountiful section of seashore will either soon be depleted of any sealife which can be harvested or will be declared off limits for harvest. But for now while mussels and other edible inverts abound and regulation has not yet caught up to the increased traffic of recent years it remains popular.