Announcing Recipients of 2024 The La Kretz Center and Stunt Ranch Reserve Research Awards

The UCLA La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science and the UC Natural Reserve System Stunt Ranch Santa Monica Mountains Reserve are pleased to announce the 2024 La Kretz Center research awards recipients. These awardees are some of UCLA’s best and brightest undergraduate and graduate students working on a variety of exciting conservation-based projects. Supporting students in their research endeavors is a primary mission for the La Kretz Center and Stunt Ranch, and we are enthusiastic about what this year’s winners will accomplish over the next year!

Congratulations to (pictured from top left to bottom right):

Janine Fischer: Effects of interspecific competition on Stephens’ kangaroo rat habitat selection

Anna Ongjoco: Hydraulic function and carbon metabolism of three southern California oak species

Likhitha Yettela: Using eDNA Techniques to Understand the Patterns of Harmful Algal Blooms in the Santa Monica Bay

Sean O Fallon: Determining the drivers of collective behavior in Veromessor harvester ants at the UC Sedgwick natural reserve 

Jill Carpenter: Is Prey Availability a Factor in the Decline of a Bat Species in Southern California that is Synanthropic in the Rest of its Range?

Madeleine Pacheco: Integrating Environmental DNA and Epigenetics as a Novel Approach for Age Classification of Zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a Model Organism.

Lily Rivas: Effects of artificial lighting at night on bats in Los Angeles County

Nikita Burger: Hyperspectral Imaging for California Plant Ecology