Ten UCLA student conservation projects funded through the La Kretz Center/Stunt Ranch Reserve Small Grant Program

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 this year’s grant recipients for our competitive research awards. Our ten awardees, working on projects ranging from urban lizards to invasive algae to endangered tricolored blackbirds, each contribute to our goal of supporting and promoting the best possible student research that helps change how we conserve California. 

To learn more, check out this year’s grant recipients:

Emily Ryznar:

“Assessing mechanisms that facilitate the success of the invasive brown alga, Sargassum horneri, and enhance community susceptibility to invasion”

Rachel Turba:

“Characterizing lagoon biodiversity in southern California using environmental DNA”

Monica Dimson: 

“Detection of incipient, invasive Ambrosia Beetles using species distribution models”

Kelly Barr: 

“Developing Genomic Resources to Inform Conservation and Management of the Tricolored Blackbird”

Lauren Smith: 

“Does wrack of an invasive alga provide a similar resource subsidy as giant kelp for supporting key ecosystem functions on sandy beaches?”

Sarah Helman: 

“Intestinal Pathogen Surveillance in Los Angeles Region Coyotes”

Daniel Cooper:

“Long-term urban adaptation in a nesting raptor community”

Camila Medeiros:

“Toward a conservation physiology of Californian flora: assessing drought vulnerability across species and ecosystems”

Erin Toffelmier: 

“Urban ecology meets citizen science: monitoring reptile diversity and measuring landscape genetic connectivity in the Los Angeles area”

Robert Cooper:

“Using Pond Hydroperiod to Attenuate the Spread of Invasive Tiger Salamander Alleles”

Thank you once again to all who applied and we encourage all students to apply for the 2018-2019 Research Grant that will open in the Fall.