Coral Reef Conservation
Region: Seas of the Coral Triangle (a region comprised of the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands) Paul Barber is an affiliated faculty member of…
Projects
Creating a Complete Los Angeles River Greenway for All
Andy Pasillas, class of 2016 Andy had a leadership role on a project that is supporting the development of a complete and community-driven Los Angeles River greenway, especially in underserved…
Crustose coralline algae (CCA) as a facilitator species assemblage: investigating CCA’s role in structuring marine communities
Awardee: Emily Ryznar. Emily seeks to investigate the facilitative mechanisms and importance of CCA and its microbiome as contributors to increased invertebrate diversity and community stability in California’s rocky reefs.
Desert tortoise conservation
At the La Kretz Center, scientists are working toward a win-win between green energy and endangered species conservation in the Mojave Desert.
Developing a Soil Analysis and Remediation Toolkit for Landscape Construction and Management
Students: Lilian Chou, Kyle Gregory Kneeland, Alessandro Lorenzo Lallas, Kimberly See-Yan Mak, Victoria Suzanne Mcrae, Nicholas Chester Tom, Shiyi Zheng Client: Huntington Botanical Gardens and the Natural History Museum of…
Developing Ecosystem Indicators for Los Angeles County
Students: Danielle Nicole Alvarez, Connie Kang, Denise Lihan Lin, June Ngoc Tran, Tiffany Lee Wu Client: National Park Service, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, The Nature Conservancy Advisor:…
Developing Metrics to Evaluate the Skill and Credibility of Downscaling
Within the climate science community, a variety of techniques are used to "downscale" information from global climate models and produce fine-scale projections of future climate, but the relative strengths and weaknesses of these techniques are not well-understood. In this project, we are comparing downscaling techniques and establishing best practices.
Distribution Modeling Using Remote Sensing
In this research, species distribution modeling is used as a tool to understand the environmental determinants that control the distribution of species and to obtain spatial patterns on the species’…
Dja Reserve
For the past 20 years, we have been conducting research in the Dja Biosphere Reserve and adjacent areas. The Dja Biosphere Reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in…
Drought Influence on Chlorophyll Fluorescence in Evergreen and Deciduous Plant Species of Southern California
Awardee: Ariel Pezner. Ariel's research focuses on the effects of drought on the chlorophyll fluorescence of four drought deciduous and evergreen plant species native to Southern California.
Ebola
The Center for Tropical Research is investigating what may be the environmental drivers of infectious diseases, and what might trigger outbreaks during particular times or conditions. In collaboration with Dr. Rick Schoenberg, chair of the the Department of Statistics at UCLA, our team is using novel models to understand ebola outbreaks.
Eco-Evolutionary Consequences of Global Change on Invasive Plant Species
Human activities are dramatically impacting ecosystems worldwide due to air pollution – and resulting changes to climate and nitrogen cycling – and the spread of nonnative plant species. These drivers of global change may have strong and interactive ecological effects, but the evolutionary impacts of these factors are poorly understood. La Kretz postdoc Justin Valliere is currently exploring potential adaptation to nitrogen pollution and climate in common invasive plant species of California. This study will have important implications for invasive plant management under predicted global change.