The UCLA La Kretz Center 10th Annual Public Lecture examined the impacts of wild fire on California conservation. Featuring preeminent ecologists Carla D’Antonio (UC Santa Barbara), Jon Keeley (US Geological…
The western pond turtle is California’s only native freshwater turtle. The turtle’s numbers have been declining due to urbanization, limited water availability, and competition or predation from invasive species —…
The Biodiversity and Landscaping Team is a group dedicated to enhancing the ecology of the UCLA campus. We believe that being ecologically sound and aesthetically pleasing are not mutually exclusive. UCLA was…
Awardee: Emily Ryznar, PhD Student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Emily's research focuses on enhancing the understanding and early detection of the invasive marine alga, Sargassum horneri in Southern California through predictive modeling and experimentation.
Team: Anna George, Noah Horvath, Destiny Johnson, Eileen Ly, Roajhaan Sakaki, Shang Shi Advisor: Rob Eagle Client: The Bay Foundation
The Boneyard at Sagehill The Urban Nature Laboratory team will be focusing on three main objectives this year. Firstly, we will be conducting research and reaching out to other institutions and facilities…
La Kretz Postdoc Joscha Beninde is conducting a comparative landscape genomics study to understand how species survive and thrive in urban environments.
The Bruin Naturalists Club is a student organization at UCLA dedicated to getting people outside to learn about and interact with nature. We organize hikes, camping trips, and outreach events…
The Center for Climate Science is using climate, vegetation, and fire observations and models to answer critical questions for California's future: Under climate change, what will happen to forests? How will fire risk change? How will climate, forest, and fire changes interact with and exacerbate one another — and what can we do to prepare?
Awardee: Rachel Turba. Rachel is investigating shifts in community structure related to such impacts through exploration of environmental DNA from water samples and sediments from these lagoons, with the goal to address conservation efforts related to translocation of populations or local environment improvement.
Awardee: Monica Dimson, Ph.D. Student. Monica is interested in modeling the distribution of the invasive shot-hole borer (Euwallacea sp. nr.fornicatus), a beetle that threatens native trees, urban forests, and agricultural crops in California, in order to assess the utility of these models in conservation and planning.
Awardee: Kelly Barr, PhD Student. Kellys work surrounds using a massive genomic dataset to analyze these issues in Tricolored Blackbirds, a species that has undergone sharp declines and is under intense management throughout the state of California.
