Final Capstone Trip to Santa Cruz Island

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This weekend marked the last of my trips to Santa Cruz Island for my capstone project. It was my final weekend of data collection, and lots of data was collected. It was great weekend to go out to SCI as there was a fire crew on the island conducting controlled burns of previous eucalyptus debris piles. The National Park Service Division of Fire and Aviation Management sent two teams, one from Joshua Tree National Park and the other from Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Park to conduct the burns. It was such a unique opportunity to see them burning on the island, and I have to give a huge thanks to the fire teams for staying clear of my study sites and not disrupting them! I would also like to thank my assistant, Daniella Caccavalla, who accompanied me this weekend and assisted with data collection; Clark Cowan from NPS who assisted with plant identification and logistics; and finally the fire crews once again. It was the best way to end my time on Santa Cruz Island for this project!

Fresh Water testing for Microplastics begins!

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Thru my WRPI/USDA grant I will be testing fresh water sources for microplastics, that flow to the ocean.  Ventura River, Perkins Estuary, Santa Clara River and Calleguas Creek will be the 4 main water sheds for testing at the river mouth into the ocean.  I am testing the soil as well as the water for the presence and abundance of microplastics.  Then I will be testing the watershed at its point source of pollution, which are the sewer treatment facilities that drain directly into 3/4 of these water sheds.

Threatened Western Snowy plovers and Endangered California Least Terns nest at the mouths of all of these water sheds as well as many other migrating water fowl.  I will be working with the Nest Monitor at Ormond beach where Perkins Estuary is located to possibly check hatched eggs for toxins as well.

I also have fresh water soil samples from watersheds in the Santa Monica Mountains that are not point source fed and have found micro plastics.  I am curious to see what the difference in abundance and types of particles we find in these different water sheds.  Hopefully with this information we can work on more policy change and infrastructure changes to the way we pollute our watersheds with plastic particles.

The Vulnerable Professor

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Recently, I’ve been examining Brené Brown’s research about vulnerability and it’s really got me thinking about what it means to college and university professors, as well as how it may be acting as a barrier to innovation. I suspect that vulnerability may seem like a strange topic to many of you. However, my experiences, which I share below, […]

Trip to Santa Rosa Island

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This week I will be going to Santa Rosa Island with the high school students. They will be participating in National park vegetation survey and sandy beach survey. Similar to the one they did at Carpinteria State Beach back in February.  I will be staying for 3 days out there. This is a great opportunity for students to connect with nature, which I will be paying close attention to.