Posts

Research Update 3/13/16

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This week I spent some time in the Owens Valley and Eastern Sierra mountain range learning about water management in Southern California. The Torrey pine has only two remaining locations that are both in Southern California, SRI and San Diego. Both locations are experiencing extreme drought which may be a contributing factor to species decline. This is most prominently seen in the San Diego population where the synergistic effect of drought and bark beetle are being observed with a higher rate of mortality.

Below is a picture of me on the recent trip above Rush Creek Dam and Powerplant.

 

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Last Survey and data stats

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Well I went to the Channel Islands High School and I gave them the last survey. It was good I was a little sad because I won’t be seeing them until April when we go to Santa Rosa.

I have also just started to get all of my data into one place where I can start getting an idea of what it is showing me. I had a meeting with Sean Anderson to talk about what I should be looking for in my data and how I should proceed So that is what it is all looking like. I hope that all of my data turns out well :)

My data
My data

Field Photos

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Despite working with cameras for my capstone, I have yet to have a photo of myself working. I’m heading back out over spring break with Dr. O’Hirok’s stream team, I’m sure there will be ample opportunities for field photos then. In the mean time, this is the best I have. The Lobo Canyon camera, capturing the back of my legs the last time I checked it. IMG_0237

Data Organization

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The past few weeks have consisted of compiling all my data and organizing it into tables. Here is a table showing chlorophyll levels in each stream section over time.

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Common Garden Update

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The common garden has shown no growth yet. This past weekend, I went to Owens Valley for my Water Resource Management class, so I had my friend Melinda water the plants and she found no growth. I am hoping to see some growth by the end of this week.

View from White Mountain Research Center
View from White Mountain Research Center

Plans for March

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Over spring break, I will be traveling to Santa Rosa Island to finish collecting my data. I will be surveying my second watershed, Quemada Watershed. After the trip, my data set will be complete and ready for final analysis. During March, I will also be analyzing my current data set and prepare a poster for the AAG (American Association of Geographers) Conference. After the island trip, I will have a few days to finalize my poster. At the end of March, I will present in San Francisco for the conference.

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Results and Common Garden Update

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This past week, I was working on my results where I found that there  is a decline in the Torrey pine population growth within the demography plots. It is quiet fascinating, in how Travis Hall and Andrew Brinkman found that the population was increasing with their data collection. Additionally, it will be interesting to see how this data will will correlate with the common garden experiment, which might shed some light on why there has been a decrease in the population growth.

TPSNR Torrey Pine Tree - These trees are to be much larger than the SRI Torrey pines.
TPSNR Torrey Pine Tree – These trees are to be much larger than the SRI Torrey pines.
Premature TPSNR Torrey Pine Cones
Premature TPSNR Torrey Pine Cones

Data Extraction

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This weekend I have been finishing up maps and extracting vegetation data by three slope categories (0-10%, 10-30%, 30-90%). The vegetation data was extracted from a 1993 map and the 2015 map to figure out the change for each cover type. The largest decrease in cover was found in annual and foothill grassland while the largest increase was in woody scrub (Lupine/Baccharis).

 

 

Transect 1’s Significant Erosion

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The most dramatic changes at Port Hueneme can be seen at Transect 1. The top photo taken in October had a beach length of 90 meters to the edge of the scarp. Currently (2/27/16), the beach is 5 meters to the edge of the scarp. As the sand is migrating south, more and more riprap is becoming exposed. I predict that within the next few months, Transect 1 will be completely underwater and unable to survey with the automatic level.

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Ormond Beach Clean up for the Threatened Snowy Plover

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Had a great time on Saturday working with Ventura Surfrider and Ventura Audubon to clean up the nesting area for the threatened Snowy Plover at Ormond beach.  This is my second season working with the local nest monitor for the Western Snowy Plover and California Least Tern.  I brought my niece and nephews out to learn about the habitat and why picking up trash is so important.