Tag Archive for: instructor-none-2

I never thought I would be a birder growing up but that has all changed since my engagement at CSU Channel Islands and my enrollment in Ornithology. Recently I have had the opportunity to learn how to conduct transects, point counts, bird band and set up and take down mist nets. I was able to work alongside Dr. Linnea Hall, Executive Director and René Corado, Collections Manager for the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology in assisting them in a demonstration for the Ornithology class.

I never thought I would be working with such a rare endemic species as an undergraduate. There is a great challenge in understanding germination conditions of endemic native flora when so little life history has been studied. On a daily basis I enter the CSU Channel Islands greenhouse to check on seed viability under different irrigation and leaf litter treatments. Each tray contains 50 seeds and all are marked with toothpicks for location. Once germinated, I mark them with tape including their day of radical emergence (>3mm) and seed number. So far my preliminary findings suggest that leaf litter is very important for germination (rate and success).