This week was all about my methods section, I have some revision to do but for the most part my peers enjoyed the section of the paper and stated that i gave enough information to repeat the process for future projects on island oak trees. I am still polygoning my groves in ArcMap, it has been slow and painful but the map is coming out fantastic. I am still having issues with the 1989 map but this can be solved next week when I meet with Ryan Summer.
This week I began working with GIS and creating polygons around the groves. I also began the overlaying the 1989 map the search for expansion.
Last Thursday I continued water quality probe training and now I just need one more training session in the field to check out the probe for my project. My goal is to check it out this weekend and survey all five sites in one day. Then I will check it out again in about a month, hopefully after some rain, and collect more data so I can compare water quality before and and after the main bulk of El Niño rains. The purpose of this data is determine how adequate the sites are for UTS survival, and how rain can increase or decrease the quality of water in their habitat. Pictured above is the Soledad Canyon Site which is owned and managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper is hosting a series of Refugio Oil Spill-related talks through the end of March 2016. It looks like there will be some great presentations!
From their website:
The Plains All American Pipeline Spill provided a harsh reminder that oil exploration, production, and transport along our coast can have significant impacts on the environment, the economy, and our community. While federal, state, and local agencies, non-profits, and scientists are working to ensure we are better prepared for future spills, it is important for our community to be informed, engaged, and empowered to participate in this process.
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History are co-hosting a six-part speaker series that will address how Santa Barbara is moving forward after the oil spill. Experts will present on each topic (themes listed below), followed by a brief question and answer period moderated by Karl Hutterer. Each session will take place at Farrand Hall at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History from 6pm-8pm. Admission is free.
For questions about the series, please contact Jenna Driscoll at Santa Barbara Channelkeeper at jennad@sbck.org or 805-563-3377 x 5.
Details of upcoming presentations:
January 13th: Introduction to Oil Operations in Santa Barbara County
February 10th: Oil Spill Preparedness: Santa Barbara’s Oil Spill Response Plan and new legislation to improve spill prevention and response
February 17th: Research and Monitoring Impacts from the Refugio Oil Spill
March 2nd: Do Your Part: Volunteering During an Oil Spill
March 16th: Truth about Seeps: Natural and Anthropogenic Sources of Oil in the Santa Barbara Channel
March 30th: Moving Beyond Oil: Sustainable Energy and Transportation in Santa Barbara County
Spoke with Monika Lynn Krach from the LiMPETS|Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary to collaborate in Sand crab collection as well as future student education. Monika runs the program for kids learning science through intertidal and sandy beach surveys and has collected more sand crabs for the project! We are sharing procedural information as well as data as the group is tracking parasites inside of the sand crabs. I will be creating a video for the students explaining the micro plastics procedure and writing in the LiMPETS blog to share my research. I am very excited to have more groups involved in the education of the public and hopefully some ideas on how to fix the problem!
With a majority of the data collection to go and the only research left to do is tree coring, the only thing left to do is paper work. I’ve made great strides on the introduction section of the paper in the means of organization, only a few sections left until that is complete. Rough draft of the methods section is finished. An addition of several maps outlining the research area and coordinates would be a great addition.
Well this Friday I did my first lesson of Unit 3. What I thought about was why long-term research is done and why it is so important as well as talked about how the protocol for looking at mole/sand crabs will be going. It went very well. The second class went better than the first because one I had what I was going to say in my mind and I had about 15 more minutes than the first. Both lesson still went very well, I got all of the important points across so that was good. Before I taught my lessons I gave out a survey for the students to complete that asked them about how they felt about the environment, then the back side of the survey asked them a few questions about protocol and how they felt about the field trip to Carpinteria State Beach.
Then for my lecture I handed out another worksheet for the students to fill out during it. It was about the protocol for sand beach and questions about mole/sand crabs. I feel like the students really liked learning about the mole crabs. They had a couple of good questions about it. Like “How do we sex these animals?” “How do they eat detritus and filter feed?” I had a lot of fun do this and I can’t wait to continue going to the school and talking with them about something that I enjoy doing.
See you all next week for my next post.
This week has brought some very stong winds to parts of SoCal. A wind storm last Sunday in San Diego resulted in the loss of a historic cottage as well as what was believed to be one of the tallest Torrey pines left. You can read the story from local news in the link below.
This week I focused most of my attention towards the methods section of my paper. In addition I created a map of my study site. Below is a quick excerpt about the study site of my research.
Santa Rosa Island (SRI) is located 42 km offshore of Santa Barbara, CA within the Channel Islands National Park and is the second largest Channel Island (214 km2). The population of Pinus insularis is located along the island’s North coast approximately 5 km Southeast of the pier and 1 km Northwest of Southeast Anchorage. The population is located on steep, loamy marine terraces. The climate on SRI is Mediterranean with most rainfall occurring between November and April, and a dry season that extends generally from May-October. The island is frequented by consistent winds that blow year round from the northwest.
For the past week, I have been working on my methods section for Capstone. Also, I have received my collecting permit for TPSNR. Next weekend, I will be heading to TPSNR to collect Torrey pine pinecones for my common garden experiment. I am super excited that my permit went through!!!
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