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Bernard Field Station Use Fall 2003

Research Projects

Request No.: 03AA3E1D7
Submitted on: 11/21/03 at 12:12 PM
User: Rose Hakim, Undergraduate Student, HMC
E-mail: rhakim@hmc.edu
College phone: (909)607-4842, Other phone: (310)621-2781

Type of use: Research
Number in group: 4
Dates: 11/21/2003 to 11/24/2003
Frequency: Once - Maybe once every few weeks until mid-Dec.
Time of day: Varies - ASAP
Areas or facilities needed: pHake Lake, vernal pools - Please recommend best source of pond water. Thank you!
Species to be studied: no
Will vertebrate animals be used? no
Will markings or flags be used? no
Will plants or animals be collected? no

Project description: We will be taking 12-15 gallons of pond water to flush anaerobic composters, in order to have the microorganisms to digest the organic material.

Request No.: 039100DE7
Submitted on: 11/18/03 at 10:57 pm
User: Jill Tetrick and Trevor Young, Students, JSD
E-mail: jtetrick@scrippscol.edu
College phone: 909 489 3831

Type of use: Research
Number in group: 2
Dates: 11/21 to 11/30
Frequency: Several-days/week
Time of day: Afternoon
Areas or facilities needed: Eastern CSS
Species to be studied: Sparrows, juncos, and scrub jays
Will vertebrate animals be collected or manipulated? no
Will markings or flags be used? no
Will plants or animals be collected? no

Project description:

Title: The Effect of Noise Pollution on the Feeding Pattern of the Local Bird Population

Hypothesis: Increased road noise will adversely affect the feeding behavior of birds.

Methods and Materials: A site north of Foothill Boulevard in the Bernard Field Station will be chosen. A site with an abundance of birds will be selected, based on information found in a field guide. This site will be monitored every couple of days. Observations will be made about the feeding behavior of birds relative to the amount of noise pollution. Noise will be measured by counting the number of large trucks and airplanes passing by during two-hour intervals. Data will be collected at the same time during each of four observation periods.

This study is intended to investigate the effect of noise pollution on the general population of birds in nature rather than on a specific species. Some variables in this study cannot be controlled, such as the availability of other food sources, because the study will be conducted in a natural environment. This study will be conducted until the end of November 2003.

Request No.: 03833D8E6
Submitted on: 11/17/03 at 1:32 p.m.
User: Tawny Marie Mata, Student, Pomona
E-mail: tmm02000@pomona.edu
College phone: 607 2113
Instructor/Advisor: Stephen Adolph, adolph@hmc.edu, 607 1872

Type of use: Research
Number in group: 1
Dates: November 2003 to May 2004
Frequency: Several days/week
Time of day: Dawn, Morning, Afternoon
Areas or facilities needed: oak forest, infirmary, classroom
Species to be studied: Sceloporus occidentalis (Western Fence Lizard)
Will vertebrate animals be used? Yes
Will markings or flags be used? Yes - tempra paint for identification (non-toxic)
Will plants or animals be collected? No

Project description: I am investigating the transmission rate of malaria in Western Fence Lizards and how it varies with age, sex, size, and proximity to squirrel burrows (where the vector lives).

Request No.: 03B0C5CEA
Submitted on: 10/26/03 at 6:45 p.m.
User: Joshua Isaac Engel, Student, Pomona
E-mail: joshua.engel@pomona.edu
College phone: x75860
Instructor/Advisor: Rachel Levin, rlevin@pomon.edu, x18632

Type of use: Research
Number in group: 1
Dates: 1 November 2003 to Spring 2004
Frequency: Other - It will vary depending on my success. It will probably be roughly once or twice per week.
Time of day: Dawn, Morning
Areas or facilities needed: western CSS, central CSS, eastern CSS, corner, lower neck, central neck, upper neck
Species to be studied: Toxostoma redivivum (California Thrasher), Chamaea fasciata (Wrentit), Thryomanes bewickii (Bewick's Wren), Pipilo maculatus (Spotted Towhee)
Will vertebrate animals be used? Yes
Will markings or flags be used? No
Will plants or animals be collected? No

Project description: I am trying to determine the genetic diversity of several bird species, including California thrasher and Wrentit, in a habitat fragment, such as the field station. To do this I will capture the birds in mist-nets, draw a few drops of blood, and take the samples back to the lab to sequence their cytochrome b gene. All of the chosen species are strictly sedentary (non-migratory), so I am asking if these species have limited genetic diversity in a habitat fragment versus a larger fragment where there might be greater gene flow. I will attempt to capture as many individuals of one or two of the aforementioned species as possible. This will probably be approximately 6-8 individuals.

Request No.: 0342B62CB
Submitted on: 10/15/03 at 4:07 p.m.
User: Janice Krumm, Graduate Student, University of California Riverside
E-mail: janlkrumm@hotmail.com
College phone: 909-787-2610, Other phone: 909-276-2678
Instructor/Advisor: Dr. Clay Sassaman, clay.sassaman@ucr.edu, 909-787-5932

Type of use: Research
Number in group: 2
Dates: Oct 14 03 to same
Frequency: November 2003 to April 2004
Time of day: Morning, Afternoon
Areas or facilities needed: Vernal pool
Species to be studied: Branchinecta lindahli (fairy shrimp)
Will vertebrate animals be used? No
Will markings or flags be used? Yes - Small plastic stakes would be used to anchor temperature sensors at the bottoms of the pools.
Will plants or animals be collected? Yes

Project description: The widespread fairy shrimp Branchinecta lindahli shows a large amount of variation in female sex ratios. It has been suggested that this variation is due to the presence of a feminizing factor (Dr. Clay Sassaman, personal communication). My research examines the identity of this putative factor, its effect on female life history traits, and the factors affecting its distribution across the western United States. The Bernard Field Station was suggested to me as a possible field site by Dr. Michael Fugate, a former faculty member at Claremont Colleges. I would like to include the ephemeral pools at the field station as the southern California field sites in my experiments, as they are one of the few local sites where it would be possible to leave temperature sensors in the field over a timespan of several months.

My experiments would require the collection of soil samples from the bottoms of the pools for fairy shrimp egg collection, and for soil testing. In all pools, I would collect less than 1% of the soil surface area on the bottom of the pools. In larger pools, I would collect approximately two one gallon bags of soil from each site. The egg samples would be taken to the Sassaman laboratory at the University of California Riverside, hatched, and raised for the recording of life history data. Their offspring would be collected and raised for the determination of sex ratio, which allows us to type the parental female as to her infection status with the feminizing factor. The pools at the Bernard field station would then be compared with sites all over the western United States in respect to life history data and feminizing factor infection frequency.

Additionally, physical measurements would be taken at the sites, and would be included in an ANOVA analysis to determine if frequencies of the feminizing factor are correlated with the physical aspects of the field sites. These measurements would include length, width, depth, chemical characteristics of the soil, and weather data. In order to calibrate temperature and rainfall data to pool characteristics such as time of filling and length of pool fill, I need to monitor several pools this winter over the times they fill with water. I would like to monitor the pools at Bernard field station by leaving several small, waterproof, completely contained temperature monitors in pools over the winter. In order to be able to find them the next spring, I would ask to drive one plastic stake in the bottom of each pool being monitored to which the sensor could be attached.

Request No.: 032F86B31
Submitted on: 9/29/03 at 11:03 a.m.
User: Paige DeKoster, Student, Pomona
E-mail: pad02000@pomona.edu
College phone: 607-2110
Instructor/Advisor: Rachel Levin, rnl04747@pomona.edu, 601-8632

Type of use: Research - senior thesis
Number in group: 2
Dates: Dates: October 17 to November 30
Frequency: Daily - these are the dates necessary to collect the birds, we will also return briefly in the spring to release them in time for their migration
Time of day: Dawn, Afternoon, Evening, Night
Areas or facilities needed: western CSS, central CSS, vernal pools, eastern CSS, oak forest, corner, lower neck, central neck, upper neck
Species to be studied: Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii (White-crowned Sparrows)
Will vertebrate animals be used? Yes
Will markings or flags be used? No
Will plants or animals be collected? Yes

Project description: My project investigates the environmental and social cues for the release of testosterone in male white crowned sparrows. The birds will be housed in the Animal room (#120) at Pomona college. I need to collect the sparrows from natural populations as they migrate through Claremont. I wish to collect 20 white-crowns from the field station using mist nets and potter (traps which sit on the ground that the birds can walk into). My project is currently being reviewed by the Pomona College Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. I will provide Mr. Dreher with a copy of its approval.

Request No.: 0283C72C52
Submitted on: 9/6/02 at 10:07 AM
User: Catherine McFadden, Faculty member, HMC
E-mail: mcfadden@hmc.edu
College phone: 909 607-4107, Other phone: 909 399-9260

Type of use: Research
Number in group: 2
Dates: ongoing to ongoing
Frequency: Other - 1-2 visits/month
Time of day: Dawn, Morning
Areas or facilities needed: western CSS, central CSS, pHake Lake, eastern CSS, oak forest, corner, infirmary, east field, lower neck, central neck, upper neck
Species to be studied: all birds
Will vertebrate animals be used? no
Will markings or flags be used? no
Will plants or animals be collected? no

Project description: ongoing survey of birds using the BFS with the goal of putting together a comprehensive site checklist with information on seasonal abundance and use patterns

Request No.: 0240B3B546
Submitted on: 2/8/02 at 6:37 PM
User: Frances Hanzawa, Faculty member, Pomona
E-mail: fhanzawa@pomona.edu
College phone: 621-8601

Type of use: Research
Number in group: 1-4
Dates: Dec 2000 to ongoing
Frequency: Other - daily during winter; 1-3 times/week in spring, early summer
Time of day: Varies - varied times, daylight hours only
Areas or facilities needed: central CSS, eastern CSS, oak forest, infirmary, lower neck, central neck, upper neck - none
Species to be studied: Marah macrocarpus
Will vertebrate animals be used? no
Will markings or flags be used? yes - Flags mark individual plants. Two flag colors: White stake flags (2.5 x 3.5" flags; 15" stakes) and fluorescent pink stake flags (same type)
Will plants or animals be collected? yes

Project description: We are examining the population genetic structure and mating system of Marah macrocarpus. Leaf tissue and seeds are collected from marked plants for electrophoresis. The resulting data are used to estimate the level of inbreeding and to examine the extent of differentiation between spatially separated subpopulations. During winter 2002 and 2003, students will be examining the mating system through controlled cross- and self-pollinations.