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Bernard Field Station Use Spring 2005

Research Projects

Request No.: 05AC7F8835
Submitted on: 3/25/05 at 10:09 AM
User: Diane Thomson, Faculty member, JSD
E-mail: dthomson@jsd.claremont.edu
College phone: 607-0029

Number in research group: 1
Dates: 04/01/2005 to 05/01/2005
Frequency: Weekly
Time of day: Afternoon
Areas to be used: western CSS, central CSS, corner, infirmary, north field, south field, lower neck, central neck, upper neck
Facilities or equipment needed: None
Will any plant or animal species be studied? yes - multiple annual plants-see below
Will plants or animals be collected? yes
Will vertebrate animals be collected or manipulated? no
Will markings or flags be used? no

Description of research project: I would like to collect seeds from some of the annual plants at BFS, in preparation for potentially starting some some student thesis experiments on native plant/invasive plant competition and/or some class experiments on effects of diversity on ecoysystem function. These experiments would not be initiated until next winter, but would require a seed stock for some of the native and introduced species present at the field station. I plan to collect several hundred seeds from some of the most common species flowering at the station, including Amsinckia, Cryptantha, Phacelia, and Brassica spp. I will not collect from any species that is not clearly abundant.

Request No.: 05AC7E7DDB
Submitted on: 3/25/05 at 10:00 AM
User: Diane Thomson, Faculty member, JSD
E-mail: dthomson@jsd.claremont.edu
College phone: 607-0029

Number in research group: 1
Dates: 03/30/2005 to 05/01/2005
Frequency: Other - 3-4 times
Time of day: Morning, Afternoon
Areas to be used: western CSS, central CSS, lower neck, central neck, upper neck
Facilities or equipment needed: None
Will any plant or animal species be studied? Various solitary bee species
Will plants or animals be collected? yes
Will vertebrate animals be collected or manipulated? no
Will markings or flags be used? no

Description of research project: I am carrying out baseline data collection as part of a project on pollinator communities in coastal sage scrub fragments. I plan to collect bees using two different methods: netting and pan trapping. Pan trapping involves placement of colored bowls filled with water along a transect for several hours in order to attract and collect flower-visiting insects. The goal is to assess solitary bee diversity and use of different plant species in the coastal scrub vegetation at BFS. All collected bees will be maintained in a collection at JSD and available to any other interested researchers.

Request No.: 0594E8D5AC
Submitted on: 2/1/05 at 9:39 AM
User: Marius van der Merwe, Faculty member, JSD
E-mail: mvandermerwe@jsd.claremont.edu
College phone: 909 621 8758

Number in research group: 1
Dates: 02/20/2005 to 06/01/2005
Frequency: Several-days/week
Time of day: Dawn, Evening
Areas to be used: eastern CSS, oak forest
Facilities or equipment needed: Floor space for storage of large container with sand.
Will any plant or animal species be studied? yes - California ground squirrel (Spermophilus beechyi)
Will plants or animals be collected? no
Will vertebrate animals be collected or manipulated? no
Will markings or flags be used? yes - I will use feeding stations (consisting of artificial food patches) at different points in the habitat. A food patch will simply be a plastic container filled with sand, into which food is mixed.

Description of research project: Predatory threats often vary with features of the environment, some areas favoring predators and some favoring prey. Dangerous areas may be under-utilized whereas safe areas may be over-utilized, resulting in patterns of habitat use shaped by risk or fear. Areas that differ in predation risk can be visualized as a landscape of fear, with valleys representing areas of relative safety, and peaks areas of relative danger. The foraging cost of predation can be measured at specific locations in the environment using the giving-up-density of food of a foraging animal in artificial food patches. The aim is to extrapolate from such measurements to spatial 3-D maps representing landscapes of predation cost or fear, and specifically, to gain insights into factors affecting predation risk, and therefore habitat use, of California ground squirrels (Spermophilus beechyi).

Request No.: 0590BF3D81
Submitted on: 1/25/05 at 3:59 PM
User: Jeff Gabster, Undergraduate student, HMC
E-mail: jgabster@hmc.edu
College phone: 909-607-4847
Instructor/Advisor: Anna Ahn, 607-9122, Anna_Ahn@hmc.edu

Number in research group: 1
Dates: 01/18/2005 to 02/18/2005
Frequency: Other - 1-4 times when it rains at night
Time of day: Evening, Night
Areas to be used: pHake Lake, vernal pools
Facilities or equipment needed: None
Will any plant or animal species be studied? yes - Bufo boreas - Western Toad
Will plants or animals be collected? no
Will vertebrate animals be collected or manipulated? no
Will markings or flags be used? no

Description of research project: This will be a preliminary study to determine the best locations for collecting a small number of Western Toads in a few weeks. A larger laboratory study will be completed under a separate use request once permission for animal use is granted by the Joint Science Dept.

I will simply be looking at the vernal pool and pHake Lake areas to locate toads on nights when it rains. Sighting locations will be noted for potential collection sites to be used in the next few weeks.

Request No.: 0476DC7769
Submitted on: 10/1/04 at 4:10 PM
User: Cassie Fairchild, Undergraduate student, HMC
E-mail: cfairchild@hmc.edu
College phone: (909)607-4798
Research advisor: Stephen Adolph, adolph@hmc.edu, 607-1872

Number in research group: 1
Dates: 10/1/04 to 5/15/04
Frequency: Several-days/week
Time of day: Dawn, Morning, Afternoon, Evening
Areas to be used: western CSS, central CSS, pHake Lake, eastern CSS, oak forest, corner, infirmary, east field, lower neck, central neck, upper neck
Facilities or equipment needed: None
Will any plant or animal species be studied? Yes - western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis)
Will plants or animals be collected? Yes
Will vertebrate animals be collected or manipulated? Yes
Will markings or flags be used? Yes - I'll use surveyor's flagging tape to mark trees where lizards live.

Description of research project: My research project will examine predator-prey relationships and foraging strategies of western fence lizards. The project will have several components. First, I will be measuring arthropod prey abundances using tanglefoot on index cards. Arthropod samples will be collected ten times over the academic year, each time being left in the field for three days. Second, I will be collecting data on foraging behaviors by presenting lizards with meal worms at various distances. Finally, I will be observing perch locations of lizards and their natural foraging behaviors. I will capture the observed lizards for the purposes of identifying the sex, measuring, and tagging with temporary white-out marks. All lizards will be re-released in the field within a few minutes of capture. I plan to observe approximately 100 lizards in the field and conduct the meal worm experiment with 30-50 individuals. I have submitted an animal care protocol, and it is currently under review by the Joint Sciences Animal Care and Use Committee.