HOME > Projects > Spring ’08 Research Projects

Bernard Field Station Use Spring 2008

Research Projects

Request No.: 0810911D92
Submitted on: 5/5/08 at 3:56 PM
User: Grace C. Wu, Undergraduate student, Pomona
E-mail: grace.wu@pomona.edu
College phone: x76987
Instructor/Advisor: Jonathan Wright, (909) 621-8603, jcw04747@pomona.edu

Number in research group: 2
Dates: 09/01/2007 to 07/01/2008
Frequency: Weekly
Time of day: Varies - Dates and times are unpredictable - will depend on weather and specimen availability/need
Areas to be used: central CSS, oak forest, south field, lower neck
Facilities or equipment needed: None
Will any plant or animal species be studied? yes - Mite, Parateneriffia sp.
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: Study is examining the water balance physiology, thermal tolerance and locomotory biomechanics of a small predatory mite, examining these factors across all instars. We have shown these mites to have exceptional physiology in all three aspects, so the work is of particular interest. This species can be abundant when found, but its occurrence is erratic and different instars vary in microhabitat, from open ground to leaf litter.

Request No.: 08FC230951
Submitted on: 4/2/08 at 2:52 PM
User: Timothy Iafe, Undergraduate student, CMC
E-mail: tiafe08@cmc.edu
College phone: 6196061259
Instructor/Advisor: Dr. Susan Schenk, 909-607-4018, sschenk@jsd.claremont.edu

Number in research group: 4
Dates: 04/02/2007 to 05/01/2008
Frequency: Weekly
Time of day: Afternoon
Areas to be used: central CSS, pHake Lake
Facilities or equipment needed: None
Will any plant or animal species be studied? Yes - algae
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 participating in a Team Masters' Project at KGI. Our research project is sponsored by the Clear Springs Land Company in Florida, and they have charged us with the objective of analyzing the renewable fuels market and making a recommendation in how best to enter that market. One of the opportunities we are assessing in this project is the production of biodiesel from algae.

Over the next few weeks, we hope to collect algae samples from pHake Lake and analyze them. We are specifically interested in trying to identify the algae species, performing chemical composition analyses, and trying to grow the algae in cultures. This work will be conducted in the lab facilities at KGI and will complement our market research by providing practical insight into using algae as a feedstock for fuel. Our findings will be included in a final report submitted to KGI at the end of this semester along with a formal presentation summarizing our work for the entire year.

Request No.: 08EA3E225A
Submitted on: 2/14/08 at 10:33 AM
User: Kira Donnelly, Undergraduate student, Pomona
E-mail: Kira.Donnelly@pomona.edu
College phone: 503.459.7509
Instructor/Advisor: Frances Hanzawa, 909-621-8601, frances.hanzawa@pomona.edu

Number in research group: 2
Dates: 02/14/2008 to 05/08/2008
Frequency: Other - I will collect plant tissue several times throughout the semester, when I need to collect tissue samples.
Time of day: Varies - collection times will vary
Areas to be used: central CSS, eastern CSS, oak forest, corner, south field, lower neck
Facilities or equipment needed: None
Will any plant or animal species be studied? Yes - Phacelia tanacetifolia (could be Phacelia distans, will identify once they come into flower)
Will plants or animals be collected? Yes
Will vertebrate animals be collected or manipulated? No
Will markings or flags be used? Yes - I will flag specific plants that I sample from, but will remove the flags once I am done.

Description of research project: For my senior thesis in biology I want to analyze the effect of population size on genetic diversity of the common native annual, Phacelia tanacetifolia. One of the populations I want to analyze is that in the BFS. This project will entail taking small leaf tissue samples from several individuals (around 20) in a population, then running gel electrophoresis on the samples with several different stains to score the genotype of each individual. This project may give further insight into the effects of fragmentation of the Coastal Sage Scrub habitat around Los Angeles on common native plant species.

Request No.: 08E91ACFC0
Submitted on: 2/12/08 at 2:22 PM
User: Melinda Herrold-Menzies, Faculty member, Pitzer
E-mail: mmenzies@pitzer.edu
College phone: 909-607-7960

Number in research group: 2
Dates: 02/20/2008 to 03/31/2008
Frequency: Several-days/week
Time of day: Morning, Afternoon
Areas to be used: western CSS, central CSS, pHake Lake, vernal pools, eastern CSS, oak forest, corner, classroom/infirmary, north field, south field, lower neck, central neck, upper neck
Facilities or equipment needed: None
Will any plant or animal species be studied? no
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: I will be working with Mark Acuna to learn more about Tongva uses of native plants that are found at the Bernard Field Station. We will be working on plant identification, but will not be taking plant samples.

Request No.: 07DA7762A7
Submitted on: 12/31/07 at 9:36 AM
User: Catherine McFadden, Faculty member, HMC
E-mail: mcfadden@hmc.edu
College phone: 74107

Number in research group: 2
Dates: 01/01/2008 to 12/30/2008
Frequency: Other - monthly
Time of day: Dawn, Morning
Areas to be used: western CSS, central CSS, eastern CSS, oak forest, corner, north field, south field, lower neck, central neck, upper neck
Facilities or equipment needed: None
Will any plant or animal species be studied? yes - birds
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: Monthly bird census for the purpose of maintaining BFS bird checklist and records.

Request No.: 07CD2E3F36
Submitted on: 11/8/07 at 2:13 PM
User: Emily Schultz and Kate Fehlhaber, Undergraduate student, Scripps
E-mail: eschultz@scrippscollege.edu
College phone: (415)595-2358, Other phone: (509)552-1360
Instructor/Advisor: Dr. Susan Schenk, x 74018, sschenk@jsd.claremont.edu

Number in research group: 10
Dates: 11/08/2007 to 05/31/2009
Frequency: Weekly
Time of day: Varies - When volunteers have a few hours, always during daylight hours
Areas to be used: western CSS, central CSS, pHake Lake, vernal pools, eastern CSS, oak forest, corner, infirmary area, north field, south field, lower neck, central neck, upper neck
Facilities or equipment needed: None
Will any plant or animal species be studied? Yes - We will be indentifying the tree species at the station.
Will plants or animals be collected? No
Will vertebrate animals be collected or manipulated? No
Will markings or flags be used? Yes - We will be attaching aluminum tags to each tree.

Description of research project: The purpose of this project is to use GPS (Global Positioning System) and GIS (Geographic Information System) to map the vegetation at the Bernard Field Station. We will begin with the trees, taking information on height, diameter at breast height, canopy spread, location, and species. We will then input this information into ArcMap, so that it will be available to future students and faculty doing research at the Bernard Field Station.

Request No.:
Submitted on: 9/18/07 at 9:21 PM
User: Shayni Saftler, Undergraduate student, HMC
E-mail: ssaftler@hmc.edu
College phone: 360-888-3262
Instructor/Advisor: Steve Adolph, (909) 607-1872, adolph@hmc.edu

Number in research group: 1
Dates: 09/18/2007 to 05/05/2008
Frequency: Several-days/week
Time of day: Dawn, Morning, Afternoon
Areas to be used: western CSS, central CSS, pHake Lake, vernal pools, eastern CSS, oak forest, corner, classroom/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 - Sceloporus occidentalis
Will plants or animals be collected? yes
Will vertebrate animals be collected or manipulated? yes
Will markings or flags be used? no

Description of research project: Sceloporus occidentalis is a sit-and-wait predator that encounters prey at a distance. This specific behavior and the factors that influence it have been studied for S. occidentalis and many similar sit-and-wait predators. Shafir and Roughgarden (1997) studied the foraging behavior of the tropical lizard Anolis gingivinus and found that the probability of an individual pursuing prey decreases sigmoidally with the prey’s distance. Similarly, a study by Chase (1996) showed that plant abundance decreases with increasing distance from structures that house S. occidentalis. This is in accordance with the fact that grasshoppers, the main prey of fence lizards, feed on plants, suggesting the occurrence of a trophic cascade (Chase 1996). Foraging behavior may also reflect seasonal differences in habitat and microhabitat. Results supporting this relationship have been shown for the fringe-toed lizard, Uma inornata (Durtsche 1995), the African large girdled lizard, Cordylus giganteus (Wyk 2000), the tropical anole, A. nebulosus (Lister and Garcia Aguayo 1992), and several other tropical lizards (Gienger et al. 2002). Similarly, Sabo and Power (2002) studied the numerical response of S. occidentalis to the abundance of river-derived insects and found that lizard density rapidly declined in response to reduction of aquatic insect abundance. Furthermore, mathematical models for predicting optimal foraging behavior have been related to satiation, food abundance, speed, and distance moved (Emlen 1966), as well as metabolism and maximum energy intake (Jackson et al.).

For this project I will be studying the foraging behavior of Sceloporus occidentalis. Specifically, I will be looking at the probability of prey capture attempt as a function of prey distance from the lizard perch site. I will also investigate how this function varies with lizard size, lizard sprint speed, and seasonal changes in temperature and prey availability. 25-50 lizards will be collected by hand-held noose from the Bernard Field Station, measured for sprint speed and size in the lab, and released at the capture site. In the lab lizards will be housed individually in shoe-box sized plastic containers with fluorescent lights, fed with crickets, and exposed to a 12:12 cycling thermal regime of 35°C in the day and 20°C at night. To measure sprint speed they will be raced five times each at their optimal temperature of 35°C. Lizards will be marked with non-toxic paint (white out) before released at the capture site so that they will be identifiable in the field for observational studies. In the field lizards will be fed supplemental mealworms in order to manipulate satiation and test foraging behavior in response to prey distance.

Request No.: 07AB756DBC
Submitted on: 6/25/07 at 1:50 PM
User: Steve Adolph, Faculty member, HMC
E-mail: adolph@hmc.edu
College phone: 607-1872

Number in research group: 5
Dates: 07/01/2007 to 12/31/2009
Frequency: Several-days/week
Time of day: Morning, Afternoon, Evening
Areas to be used: western CSS, central CSS, eastern CSS
Facilities or equipment needed: None
Will any plant or animal species be studied? yes - Plestiodon (formerly Eumeces) skiltonianus — western skink
Will plants or animals be collected? no
Will vertebrate animals be collected or manipulated? no
Will markings or flags be used? yes - We will use either colored surveyors' tape or typical field flags to mark the locations of cover boards.

Description of research project: Habitat enhancement for western skinks.

We propose to provide cover boards to enhance the habitat for western skinks at BFS, and to facilitate future surveys of skink abundance. Western skinks are one of the least frequently seen reptile species living at BFS, in part because of their cryptic behavior. We propose to provide up to 30 cover boards in CSS habitat in the CSS habitat between pHake Lake and Foothill Blvd. Cover boards are either solid wood or plywood, from 0.25 to 1.0 inches thick, and typically 1-2 feet wide and 2-3 feet long. They are placed flush with the ground, and often have a 1-inch spacer board attached to the underside to ensure space between the ground and the board. Boards will be placed in habitats where I have observed skinks in the past, and will occasionally be turned over to search for skinks. Skinks are most active during the spring months (J.Q. Richmond, Cornell University, personal communication), so we will concentrate our search efforts in the spring.

Cover boards are commonly used to enhance habitat and facilitate field study of a variety of reptiles and amphibians, because they provide excellent refuges that are easy to inspect without being damaged. Skinks are frequently found beneath objects on the ground, and we expect skinks to readily make use of these cover boards.

In this phase of the project we do not plan to capture skinks. If future studies involve capturing skinks we will obtain collecting permits and animal care committee approval.

Cover boards are likely to be used by other vertebrate and invertebrate animal species, which we view as a benefit.

Request No.: 0796FBDCEB
Submitted on: 5/23/07 at 10:40 AM
User: Michael A. Erlinger, Faculty member, HMC
E-mail: mike@cs.hmc.edu
College phone: 909 621 8912

Number in research group: 5
Dates: 05/15/2007 to 05/15/2008
Frequency: Several-days/week
Time of day: Morning, Afternoon, Evening
Areas to be used: classroom/infirmary, north field, south field
Facilities or equipment needed: Outdoor classroom,
Will any plant or animal species be studied? yes - Lizards.
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:
Basically, we will continue building a sensor network in the BFS. We have worked on this the past 2 summers and will seek this summer to install a long running network that delivers data to a web page.

Request No.: 0626DFB6B0
Submitted on: 4/5/06 at 12:51 PM
User: Susan Schenk, Staff member, JSD
E-mail: sschenk@jsd.claremont.edu
College phone: 74018

Number in research group: 1
Dates: 01/01/2006 to 12/01/2009
Frequency: Other - varies with type of data collection
Time of day: Varies - may be any time depending on current study
Areas to be used: central CSS, eastern CSS, south field, lower neck, central neck
Facilities or equipment needed: None
Will any plant or animal species be studied? yes - Ribes aureum, Golden Currant
Will plants or animals be collected? yes
Will vertebrate animals be collected or manipulated? no
Will markings or flags be used? yes - Parts of plants will be tagged with flagging tape. All plants will have an aluminum identification tag placed inconspicuously

Description of research project: This is a long-term study on different aspects of the biology of Ribes aureum (Golden Currant). Data will be collected on distribution, morphology, pollination biology, fruit production, asexual reproduction, and interactions with other plants and with animals. The importance of Ribes aureum to the functioning of the coastal sage scrub ecosystem will be investigated.

Request No.: 0626DD886C
Submitted on: 4/5/06 at 12:31 PM
User: Susan Schenk, Staff member, JSD
E-mail: sschenk@jsd.claremont.edu
College phone: 74018

Number in research group: 2
Dates: 04/01/2006 to 12/01/2009
Frequency: Other - Monthly
Time of day: Morning, Afternoon
Areas to be used: central CSS, eastern CSS
Facilities or equipment needed: None
Will any plant or animal species be studied? yes - insects
Will plants or animals be collected? yes
Will vertebrate animals be collected or manipulated? no
Will markings or flags be used? yes - flagging tape to mark sites

Description of research project: This is the beginning of a long-term project designed to begin identifying the insect fauna present at the field station, and to investigate how taxa and numbers vary from site to site, over the year, and between years. Initially, four square sites in coastal sage scrub, 5m on a side, will be identified with flagging tape and located with GPS. Data will be collected the first weekend of each month using pitfall traps, sweep nets, and inspection of the foliage. The insects will be identified as far as possible and preserved to provide a reference collection. Pictures of the insects will be posted on the web. This project may be expanded if more students become interested in it.

Request No.: 0626DCE0E7
Submitted on: 4/5/06 at 12:25 PM
User: Marguerite Kissel, Undergraduate student, Scripps
E-mail: mkissel@scrippscol.edu
College phone: 805 441 3070
Instructor/Advisor: Susan Schenk, 74018, sschenk@jsd.claremont.edu

Number in research group: 1
Dates: 04/01/2006 to 03/01/2009
Frequency: Other - Monthly data collection is planned
Time of day: Morning, Afternoon
Areas to be used: central CSS, eastern CSS
Facilities or equipment needed: None
Will any plant or animal species be studied? yes - insects
Will plants or animals be collected? yes
Will vertebrate animals be collected or manipulated? no
Will markings or flags be used? yes - The limits of the data collection sites will be marked with tape.

Description of research project: This is the beginning of a long-term project designed to begin identifying the insect fauna present in coastal sage scrub at the field station, and to investigate how taxa and numbers vary from site to site, over the year, and between years. Four square sites, 5 m on a side, will be identified with flagging tape and located with GPS. Data will be collected the first weekend of each month using pitfall traps, sweep nets, and inspection of the foliage. The insects will be identified as far as possible and preserved to provide a reference collection. Pictures of the insects will be posted on the web.

Request No.: 0625A167B2
Submitted on: 4/3/06 at 12:34 PM
User: John A. Gamon, Faculty member, - California State University, Los Angeles
E-mail: jgamon@calstatela.edu
College phone: 323-343-2066, Other phone: 626-862-8200

Number in research group: 6
Dates: 04/10/2006 to 09/30/2009
Frequency: Several-days/week - Frequency varies with need
Time of day: Varies - varies with project phase
Areas to be used: western CSS, central CSS, eastern CSS, lower neck
Facilities or equipment needed: Outdoor classroom, Line power, if available; otherwise we can set up solar panels
Will any plant or animal species be studied? yes - Entire ecosystem
Will plants or animals be collected? no
Will vertebrate animals be collected or manipulated? no
Will markings or flags be used? yes - The project entails installation of an eddy covariance tower (for surface-atmosphere CO2 and water vapor flux measurements) and a 100-m tram (track on raised rail) for remote sensing measurements with a robotic cart (like the Mars Rover, but on a track here on Earth).

Description of research project: The purpose of the project is to develop and validate optical and thermal sampling methods for estimating surface-atmosphere fluxes of biologically and radiatively active gases (CO₂ and water vapor, in this case) - the “breathing of the planet.” To do this, we would install an eddy covariance tower (large tripod with meteorological instruments to measure surface-atmosphere gas fluxes) and a tram system (robotic cart on a 100-m track) to measure ecosystem optical and thermal properties. The project is part of SpecNet (http://specnet.info/) and FLUXNET (http://www-eosdis.ornl.gov/FLUXNET/) networks, and is funded by National Science Foundation (Ecosystems and CREST) grants to John Gamon. Our initial goal would be to setup and test the instruments at this site for possible deployment elsewhere. Depending upon the quality of the site and measurements, we may choose to ask for indefinite access (a more-or-less permanent site).

Request No.: 05B826C0CB
Submitted on: 5/19/05 at 7:10 PM
User: Daniel Martinez, Faculty member, Pomona
E-mail: dmartinez@pomona.edu
College phone: 9096077926

Number in research group: 4
Dates: 05/01/2005 to 12/31/2009
Frequency: Other - Sporadically
Time of day: Dawn, Morning, Afternoon
Areas to be used: pHake Lake
Facilities or equipment needed: None
Will any plant or animal species be studied? yes - Hydra spp.
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: Two hydra species inhabit pHake lake: the brown hydra Hydra oligactis and the green hydra Hydra viridissima. Both species have been included in a molecular phylogeny currently being built in the Martinez Lab at Pomona College. Hydra from pHake lake are collected sporadically for training purposes.

Request No.: 059634FD86
Submitted on: 2/3/05 at 12:02 PM
User: Nina Karnovsky, Pomona
E-mail: nina.karnovsky@pomona.edu
College phone: 607-9794

Number in research group: 4
Dates: 02/14/2005 to ongoing
Frequency: Several-days/week
Time of day: Varies - Some activities are at night others in day
Areas to be used: western CSS, central CSS, eastern CSS, oak forest, corner, infirmary area, north field, south field, lower neck, central neck, upper neck
Facilities or equipment needed: None
Will any plant or animal species be studied? Yes - Neotoma fuscipes and Neotoma lepida
Will plants or animals be collected? No
Will vertebrate animals be collected or manipulated? Yes
Will markings or flags be used? No

Project description: Students will be comparing the habitat preferences of the two species of woodrats that are at BFS. I will be attaching small, removable radio collars to woodrats. The students will relocate the rats several times a week. They will map their locations and will measure vegetation characteristics where rats are found. Traps for woodrats will be placed in the evening and checked several times during the night to ensure that no rats are sitting there too long. After capture they will be weighed and sexed, fitted with the radio collar and given a PIT tag. This is a small injected tag that reads like a bar code. This method is preferable to ear tags because ear tags often get pulled out and rip the ears of the rat. All the protocols have been approved by the Fish and Game for both species. Students will be responsible for relocating the rats while they are out foraging. They will need access to BFS at dusk and at night (this is one reason why I want to use BFS; it is safer than sending them elsewhere). These are all advanced biology students who are familiar with BFS and its rules. Students will also make maps of all the woodrat houses that they can find. It is my hope that this project will continue throughout the summer and next fall. Woodrats will be recaptured to remove the radio collars when the batteries start to run out.