UCNRS

Tim Higham Appointed Director of the UCR Natural Reserves System

tomwt — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 17:39:33 +0000

Tim Higham Appointed Director of the UCR Natural Reserves System tomwt Fri, 04/03/2026 - 10:39 More News April 03, 2026

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Field Science Fellowships 2021

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 23:44:14 +0000

Field Science Fellowships 2021 Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 10/23/2020 - 16:44 More News October 23, 2020

The Field Science Fellowship provides financial support to UC undergraduate-faculty teams conducting scientific research in the field at the UC Natural Reserve System. The fellowships enable students to focus on gaining valuable hands-on research experience under the guidance of a faculty researcher. We especially invite applications from students from ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in the sciences.

Each $6,000 award consists of a $5,000 student stipend and $1,000 to cover project costs. A maximum of $24,000 will be awarded annually. Funding for Field Science Fellowships is made possible by the Samuelsen Conservation Scholars Initiative honoring Roger Samuelsen, the first director of the UC Natural Reserve System.

Application deadline: January 20, 2021

ucnrs.org/research/field-science-fellowship

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2019-20 Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant awards

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 19:44:04 +0000

2019-20 Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant awards Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/11/2019 - 11:44 More News Kathleen Wong | UC Natural Reserve System December 09, 2019

The 2019-20 Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant awards will help 18 students from seven UC campuses conduct field studies at NRS reserves.

These are the four UCR grant recipients:

UC Riverside CNAS grant recipients 2019-2020:

Matthew Green	Sierra Nevada Aquatics Research Lab	Landscape Biodiversity in Alpine Lake-Stream Networks	UC Riverside	2019-2020
Elijah Hall	White Mountain Research Center	Phenology and community composition determine reproductive success through the lens of pollination services	UC Riverside	2019-2020
Christopher Cosma	Boyd Deep Canyon DRC	Linking plant-plant and plant-pollinator interactions along an elevational gradient	UC Riverside	2019-2020
Kathy Pham	White Mountain Research Center	Effects of high-altitude exposure on inflammation and immune phenotypes	UC Riverside	2019-2020

Joshua trees will be under the gun in the California of the future. Scientists predict that it’ll become too hot and dry for these striking Mojave plants to persist in much its the high desert habitat by 2100. How much water these treelike yucca plants can store at one time is key to their conservation. Daniel Hastings of UC Santa Cruz plans to find the answer with his graduate research at the NRS’s Burns Piñon Ridge Reserve.

This field study, and that of seventeen other University of California graduate students, will be supported by funding from the UC Natural Reserve System’s 2019–20 Mildred E. Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant Program. This year’s recipients come from seven different UC campuses and will pursue their graduate research at a whopping 21 different reserves. Each student will receive up to $3000 to defray the costs of transportation, equipment, and accommodations at one or more of the NRS’s 41 reserves.

For his Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant study, UC Santa Cruz graduate student Daniel Hastings will assess water storage in Joshua trees at the NRS's Burns Piñon Ridge Reserve. The findings will help scientists conserve the species despite forecast drought due to climate change. Image credit: Lobsang Wangdu

A long track record

The $38,000 awarded this year comes from the Kenneth S. Norris Endowment Fund for the California Environment, provided to the NRS by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Since its inception in 1988, the Mathias Grant program has awarded a total of $906,444 to 486 students.

Most of this year’s award recipients will study aspects of ecology. These include an analysis of how forest thinning affects tree and plant communities; an investigation of how native fungal pathogens shape maritime chaparral communities; and how honeybees spread disease among other Southern California pollinators.

Gray-crowned rosy finches breed at a higher elevation than any other bird in North America, making them particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Graduate student Tim Brown of UC Santa Cruz will study what makes this bird an alpine specialist. His findings will inform the conservation of mountaintop birds around the world. Image credit: Alan D. Wilson/Wikipedia

Making the most of the NRS

Multiple studies will examine the unexpected affects of a changing climate. These projects include experiments into whether ocean acidification is harming the ability of marine snails to escape predation; whether drought reduces the degree of adaptive variation in wild populations; and how climate variability affects the gray-crowned rosy finch, the highest-elevation breeding bird in North America.

Many projects are also being conducted at multiple NRS reserves. These take advantage of the natural environmental gradient the NRS forms across California, from the coast to alpine mountaintops and from rainy northern forests to southern deserts. Among these is a study of how genetics affect vulnerability and virulence among the chytrid fungus devastating amphibians in California and beyond. The study will sample frogs at nine reserves ranging from Angelo Coast Range Reserve in Mendocino to Stunt Ranch Santa Monica Mountains Reserve near Los Angeles.

Projects on other topics include a study testing mechanisms responsible for geological uplift and subsidence near Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center; an examination of the role of organic nitrogen in grassland soil stability at Sedgwick and Angelo reserves; and a biomedical investigation into the effects of high altitude on inflammation at White Mountain Research Center.

A painted lady butterfly sipping nectar from a purple phacelia at Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center. UC Riverside graduate student Nicole Rafferty received a Mathias grant to study the interactions among plants and their pollinators at the reserve from the desert floor to the heights of Santa Rosa Mountains. Image credit: Lobsang Wangdu

Preparing for a career in science

The Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant program gives students experience applying for and managing research grants, and reporting on their research progress—invaluable skills for a career in science. The program also encourages students to establish studies on reserves that can become the foundation of their research careers.

Receiving a Mathias Grant signals to other scientists and institutions that a researcher's work is serious and worthy of funding. Early career support by a Mathias Grant has advanced the professional success of dozens of students over the years.

Aiding UC graduate students

The Mathias Grant competition is open to UC graduate students who submit a proposal for research to be conducted at one or more NRS reserves. Students from all disciplines are encouraged to apply. Applications are evaluated based on academic merit. Students at an early stage of their careers and in underrepresented fields of study receive preference.

All award recipients are invited to present their findings at the Mildred E. Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant Symposium. Held every three years, the symposium enables students to meet peers, interact with leading field researchers, and discuss career options. The next symposium will be held in 2022 at Bodega Marine Reserve.

Sun protection for mosses and records of paleo climate: the 2018-19 Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant awards

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 02:38:43 +0000

Sun protection for mosses and records of paleo climate: the 2018-19 Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant awards Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/26/2019 - 18:38 More News Kathleen Wong | UC Natural Reserve System December 03, 2018

A Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant from the NRS will help support Jenna Baughman Ekwealor's research into desert mosses at Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center. Image credit: Sonia Nosratinia

The tiny mosses that glue desert soils together spend the majority of their days dormant—the better to withstand a harsh environment. Yet within seconds of absorbing water, the crumbly wisps of brown green up in a frenzy of photosynthetic activity. How these hardy desert residents withstand the harsh UV rays of the sun while essentially inert is the question UC Berkeley graduate student Jenna Baughman Ekwealor will investigate with research conducted at the NRS.

Baughman Ekwealor’s field study, and that of nineteen other University of California graduate students, will be supported by funding from the UC Natural Reserve System’s 2018-19 Mildred E. Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant Program. This year’s recipients hail from eight different UC campuses and will pursue graduate research at 19 different reserves. Each student will receive up to $3000 to defray the costs of transportation, equipment, and accommodations at one or more of the NRS’s 39 reserves.

“Receiving the Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant means I can let the research, not my personal finances, determine how much field work I will do. It has given me the freedom to make the most of my project at the Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center,” Baughman Ekwealor says.

Does a bumble bee's foraging areas affect its tastes? A student supported by a Mathias Grant aims to find out via research conducted at Fort Ord Natural Reserve and Younger Lagoon Reserve.

From salamanders to sonography

Most of this year’s award recipients will study aspects of the biological sciences. The exceptions include an arts project to record ecosystem sounds at four Central Coast reserves; a study of how subsurface geology affects runoff at Blue Oak Ranch Reserve; and research using marine microfossils to establish the climate conditions at ancient archeological sites at Bodega Marine Reserve.

A number of projects will involve research at multiple reserves. These include a search for environmental reservoirs of the chytrid fungus afflicting amphibians; an extinction risk assessment for salamanders due to climate change; and an evaluation of how the environment affects the tastes of bumble bees. Such projects take advantage of the natural environmental gradient the NRS forms across California, from the ocean to the mountaintops and from northern forests to southern deserts.

One student, Amanda Robin of UC Los Angeles, has received a second Mathias grant to study decision making among foraging squirrels. She relies on the many wildlife cameras positioned around the James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve to do her research.

One Mathias Grant-funded study will examine how microhabitats and interactions among species affect ranges along the >8,000-foot elevation gradient at Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center. Image credit: Lobsang Wangdu

Practice for a career in science

Benefiting UC graduate students

All award recipients are invited to present their findings at the Mildred E. Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant Symposium. Held every other year, the symposium enables students to meet peers, interact with leading field researchers, and discuss career options. The next symposium is scheduled for February 2019 at Bodega Marine Reserve.

New director for Boyd Deep Canyon

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 01:49:17 +0000

New director for Boyd Deep Canyon Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/26/2019 - 17:49 More News Kathleen Wong | UC Natural Reserve System August 09, 2017

Christopher Tracy, new director of Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center, weighs a desert plated lizard (Gerrhosaurus skoogi) along the Skeleton Coast of Namibia. Image courtesy Christopher Tracy.

For the first time in 35 years, a new director is at the helm of the NRS’s Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center in the Coachella Valley. An expert in the physiological ecology of reptiles and amphibians, Christopher Tracy has years of experience chasing lizards and teaching in Australia, Africa, and the United States. His research subjects have ranged from Australia’s saltwater crocodile, the world’s largest reptile, to frogs the size of a dime.

Leading Boyd Deep Canyon represents a major change of pace for Tracy. “One of the fun things about being a scientist is the kind of research you do can influence how people think about the world around them. As director at Boyd, instead of talking to classes full of students, I can talk to the general public or with university administrators who are able to set aside resources to promote research,” Tracy says.

A keen observer of wildlife, Tracy looks forward to immersing himself in the natural rhythms of the reserve. “The chance to live among some of the animals I’ve been studying is awfully exciting. I can be right there watching these animals do their thing,” he says.

Tracy (at left) studying desert plated lizards in Namibia with (left to right) ecologist Jill Heaton of the University of Nevada, Reno; former Deep Canyon director Al Muth; and Deep Canyon biologist Mark Fisher. Image courtesy Christopher Tracy.

Tracy comes to the NRS after four and a half years as an assistant professor of biology at California State University, Fullerton, and eleven years in research and teaching positions at Charles Darwin University and the University of Melbourne in Australia.

A dedicated field researcher, Tracy has put in plenty of time studying how wild reptiles and amphibians meet their water and temperature needs, especially in extreme environments like deserts.

One of such place is the wet-dry tropics around Darwin, Australia, which might as well be a desert for much of the year. Inundated by 12 or so feet of rain between December and April, the region receives not another drop over the next eight months.

Tracy helped discover that the Australian green tree frog has developed an unusual way to survive the dry season: by condensing water on its skin on cold evenings. Images courtesy Christopher Tracy

Tracy and colleagues noticed Australian green tree frogs (Litoria caerulea) native to the area indulging in some peculiar behavior. At the height of the dry season, frogs emerged from their tree hollow shelters in conditions so cold they could barely move. The scientists couldn’t figure out why until they noticed when the animals were acting this way: on chilly nights that left a sprinkling of dew across the land.

“The frog itself would get pretty cold, then go back inside its warm hollow and get water condensing on its body,” Tracy says. Because frogs can absorb moisture from their skin, “for them it was just like a cold drink on a hot day.”

Tracy has also done lizard research with former Deep Canyon director Allan Muth. Their work has examined temperature regulation in both Namibian sand dune lizards and chuckwallas at Deep Canyon.

Tracy studies chuckwalla lizards at Boyd Deep Canyon with field assistant Tomas Kneppers and California State University, Fullerton master's student Emily Sanchez. Image courtesy Christopher Tracy.

In the case of the chuckwallas, previous studies of captive lizards indicated both males and females prefer a similar body temperature. But in the wild, males spend most of their time atop rock piles defending their territories, while females hide in crevices to avoid unwanted suitors and predators. Tracy and Muth were curious as to whether both sexes were able to attain their preferred temperature despite these very different behaviors.

To find out, the researchers outfitted reserve chuckwallas with temperature sensors and location transmitters affixed to vests made from gaffer tape. After a season of observing the lizards in action, they had their surprising answer.

“Both sexes were equally good at coming to their preferred body temperature, despite having different strategies,” Tracy says. “We think females are really good at finding little microclimates, going under rocks in full sun where the crevice below is nice and warm. And males adjust their posture so their whole body isn’t blasted by the sun; they can position themselves into the wind to cool a bit.”

Tracy's chuckwalla project at Boyd Deep Canyon involved attaching location transmitters to chuckwallas with vests made of gaffer tape. Image courtesy Christopher Tracy.

Tracy stepped into the director’s position at Deep Canyon in July, when Muth retired. Though his tenure in one of the hottest spots in California began at the height of summer (July temperatures at the reserve average 102 degrees Fahrenheit), Tracy’s not boggled by Coachella Valley thermometer readings.

“Having done all my PhD work in the Mojave, and having lived in the tropical part of northern Australia, temperatures at Deep Canyon don’t frighten me too badly,” Tracy says.

As director, Tracy aims to continue a number of long-term projects in and around the reserve. These include Coachella Valley fringe-toed lizard population monitoring, and continuing Deep Canyon biological surveys. He will also see to completion a new multipurpose building as well as improvements to the reserve campground, both funded with matched Proposition 84 funds.

“Al spent a big chunk of his life getting Deep Canyon up and running really well. I feel he set me and the reserve up in such a way that it can deal with me spending awhile figuring out what he did for the last 35 years,” Tracy says. “There’s a lot to learn.”

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Tracking water through California ecosystems

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 01:30:12 +0000

Tracking water through California ecosystems Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/26/2019 - 17:30 More News Kathleen Wong | UC Natural Reserve System December 12, 2017

CHI-Freshwater will employ drones, multispectral cameras, microclimate stations, and other next-generation sensors to reveal how state ecosystems respond to water. The information will help Californians manage landscapes amid a changing climate. Image credit: Greg Crutsinger

OAKLAND, California—The University of California Natural Reserve System has received a $2.179 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to monitor the pulse of water through state ecosystems. The California Heartbeat Initiative-Freshwater (CHI-Freshwater) will link plant responses to environmental conditions such as heat waves, rainstorms, and drought on a landscape scale. The results will be used to produce forecasts of environmental health that can help Californians weather the vagaries of climate change.

“We live in a state where water is at the core of a lot of things. Given the importance of agriculture and natural habitats to California and its growing population, climate change makes understanding water on the land even more important,” says UC Berkeley biology professor David Ackerly. “California sits at a tipping point, with desert to the south and temperate rainforest to the north. It’s a place where we need to be particularly attentive to the direction of change.”

The initiative will study water in habitats with different hydrologic balances, from northern conifer forests to southern deserts, and from the coasts to the mountains. Most study sites will be part of the more than 756,000 acres of protected lands in the UC Natural Reserve System (NRS). A network of more than 39 wildland sites that includes most major California ecosystems, reserves are managed to support research, teaching, and public service.

Proposed study sites for CHI-Freshwater include eight NRS reserves and three national parks.

Project scientists will examine how water on the surface and below ground varies, providing information on the types of vegetation different hydrological conditions can support. This will be the first project in the NRS to focus on freshwater and examine a range of habitat types simultaneously with an identical array of climate instruments across the breadth of the state.

“CHI-Freshwater will not only advance our ability to cope with climate change, but establish the reserve system as a resource that directly benefits California,” says Peggy Fiedler, executive director of the UC Natural Reserve System. The project is UC system-wide, involving at least ten NRS reserves plus scientists from all of the UC campuses.

Peggy Fiedler, Executive Director of the UC Natural Reserve System

David Ackerly, Professor of Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley

Todd Dawson, Professor of Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley

Becca Fenwick, IT Director of the UC Natural Reserve System, UC Santa Cruz

CHI-Freshwater will apply next-generation sensing technology to ecological questions. A standard toolkit consisting of drones, microclimate sensors, multispectral cameras, and other instruments will be deployed at a variety of protected lands across the state. By collecting this suite of information across different geographic locations, habitat types, and seasons, the project will track the hydrological status of wildlands in unprecedented detail.

“We have the drones. We know the cameras and the wireless sensor systems work. We’re just applying it in new ways to help us rethink how we manage land and water together,” says UC Berkeley professor Todd Dawson, a plant physiologist and lead investigator on the project.

Compared to standard photographs (left), multispectral images (right) can provide a wealth of physiological information about plants. Image credit: Sean Hogan

Drones will enable the researchers to quickly scan vast swaths of land. Once programmed to follow a flight path, drones can follow the same route again and again with a high degree of accuracy. Add to this the ability to cover rugged terrain with ease, and using drones to survey vegetation is far more efficient than collecting the data by hand.

“Using drones to do these surveys has made the whole process so much more doable, and the accuracy of the repeated flight paths gives a glimpse into how the landscape really changes through time,” says Becca Fenwick, NRS Director of IT and CHI-Freshwater coordinator.

Each drone will be outfitted with a pocket-sized multispectral camera. The camera’s sensors detect the red, green, blue, and near-infrared light wavelengths reflected off vegetation. Ratios of these wavelengths can indicate whether it is thirsty, how much water it’s using in photosynthesis, and more.

Drone camera data can be assembled into three-dimensional orthomosaic images such as this one of a giant sequoia. Such volumetric information can be used to refine models of vegetation water use. Image: courtesy Todd Dawson

Using multispectral cameras to obtain the relative water content of a plant is far easier than the traditional method. The “pressure bomb” technique requires dragging a gas cylinder and cumbersome equipment into the field to examine one plant leaf at a time. CHI-Freshwater will establish reference values for how multispectral image data in different plant species compares with pressure bomb measurements.

Drone camera data can also be stitched together to construct 3D orthomosaic images of trees and other vegetation. These digital models provide volumetric information that can improve the water use estimates for redwood trees and other large, complex plants.

“Because we’re such visual animals, when you see these images, it just clicks. People’s minds race with a million things they want to do with it. That means the tool will be adopted by a lot of people and we can start learning more new things about the environment we haven’t dreamt before,” Dawson says.

Climate information will be gathered by a network of 20 miniaturized sensor nodes laid out across each study site. Each node consists of a thermos-sized, solar-powered weather station that takes continuous measurements of temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, soil moisture, and solar radiation. Nodes provide far greater detail about the environment than the single weather station traditionally used to represent conditions for miles around. Individual nodes communicate wirelessly with one another so data can be automatically transmitted back to a central recording site.

Each node in CHI-Freshwater wireless sensor networks will consist of an autonomous climate station that can measure factors such as temperature, wind speed, soil moisture, and more. Image credit: Zac Harlow, Blue Oak Ranch Reserve

One such microsensor network has been operating for a decade at the NRS’s Blue Oak Ranch Reserve east of San Jose. Its presence makes the reserve an ideal place to test how to integrate microsensor locations and drone flight paths in CHI-Freshwater protocols. Other planned study sites include Angelo Coast Range Reserve, Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center, Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve, Point Reyes Field Station, Quail Ridge Reserve, Santa Cruz Island Reserve, Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory, Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center, and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

By taking detailed measurements of how vegetation uses water across the state over a number of years, the researchers plan to link specific ecological effects to climate shifts.

“For example, will south-facing slopes, which already tend to be warmer, heat up as fast or faster? And are plants in some microclimates more sensitive than others? We need information from our sensors to determine this,” Ackerly says.

Wireless sensor networks, such as this one at Blue Oak Ranch Reserve, can collect detailed information about the microclimates from many different locations within a single study site. CHI-Freshwater will use this data to understand how topography, slope, exposure, and other factors affect water supplies for plants. Image credit: Zac Harlow, Blue Oak Ranch Reserve

CHI-Freshwater will help shrink regional climate models to a scale relevant to individual habitats and neighborhoods. Its data will anchor the myriad possibilities used in the models to real life measurements.

“This is a great opportunity to integrate small, hyper-local scale data and information to regional scale models. We can study what water is doing in one particular site and link it to ground climate data, camera images, drone data, and ultimately to regional satellite data. We’ll be seeing the environment literally from the ground up,” says Fenwick.

The models, in turn, will help generate forecasts useful to land stewards, farmers, policy makers, and the public. For example, biologists conducting habitat restorations might use the information to select plant species able to handle tomorrow’s hotter, drier conditions. Or an almond grower could decide to reduce the number of trees in their orchards to match anticipated water resource reductions.

“CHI-Freshwater builds on a host of technologies we’ve invested in the NRS over the past decade, making the NRS an unparalleled platform for this statewide study,” Fiedler says.

This platform includes instrumentation supporting the Institute for the Study of Ecological and Evolutionary Climate Impacts, funded by a UC President’s Research Catalyst Award; the NRS Climate Station Network, made possible by National Science Foundation and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grants; the Hydrowatch program funded by the Keck Foundation; and the Eel River Critical Zone Observatory, part of NSF’s Critical Zone Observatories program.

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation fosters path-breaking scientific discovery, environmental conservation, patient care improvements and preservation of the special character of the Bay Area. Visit Moore.org or follow @MooreFound.

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Science to safeguard species

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 01:15:16 +0000

Science to safeguard species Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/26/2019 - 17:15 More News Kathleen Wong | UC Natural Reserve System January 03, 2018

UC Natural Reserve System lands are home to dozens of vulnerable animal and plant species. These range from some of the state's rarest amphibians to endemic plants to icons of the West such as bighorn sheep. Studies conducted at the 39 reserves of the NRS informs how these species are managed, which helps preserve the Golden State's extraordinary biological diversity.

Scientists "can work in protected areas that allow them to follow the biology and the ecosystem dynamics of these rare and endangered species. We're really proud of that," says Peggy Fiedler, executive director of the NRS.

A prime example is Brad Shaffer's research on the California tiger salamander. AUC Los Angeles biology professor, Shaffer knew the salamander congregated to breed in grassland pools that form after winter rains. But most vernal pools dry up completely during California's dry summers. Where, Shaffer wondered, do these federally endangered salamanders take refuge from the heat?

The California tiger salamander is one of many species whose conservation is informed by studies done at the UC Natural Reserve System. Photo: Lobsang Wangdu

To find out, Shaffer studied salamanders at the NRS's Jepson Prairie Reserve in Solano County for more than a decade. His discovery: grown salamanders really get around. Though less than eight inches long from nose to tail, these amphibians may trek more than a mile to find a bunkable burrow. In the safety of a cool ground squirrel or gopher hole, they can tough out triple-digit summer temperatures.

"The average person spends about the same fraction of their year in the shower as a tiger salamander spends in a pond," Shaffer says.

Shaffer's discovery has had a major impact on California tiger salamander management. Now, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requires that both upland grasslands and breeding ponds must be protected in habitat conservation plans for the species.

Learn more about how Shaffer and other researchers use NRS reserves to preserve vulnerable plants and animals in our new video Science to safeguard species.

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Online tool maps reserve species records

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 01:12:07 +0000

Online tool maps reserve species records Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/26/2019 - 17:12 More News Kathleen Wong | UC Natural Reserve System April 10, 2018

A new online tool called ReserveMapper makes it easy to find plant and animal specimens as well as photos originally collected at NRS reserves. Image credit: KQED Quest/Flickr

Every reserve in the UC Natural Reserve System comes with its own small universe of biological information. When scientists and other visitors collect reserve plants and animals to study, they also record the date, the exact location where it was found, and more information. The specimen may then get deposited in a museum, while its associated information gets stored in one or more databases.

But figuring out what specimens came from which reserves—knowledge useful to guide research—has long been a pain in the proverbial tail. Getting the information required checking multiple databases and coping with data delivered in a variety of formats.

A ReserveMapper search for valley oaks (Quercus lobata) at Sedgwick Reserve shows at a glance where on the reserve the record. Clicking on each hit reveals information such as the type of occurrence (live specimen, preserved specimen, photo, etc.), the record date, and a link to the source database.

Creating a reserve search engine

Developers at the Berkeley Natural History Museums have now dramatically simplified reserve record searches. "We wanted to make an easy way for users to quickly access all the Berkeley Natural History Museum records for any of the UC reserves," says Koo, a museum curator and bioinformatics expert.

The result of those efforts is ReserveMapper, an online tool that offers an easy way to find database records connected with a particular NRS reserve.

All users have to do is select the name of a reserve, and the tool will display a topographic map showing the reserve's boundaries. The map will feature dots where specimens or photos were collected.

To narrow the query further, users can enter additional search terms such as species name or year collected. Clicking a dot reveals more detailed information contained in the record.

Drawing from myriad sources

Reserve Mapper searches records from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) a repository for data from the UC Natural Reserve System, the Berkeley Natural History Museums, and more than 1000 other collections worldwide. GBIF also includes references for iNaturalist, a citizen science portal which holds much of the data generated from NRS reserve bioblitzes and workshops.

ReserveMapper is made possible by Holos, a project originally funded by a grant from the Keck Foundation. Holos makes UC Berkeley's biodiversity resources more accessible via tools such as the internet.

"We have since expanded to other protected area searches and now have ReserveMapper versions for California State Parks, national parks and national forests in California, and other agencies, which was fun to do!" Koo says. Those editions are accessible via the Reserve Mapper page of the Holos website.

Koo and her fellow developers John Deck and Joyce Gross are now seeking suggestions on ways to improve ReserveMapper; send any feedback to mkoo@berkeley.edu.

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UC Natural Reserve System launches fundraising campaign

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 01:07:48 +0000

UC Natural Reserve System launches fundraising campaign Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/26/2019 - 17:07 More News Kathleen Wong | UC Natural Reserve System June 05, 2018

The University of California Natural Reserve System is launching a fundraising campaign to raise $50 million to continue to protect its natural lands and serve future generations of students and scientists. The 50th Anniversary Capital Campaign will enable the NRS to become financially sustainable, support diversity programs, and supply the infrastructure to support world-class research and education programs.

Nearly $40 million, or 80 percent of the goal, has already been raised in gifts and pledges since the quiet phase of the 50th Anniversary Capital Campaign began July 2015.

Revitalizing the NRS

“The 50th Anniversary Capital Campaign is our chance to bring major resources and a new vision for the network of protected areas and field stations that is the UC Natural Reserve System,” says executive director Peggy Fiedler. “This support will revitalize the NRS, enabling us to provide an unparalleled platform for environmental education and discovery over the next fifty years.”

Fiedler formally launched the campaign during a May 4 fundraising dinner at the Birch Aquarium, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. The dinner recognized five honorees for their distinguished service: the Norris Family, founding family of the NRS; first director of the NRS Roger Samuelsen; directors of Santa Cruz Island Reserve Lyndal Laughrin and Ann Bromfield; philanthropist Linda Duttenhaver; and president of Resources Legacy Fund Michael Mantell.

The NRS 50th Anniversary Capital Campaign kicked off with a fundraising gala. Distinguished service awards were bestowed upon the Norris Family, Roger Samuelsen, Lyndal Laughrin and Ann Bromfield, Linda Duttenhaver, and Michael Mantell. (L to R) Campaign co-chair Dick Beahrs; Lyndal Laughrin; Barbara Gaskell, Phylly Norris (seated), Ann Bromfield, Linda Duttenhaver, Jim Norris, Dick Norris, Teresa Norris, Michael Mantell, Doug McConnell, Peggy Fiedler, Roger Samuelsen.

Working as a system

Every reserve is represented in the campaign. Gifts to individual reserves will be considered fundraising contributions to a reserve’s home campus. The campaign also supports three NRS systemwide initiatives:

The Samuelsen Conservation Scholars Program addresses the need to train the next generation of environmental leaders, from undergraduates to postdoctoral researcher. One initiative pairs undergraduates from underrepresented backgrounds with faculty mentors to conduct research at reserves. It seeks to improve the diversity of environmental fields, broaden perspectives on complex environmental problems, and enlist conservation leaders from the nation’s increasingly multicultural population. Another initiative partners with the CalTeach program to provide additional educational and research opportunities to UC undergraduates interested in a teaching career. The program honors the first director of the NRS, Roger Samuelsen.

Open to undergraduates from every general UC campus, the California Ecology and Conservation course brings students to NRS reserves for seven weeks to learn to become field scientists. Students learn to notice natural patterns, plan research projects, employ standard field research methods, and analyze their data with statistics. Students hone their scientific writing and oral presentation skills while presenting their findings. Funds raised will defray course costs for students in need.

The California Heartbeat Initiative will keep a finger on the pulse of the state’s changing natural environments with remote sensing technologies such as drones, sap flow meters, and networked microclimate stations. The project will monitor how shifts in environmental conditions affect the plants and animals that make up native ecosystems. The goal is to produce environmental forecasts that let wildlife managers, farmers, policymakers, and the general public better prepare for the future.

A world-class network

The NRS held its last fundraising campaign in 1972, when the system consisted of 16 reserves. Since then, the NRS has grown to 39 reserves, making it the world’s largest university-administered network of reserves.

Today, the NRS makes more than 756,000 acres of California wildlands available for research and teaching. This library of ecosystems includes samples of most of California’s major habitat types, from alpine mountaintops and conifer forests to oak woodlands and coastal beaches. Reserve lands remain protected from development in perpetuity, enabling study by students and researchers over the long term. Reserves also provide facilities such as classrooms, laboratories, and overnight accommodations which enhance the value of reserves for students and researchers.

NRS reserves have been training grounds for many of the nation’s finest natural scientists, environmental professionals, and land managers. Scientists research climate change, endangered species, state water supplies, archeology, and much more on reserve lands.

A crown jewel of California

The campaign is chaired by Dick Beahrs, an alumnus of UC Berkeley; Ana Alvarez, Deputy General Manager of the East Bay Regional Parks District; and Don Croll, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz.

“The success of our campaign reflects what an extraordinary track record has been established by the Natural Reserve System,” Beahrs says. “It is a treasured asset, but so much of its potential remains to be tapped and leveraged. This campaign will help the NRS optimize its capacity so that California can continue to address critical environmental challenges facing our world.”

For information about the campaign and how to get involved, please visit https://ucnrs.org/give-now/

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Proposition 68 to benefit the NRS

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 01:03:45 +0000

Proposition 68 to benefit the NRS Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/26/2019 - 17:03 More News Kathleen Wong | UC Natural Reserve System June 06, 2018

California's natural areas will benefit from funds raised by Proposition 68. Image: Angelo Coast Range Reserve/Lobsang Wangdu

The UC Natural Reserve System will receive up to $10 million thanks to the passage of California Proposition 68, the Parks, Environment, and Water Bond, June 5. The proposition authorizes the state to issue $4 billion in general obligation bonds to fund state and local parks, natural resources protection, climate adaptation, water quality and supply, and flood protection.

“We are extremely grateful to the people of California,” says Peggy Fiedler, executive director of the UC Natural Reserve System. “This vote of support will enable us to continue our work of protecting California’s natural heritage through research and teaching.”

The NRS can use the funds to acquire land, build research facilities, preserve state wildlife resources, and study climate change. Reserves and their administrative campus in must provide a dollar-for-dollar match for all funds. Matching funding may be in the form of real estate, grants, and in-kind services and materials.

“The passage of this bond comes at a particularly opportune time: the spring 2018 launch of our 50th Anniversary Capital Campaign. Proposition 68 will enable us to stretch our precious capital campaign donations twice as far,” Fiedler says.

The state Wildlife Conservation Board will oversee the disbursement of bond funds to the NRS.

Proposition 68 marks the second time that the NRS has received matching funds from a statewide bond issue. In 2006, the reserve system became eligible to receive up to $25 million in matching funds from Proposition 84, the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act.

With the $50 million made available by Proposition 84, the NRS was able to fund major improvements and land acquisitions at across the system.

“Proposition 84 was a game changer for the NRS,” Fiedler says. “With those funds, we have been able to install labs and classrooms, rebuild facilities destroyed by wildfire, and improve roads and buildings for the tens of thousands of students, researchers, and members of the general public who visit our reserves every year.”

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Proposition 68 to benefit the NRS