Desert tortoise conservation
At the La Kretz Center, scientists are working toward a win-win between green energy and endangered species conservation in the Mojave Desert.
Projects
Developing a Soil Analysis and Remediation Toolkit for Landscape Construction and Management
Students: Lilian Chou, Kyle Gregory Kneeland, Alessandro Lorenzo Lallas, Kimberly See-Yan Mak, Victoria Suzanne Mcrae, Nicholas Chester Tom, Shiyi Zheng Client: Huntington Botanical Gardens and the Natural History Museum of…
Developing Ecosystem Indicators for Los Angeles County
Students: Danielle Nicole Alvarez, Connie Kang, Denise Lihan Lin, June Ngoc Tran, Tiffany Lee Wu Client: National Park Service, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, The Nature Conservancy Advisor:…
Developing Metrics to Evaluate the Skill and Credibility of Downscaling
Within the climate science community, a variety of techniques are used to "downscale" information from global climate models and produce fine-scale projections of future climate, but the relative strengths and weaknesses of these techniques are not well-understood. In this project, we are comparing downscaling techniques and establishing best practices.
Distribution Modeling Using Remote Sensing
In this research, species distribution modeling is used as a tool to understand the environmental determinants that control the distribution of species and to obtain spatial patterns on the species’…
Dja Reserve
For the past 20 years, we have been conducting research in the Dja Biosphere Reserve and adjacent areas. The Dja Biosphere Reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in…
Drought Influence on Chlorophyll Fluorescence in Evergreen and Deciduous Plant Species of Southern California
Awardee: Ariel Pezner. Ariel's research focuses on the effects of drought on the chlorophyll fluorescence of four drought deciduous and evergreen plant species native to Southern California.
Ebola
The Center for Tropical Research is investigating what may be the environmental drivers of infectious diseases, and what might trigger outbreaks during particular times or conditions. In collaboration with Dr. Rick Schoenberg, chair of the the Department of Statistics at UCLA, our team is using novel models to understand ebola outbreaks.
Eco-Evolutionary Consequences of Global Change on Invasive Plant Species
La Kretz postdoc Dr. Justin Valliere is currently exploring potential adaptation to nitrogen pollution and climate in common invasive plant species of California. This study will have important implications for invasive plant management under predicted global change.
Eco-labels and Cleaning Product Attributes
In this project, which was also a practicum project, we examine the preferences of consumers over different eco-label attributes for cleaning products. To accomplish this goal, we designed and implemented…
Eco-labels and Quality in Wine
Eco-labels are part of a new wave of environmental policy that emphasizes information disclosure as a tool to induce environmentally friendly behavior by both firms and consumers. Little consensus exists…
Ecological Impacts of Nitrogen Deposition on Coastal Sage Scrub of the Santa Monica Mountains
This project, led by La Kretz postdoc Dr. Justin Valliere, extends an ongoing collaboration between the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service and the UCLA, with the goal of understanding the ecological impacts of nitrogen pollution on the severely threatened coastal sage scrub plant community of the Santa Monica Mountains.