Awardee: Zack Gold, Ph.D. Candidate in Professor Paul Barber’s lab. Zack researches the effects of multiple human stressors on marine ecosystems using novel environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques.
This project analyzed the environmental and economic impacts of proposed state regulations for water use. This grant has high policy impact for managing urban water budgets. CCSC brings novel understandings about water use by urban park departments in California and how much is needed to maintain vegetation health with an emphasis on trees.
This 2019 Sustainable LA Grand Challenge Environmental Report Card for Los Angeles County Water provides an in-depth look at the region’s efforts to move toward a more resilient local water supply. This…
Awardee: Amanda Tokoyama, graduate student in the Lloyd-Smith lab. Amanda's research focuses on identifying the drivers of parasitism in coyotes across the Santa Monica Mountains and greater LA area.
Awardee: Brenton Spies, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Brenton's research primarily focuses on how environmental factors and anthropogenic impacts influence community level processes, hydrological dynamics, water quality, and the presence/absence of threatened and endangered species.
Awardees: Meixi Lin, second year Ph.D. student in the Wayne Lab, and Ana Garcia Vedrenne, Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology at UCSB. Ana is using DNA meta-barcoding to identify and quantify parasite and pathogen biodiversity in California ecosystems. Meixi is intrigued by how molecular biology tools could help resolve previously impossible wildlife conservation puzzles.
On November 8th, 2018 the Woolsey fire swept across the Santa Monica Mountains. It claimed 96,949 acres of undeveloped land in the mountains, making it the most extensive fire ever…
In collaboration with the National Park Service, La Kretz Postdoc Dr. Rachel Blakey is investigating how large wildfires, like the Woolsey fire of 2018, influence the movement and behavior of California's top carnivore: the mountain lion.
Awardee: Erin Toffelmier, Ph.D. student in Brad Shaffer’s lab. Erin's research focuses on understanding the drivers of population declines in the Santa Barbara County populations of the California tiger salamander, Ambystoma californiense.
Awardee: Sarah Helman, Ph.D. in Professor Jamie Lloyd-Smith's lab. Sarah is interested in disease surveillance of marine and terrestrial mammals along the California coast.
Awardee: Ioana Anghel, second year Ph.D. student in the Zapata Lab. Ioana is interested in the drivers of diversification and how taxa maintain their phenotypic and genetic identity while co-existing in a small area with the potential to hybridize.
The County of Los Angeles has developed the first county-wide sustainability plan, and has contracted with UCLA, in collaboration with the engineering firm Buro Happold, and with Liberty Hill Foundation.…