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Studies of acorn woodpeckers at Hastings Natural History Reservation have shown how these family-oriented birds store, tend, and defend the caches of acorns they depend on for survival throughout the year.
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Though black widows are feared for their poisonous bite, little is known about these small carnivores. Emily MacLeod is deciphering the details of the spider's mating system.
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Caitlin Stern uses traditional field observations and new identification technologies to study how relatedness affects social cooperation in western bluebirds.
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Angela Brandt is studying grassland plots first sampled in the 1960s to examine long-term changes in community composition, especially those caused by the invasion of exotic grass species.
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UC Berkeley Professor Eileen Lacy brings students to the reserve every year to let them try their hand at field techniques such as GPS, and to witness how biologists capture, examine, and release local birds and mammals.
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UC Berkeley Professor Todd Dawson takes observations about reserve microclimates at Hastings using arrays of small weather stations and relates this information to the movement of water through trees and soils.
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The abundance of wildlife and protected landscapes of Hastings are invaluable to learning and research. |
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Go behind the scenes at Hastings Natural History Reservation to examine the social structure of acorn woodpeckers and western bluebirds and take a look at the restoration of California's native grasslands. Located in the Santa Lucia mountain range in Carmel Valley, the reserve was set aside in 1937 to provide researchers with an example of oak woodland ecosystems for study.
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Take a journey to two of the UC Natural Reserve Systems' reserves in southern California, the James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve and Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center.
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The James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve, UC Natural Reserve System
Located in Southern California's San Jacinto Mountains, the NRS's James Reserve is at the forefront of an effort to use high technology to gain insight into the natural world. Embedded cameras monitor the nesting cycles of birds, sensor networks track weather data on habitat microclimates, and computers map out the potential damage from wildfires.
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Jepson Prairie docent Russ Huddleston shows off the rare tadpole shrimp, predatory beetles, and California tiger salamander larvae that live in the ephemeral waters of Olcott Lake, the state's largest vernal pool.
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The Plants of Jepson Prairie, Bay Nature
Jepson Prairie docents Celia Zavatsky and Russ Huddleston introduce the mima mounds and native wildflowers that make the vernal pool habitats here unique.
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Reserve manager Isabelle Kay provides an overview of one of Mission Bay's last remaining tidal wetlands.
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Reserve manager Isabelle Kay shows how uplands and marsh channels provide both protection from high tides and places to hide and hunt for plants and animals. Trace metals in the water may be collecting at particularly high concentrations due to the marsh's sediment composition.
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Reserve manager describes the close connection between salty ocean waters, plant composition, and the success of the marsh's populations of endangered clapper rails. |
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Marshes have long been outflow points for municipal sewage and storm drain systems; Kendall-Frost is no exception. While the sewage line is being rerouted, storm outflows remain a major source of marsh pollutants.
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