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UC reserve brings classroom to nature
Research, conservation
‘unparalleled’ in living lab
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galen rowell, uc natural
reserve system |
| Natural
Reserve System founder Bill Mayhew releases
a kangaroo rat for students at Boyd Deep
Canyon Desert Research Center in 1983. |
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By
Eileen Chen
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
echen@media.ucla.edu
Across the state there are a number of unique and extensive
natural reserves which house diverse flora and fauna, and
groups of researchers studying subjects from archaeology to
biology to ecology – all managed by the University of
California.
Of these natural reserves, UCLA manages one called Stunt
Ranch which is nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Stunt Ranch is one of 35 sites of the UC Natural Reserve
System of "living laboratories and classrooms," which was
founded in 1965 for scientific research, conservation
efforts and educational outreach.
"The (Natural Reserve) system is very unique in the world
because no other university has anything like this," said
Peter Nonacs, associate professor of evolution, ecology and
biology.
"In terms of research and conservation, (the UC Natural
Reserve System) is unparalleled," he added.
In addition, the UC Natural Reserve system is incomparable
because it allows researchers to begin long-term projects
which might span over years and decades, said Alan Muth,
director of Boyd Deep Canyon Springs Natural Reserve.
David Greenfield, a former UC Riverside assistant professor,
is just one example of someone doing research at the
reserves.
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larry wan, uc natural reserve
system |
| A snowy
plover nesting is nurtured at the Coal Oil
Point Natural Reserve, part of a nationally
recognized, award-winning recovery program
for this threatened species. |
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Greenfield started studying the acoustic
communication between grasshoppers and since then, his own
graduate students and their subsequent graduate students
have come back to this same site, Muth said.
"Same spot, same population; you can't guarantee that
anywhere else than the NRS," he said.
In Stunt Ranch, alongside the graduate and college students
researching post-fire ecosystem dynamics, are elementary
school students participating in acorn grinding, art
projects and village games of the Chumash, an American
Indian tribe.
Since Stunt Ranch is closer to an urban area than other
natural reserves, it hosts formal school programs for
students in the greater Los Angeles area, said Carol
Felixson, director of education and community outreach at
Stunt Ranch.
Generally, three to four thousand students visit the reserve
under the coordination of the Cold Creek Docents, a division
of the Mountains Restoration Trust. The docents program
takes the students on a 1.5 mile hike on the Stunt High
Trail to the educational zone for interactive activities.
Named for the Stunt family, the Santa Monica reserve is 310
acres and contains Cold Creek watershed, one of the most
pristine watersheds on the West Coast.
In fact, many of the natural reserves in the system are
virtually untouched and represent nearly every kind of
natural habitat found in California, Nonacs said.
Nonacs speaks from personal experience with the Natural
Reserve System.
As of five years ago, Nonacs and his colleagues began
studying the behavioral ecology of harvester ants at the
Sierra Nevada Research Lab.
The data was then compiled to determine the colonial and
parental investments of harvester ants in their offspring.
"The offspring, male or female, never return to the original
ant colony after they mate," Nonacs said. The male dies
after mating and the pregnant female goes out to begin her
own colony as queen.
Currently, there are two models of parentage – one that
states parents produce offspring of the same size and one
that states that the offspring are of various sizes.
Since ant colonies are not made for food storage, in times
of an abundance of food, the nutrition is given to the
existing offspring instead of being used by parents for
additional reproduction, thus yielding various sizes of
offspring within a colony.
Over the twenty-some years Muth has been working at the
natural reserve, he has also been studying the fringe-toed
lizard, which is listed as endangered by federal and state
law.
"These animals' habitats are 10 percent of what it was 100
years ago," Muth explained.
The natural reserve will probably prevent extinction, but
will not be able to have the species de-listed from the
endangered animals list.
Copyright 2005 ASUCLA Student |
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