Completion Date
2020
Advisor(s)
Dena Grossenbacher
Abstract
Objective 1: Assess whether Sierran alpine plant communities have shifted in diversity and abundance over the last 30 years by resampling historic Natural Resource Inventory plots in Kings Canyon National Park (lead by Paolilli and Gibbons). Summary Objective 1: With funding provided by Baker-Koob, we completed our second of three field seasons in Sequoia and Kings National Parks. Overall, this season was very successful and quite busy – we were in the field from mid-July to September. In 2019, we sampled 7 regions within the parks and 61 plots total, expanding our dataset and gaining a wider understanding of plant community changes throughout the alpine. One important aspect of this season was the resurvey of the Dusy Basin region, sampled both historically and in 2018. Having three time points for comparison will allow us to assess for year to year vs decadal community shifts as well as test for observer bias and error. Objective 2: Determine whether species are shifting elevationally based on traits including plant height, plant width, and specific leaf area (lead by Abelli-Amen). Summary Objective 2: Ella Abelli-Amen was unfortunately unable to work this season, however Karen Bach did an excellent job of continuing the Surface Leaf Area Project. She collected vouchers from many different individuals throughout the season. She was subsequently able to perform analyses on the dataset collected and wrote a manuscript based on her work as part of her senior thesis at CalPoly. Objective 3: Create an outreach video and teaching module for local middle and high school biology students (lead by Gibbons). Summary Objective 3: In 2019, additional footage was recorded on the Dusy Basin trip, including interviews with the researchers. To date, several short videos have been produced and work has begun to identify concepts for a teaching module. The teaching module will be completed in 2020 with additional support from Baker-Koob.
URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/bkendowments/100
Copyright
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.