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Weldon, CA, 24 June 2008
The Grinnell resurvey project is an effort to document changes
in wildlife distribution and habits in the 100 years since
Joseph Grinnell, co-founder of UC Berkeley's Museum of
Vertebrate Zoology first surveyed vertebrates in California.
Thirteen field investigators spent the better part of June
housed at the Audubon House on the Kern River Preserve's
Sprague Ranch addition while conducting field work throughout
the Kern River Valley.
Staff at the Kern River Preserve will host more field crews as
additional surveys will be conducted through September of this
year and then again next spring as part of what are described
by Grinnell as the Whitney transects. This is the first of a
multi-year project to resurvey the route that Grinnell, Storer,
Carr, and Taylor traversed through this area
from 1911 to 1914. Surveys conducted in other areas of
California over the last few years by other teams from UC
Berkeley have already yielded significant findings on the
effects of global climate change and other habitat changes on
many species. Find published results of the Lassen, Yosemite,
White Mountains, Warner Mountains, and San Jacinto Mountains
on the Grinnell Resurvey Project website:
http://mvz.berkeley.edu/Grinnell/index.html
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Grinnell Team Field Notes
Joseph Grinnell
Tracy Storer
Walter Taylor
H. A. Carr
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A total of thirteen field
researchers spent much of June surveying the
Kern River Valley and Southern Sierra Nevada.
From left to right: Zach Hanna, Jessie
Castillo, Allison Schultz, Carla Cicero,
Katharine Lovett, Karen Rowe. Absent from
photo: Monica Albe, Teresa Feo, Nadje Najar,
Paul Newsam, Carol Spencer, Morgan
Tingley, and Kellie Whittacker. |
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Carla Cicero, Curator of
Birds at UC Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate
Zoology enjoys visiting with the Kern River
Preserve's own Southwestern Pond Turtle
research team and one of their charges. |
Allison Schultz, a member
of the team visits with one of the South Fork
Kern River's western pond turtles. |
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Zach Hanna, also a member
of the team checks out one of the South Fork
Kern River's western pond turtles. |
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Bill Foster, turtle team
leader, explains how to tell the difference
between male and female western pond turtles
to Carla Cicero while Darrell Barnes looks
on. |
Monica Albe searches for
reptiles in some of their favorite hiding
places. |
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Tom Studley was an ace at
noosing lizards, here he gives a
side-blotched lizard to Kellie Whittaker for
data collection. |
The Herpetology team spent
three days in the blazing sun and dark
of night searching for reptiles and
amphibians to compare with Grinnell's
specimens collected 100 years ago. From left
to right: Carla Cicero, Kellie Whittacker,
Monica Albe, Carol Spencer. |
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For over 100 years Audubon has been protecting birds and
other wildlife and the habitat that supports
them. Our national network of community-based
nature centers and chapters, scientific and
educational programs, and advocacy on behalf of
areas sustaining important bird populations,
engage millions of people of all ages and
backgrounds in positive conservation
experiences. |
