JRBP('O'O) May 2024 Newsletter
May 2024
Link to 2023-2024 JRBP ('O'O) Newsletters.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Graduation Ceremony and Community Picnic on June 6, 2024; 4:00 - 6:30 pm.
Join us to celebrate, welcome and meet the new graduates and docents from the BIO / ESYS 105 Ecology and Natural History of Jasper Ridge class of 2024 What can you bring? JRBP(‘O’O) is providing the main entrees and salads but we need YOU to bring desserts, drinks and your smiling self. To continue with our BIO/ESYS 105 tradition, we will really appreciate having a small crew who can stay at the end to wash dishes and put away food !! This is always a fun group so please join in! You can pick up your new name tag during graduation! If you missed the deadline for a new and updated nametag, please contact Katie Glover.
"Fire at Jasper Ridge honors the past, present, and future".
Prescribed burns return to the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma) as the university expands its understanding of land stewardship and wildfire risk mitigation practices. Read the latest publication by Stanford Report in this news article: "Fire at Jasper Ridge honors the past, present, and future"
Trail updates:
Trail 2 closed in the restricted areas. We have placed chains and signage at the closure points. Please respect the closure and avoid the areas until further notice.
Snakes and other critters on our roads and trails!
Please follow our driving directions when you are at JRBP('O'O). Not only do we have to watch for students, faculty, and guests that are working and visiting the preserve, we should also be paying close attention to the numerous organisms that frequent our roads and trails. Be safe out there!
We are still seeking a 50% time Temporary Operations Assistant. Employee will perform routine and extraordinary maintenance on the JRBP('O'O) buildings, infrastructure, equipment, and roads. Employee will assist the Operations Manager in the execution of special projects as needed. Pay Rate: $25-$30/hourly, commensurate with experience. For more information click on this link.
Coming soon! Blog on the April 15, 50th anniversary event is being finalized!
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RESEARCH
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New Research Projects
Dr. Rosa McGuire, postdoctoral scholar, working with Prof. Tad Fukami, JRBP('O'O) Faculty Director, will examine the effects of temperature on the floral nectar microbial community in sticky monkeyflower, Diplacus aurantiacus.
Chrystanthe Frangos, an undergraduate student working under Assoc. Dean and Prof. Rodolfo Dirzo, will leverage camera traps to investigate the impact of granivorous small mammals on acorn distribution beneath nurse plants.
Prof. Dena Grossenbacher and her Master’s student, Magdalene Lo, from Cal State University San Luis Obispo, with her collaborator, Dr. Kathleen Kay, from UC Santa Cruz, began a study on the genetic basis of edaphic adaptation and the maintenance of flower color variation in variable linanthus, Leptosiphon parviflorus.
Andrea Nebhut, a PhD student in the Department of Biology, co-advised by Dr. Jeff Dukes and Prof. Tad Fukami, will be collecting seeds to begin the second round of a study that examines how trait differentiation and climatic stress moderate competition and coexistence between native and invasive plants.
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EDUCATION
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Campus visit sparks high school students’ interests
Our very own JRBP('O'O) Ranger Shreya Garg, ’24, a bioengineering undergraduate, helped design a virtual iteration of the Intro to Bioengineering course and led high school students’ visit to JRBP('O'O) and campus. Read more about her activity in this news article: "Campus visit sparks high school students’ interests"
SOAR takes off with its first All-Hands meeting
Read more about how the Incubator SOAR grant from 2020 has now successfully turned into a five-year effort to build a research coordination network in the Bay Area. SOAR is now actively engaged in multiple activities to introduce undergraduate students, focusing on those from underserved communities to field experiences and ornithology research so they can learn practices to observe and study the dynamics of bird populations. New blog post titled: "SOAR takes off with its first All-Hands meeting!
Continue updating the Jasper Ridge Student and Docent Alumni Directory
We hope that this directory will support docents staying in touch with JRBP('O'O) and each other, and to show the scope of independent work done by past students. This directory is only accessible to alumni of the Ecology and Natural History of Jasper Ridge class. You can read more about it in this blog post. If you are an alumni and wish to explore the directory and update your information, please click here visit the complete directory. If you wish to submit an update, please contact Katie Glover and she will send you the correct form.
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STEWARDSHIP
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Science-based stewardship starting at JRBP('O'O)!
JRBP('O'O) staff is following up on the fuel reduction work that was completed last fall and burning this spring by monitoring vegetation growth, fuel level changes, and presence of small mammals and birds. This data will be used to inform future maintenance plans, which is part of our adaptive management strategy which involves using data and feedback from the system to implement long-term stewardship practices.
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GRACIAS! THANK YOU!
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Thanks to our docents that helped lead tours in April of 2024: Adelaide Nye, Aiyana Washington, Ana Quieroz, Catherine Magill, Christine Martens, Dawn Neisser, Deanna Messinger, Diego Perez, Emily Kim, Jackie Magno, Jane Moss, Jonathan Segal, Kit Gordon, Klaus Porzig, Lydia Villa, Mary Bernstein, Mary Hufty, Polly Diffenbaugh, Scott Gould and Stu Koretz
Thank you, docents, for helping researchers in April of 2024: Mary Bernstein, Teal Derrer, Stu Koretz, Katharina Stromeyer
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PICTURE OF THE MONTH
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Group picture! Last week on May 23, the JRBP('O'O) docents-in-training led their first tour with a group of past docents as their audience and they all had a fantastic time learning from each other and treating this as a JRBP('O'O) reunion! Congrats to Katie, Sydney, Diego and Rodolfo as they are almost to the finish line of the spring quarter! See you all on June 6 at 4:00 pm to meet and welcome the new docents! Picture by Jorge Ramos using Bob Siegel's camera!
