The focus of our study is to better understand the biology of the early life history stages of surfgrass to aid in the development of effective restoration and mitigation strategies. Previous work has shown that recruitment of surfgrass seeds is facilitated by attachment onto a host plant or alga which can provide a substrate for the surfgrass seed to germinate and grow. Our results suggest that recruitment of seeds in nature is dependent on both flow conditions and abundance of algae with a reasonable seed capturing morphology. The current focus of our study is determining the factors influencing post-settlement survivorship of seeds and seedlings in the field. The purpose of this project is to collect long-jaw mudsuckers for laboratory analysis of metals and organic compounds which have accumulated in their tissues.
Samples are to be collected in the lagoon using beach seines.
This sampling is part of ongoing monitoring efforts to identify toxic pollution problem areas. UCSB Shorebirds occurring on sandy beaches consist of migrant, wintering, and breeding or resident species. The distribution, abundance, and utilization patterns of shorebirds on a beach may be related to a variety of factors, including prey availability, beach morphodynamic type, width and condition, macrophyte wrack cover, time of year, and human activity. This research examines beach morphodynamics and other physical factors, and the abundance and distribution of macrofauna on a range of sandy beaches, including the intertidal beach adjacent to Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve. Terrestrial Zoology Vertebrate Monitoring Mark Holmgren, Museum of Systematics and Ecology, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, UCSB Part of my effort at COPR involves unscheduled and opportunistic monitoring of vertebrate activities.