The Angelo Reserve, like other reserves within the UC Natural Reserve System, is dedicated to university-level research, teaching, and public outreach. These purposes draw a variety of people and organizations to Angelo, researchers, both individuals and scientific teams, members of the public concerned with regional environmental issues, K-12 to university classes, and naturalists and day hikers.
Researchers
High school students, undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and agency and NGO scientists all carry out research at Angelo. Presently, four members of the National Academy of Sciences work with their students and colleagues at the Reserve. Many researchers are long-term ‘Angelinos’ (including faculty who did their dissertations here, and are now bringing Angelo ‘grand-students’ back for more field research).
In October 2013, with support from the Berkeley Vice Chancellor for Research Graham Fleming and his staff (thanks, Verna Bowie!), Bill Dietrich organized eight Berkeley colleagues (from four different departments on the campus) to brainstorm about our common interests in water, climate, soils and rocks, trees, river ecology, and their interactions under global change. Our successful proposal to the National Science Foundation allowed us to establish the Eel River Critical Zone Observatory, which will deepen and extend foundational work done during the NCED and Keck programs to investigate “what lies beneath” hillslopes and forests of the California Coast Range, and how processes and interactions hidden in this “critical zone” will both respond to changes in climate, biota, and land use, and influence them over the coming decades.
“Eyes on the Eel” is an ongoing survey of the state of river and tributary ecosystems along Eel mainstems and tributaries, one of four long term research tasks outlined for the Eel River Critical Zone Observatory. This effort is led by Profs Stephanie Carlson and Mary Power, and graduate students Suzanne Kelson, Phil Georgakakos, and Keith Bouma-Gregson. Our Berkeley-based student crews have been, frankly, amazing at putting up with long days, hard work, wet clothes, while steadfastly documenting physical conditions, algal abundances, invertebrates, and vertebrates along 48 transects crossing four tributaries and four mainstem sites down the South Fork and mainstem Eel River. Thanks so much to these field researchers, and to the many generous land owners who have given us permission to visit their property for surveys.
Student Researchers
High school and undergraduate students who are interested in carrying out their own research, or in getting their feet wet by assisting graduate students, postdocs, or faculty with their projects, should contact individuals with whom they would like to work. We welcome students who are committed to field science, considerate of others and of the environment, and comfortable in rustic field conditions. See our Research Projects and Past Projects section for cool projects done at Angelo by undergraduate researchers. There are several campus programs that fund summer research for Berkeley undergraduates.
Classes
K-12, college, and universities have all made use of the Angelo Reserve for environmental education and more focused courses. See “Visiting” to learn how to make reservations.
Every 2 years since 2007, we have hosted neighbors, students, and other researchers interested in learning from Algal Experts Rex Lowe and Paula Furey to appreciate the beauty and fascination of the algae of the Eel River, a topic of particular interest now as algal dominance and ecological roles change under the stress of our current drought. See “News” for our plans for the 2015 Algal Foray, June 12-14 2015.
Prof. Meredith Thomsen of Univ. of Wisconsin, LaCrosse, is a former Berkeley Ph.D. and Angelo researcher who has partnered with Blake Suttle on a fifteen year experiment examining how different seasonal timings of precipitation affect native and exotic grasses and meadow food webs at Angelo. She and her colleague Tim Gerber have brought several environmental sciences students to study field biology at Angelo.
Photo Album
