Transect Articles

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Vol. 28, No.1

(Summer 2010)

• Feature: Yosemite hosts new NRS field station guided by a far-sighted vision
• Tenth campus UC Merced stewards its first NRS site
• California tiger salamanders: the secret life story of a threatened species revealed by NRS researchers
• Documenting a fossorial lifestyle
• Endangered frog released in native habitat at NRS site
• New leadership called to serve at NRS systemwide

Vol. 27, No.2

(Autumn/Winter 2009)

Vol. 27, No.1

(Spring/Summer 2009)

• Feature: Sensor networks at NRS reserves pioneer new ways to observe Earth
• Students learn how to see at reserve-based art course
• Parasitologist’s long-term study of small subject brings big rewards

Vol. 26, No.2

(Autumn/Winter 2008)

• Feature: We can predict how our weather will behave, but can we ever learn to forecast our water? Keck HydroWatch says, why not?
• Why nature at UC?

Vol. 26, No.1

( Spring/Summer 2008 )

• Feature: How a “gateway reserve” serves as a research hub and expands scientific horizons beyond NRS boundaries
• McLaughlin’s serpentine enables specialization
• Quail Ridge wireless network expands research
• New NRS reserve: Blue Oak Ranch Reserve
• Kids In Nature wins CA environmental award
• New campus administrative director at UCSC, new resident manager at Big Creek

Vol. 25, No.2

( Autumn/Winter 2007 )

• Feature: Mysteries of the grasslands
• Students of geology “rock out” at Sagehen reserve
• Successful teen program expands to second NRS site
• Urban middle schoolers explore the state’s biodiversity
• Campus NRS director at UC Santa Cruz retires to international exploits

Vol. 25, No.1

( Spring/Summer 2007 )

• Feature: A parasite’s world — looking into the planet’s most popular lifestyle
• Beleaguered marsh on life support still persists as a highly productive natural resource
• The ten commandments of salvage for ecological restoration
• Pursuing the mystery of the monogamous mice

Vol. 24, No.2

(Spring 2006)

• Feature: Improved strategies and technology for designing natural reserves promise greater system biodiversity
  Sidebar: PISCO and the MLPA
  Sidebar: The NRS role in California’s protected environments
• Dedication ceremony for Sagehen experimental forest links UC Reserve System with nationwide network
• Wide range of UC classes take to the wild with meaningful results
• New director at Sedgwick Reserve bears watching
• NRS announces 2006-07 grad student grant winners

Vol. 24, No.1

(Spring 2006)

• Feature: Helping endangered species keep their footing on the slippery slope of the genetic bottleneck
• New study suggests one way to control invasive ants
• California beetles go online
• Chumash summer camp at Sedgwick Reserve realizing long-held dream of cultural revival
• NRS wraps another successful Mathias Symposium at Bodega Marine Reserve
• Gold company’s million-dollar endowment improves daily life at McLaughlin Reserve
• UC researcher perishes in an attempt to rescue two colleagues
• Sagehen Creek Field Station oral histories available online

Vol. 23, No.2

(Autumn 2005)

• Feature: New laser-mapping technology enables aerial ground truthing
• Marine biologist Dan Costa at the TOPP of his game
• Teens learn leadership and literacy in the Sierras at Sagehen Creek Field Station
• Kids star in bug video produced at Valentine Reserve
• Sedgwick Reserve celebrates new all-green science center

Vol. 23, No.1

(Spring 2005)

• Feature: Of mice and (wo)men — Retirement just means more time for research
• Ultrasonic mouse talk discovered at Hastings
• Young readers in L.A. learn science through art
• Bodega algae become art
• Director of Motte, Emerson, and Box Spring retires
• 2004-05 Mathias winners

Vol. 22, No.2

(Summer 2004)

• Feature: Sagehen Creek Field Station becomes the 35th NRS reserve!
• Sagehen brings a half century of history and scientific data to the UC reserve system
• The Leopold years (1965-1978) and beyond — Sagehen hits its stride after Starker takes charge
• Sagehen hosts two generations of “Bug Boot Camp”
• The fall—how Sagehen very nearly didn’t survive the 1990s
• Recovery and renaissance—how Sagehen lived to join the reserve system
• “Portfolio of reserves” available to Sagehen-based scientists

Vol. 22, No.1

(Spring 2004)

• Feature: Field notes from underground reveal the true nature and extent of flora-fungi relations.
• The upper crust surviving nicely at NRS desert site
• A search for Hans Jenny awakens new appreciation for the legacy of this world-class soil scientist
• Old-growth reserve plans new-growth future
• The bad news and good news about Elliott Reserve
• Remote reserve set to welcome new on-site manager
• NRS desert reserve celebrates its first quarter of a century and an NRS elder
• Frank Pitelka, distinguished ecologist and longtime NRS scientist, academic, and administrator, dies at 87
• Clark Kerr, legendary UC president and NRS visionary, dies at 92
• UC Reserve System premieres on UCTV channel

Vol. 21, No.2

(Fall 2003)

• Feature: Man meets mollusk and learns size does matter, even in the intertidal zone
• Scientists at NRS coastal sites (tide)pool their knowledge
• Well-mentored, hands-on training at Bodega Marine Reserve gets careers started
• NRS reserve manager give his expertise to naming state’s marine managed areas
• National Areas Association honors NRS managers with both its 2003 annual awards

Vol. 21, No.1

(Spring 2003)

• Feature: Bushwhacking 101 offers new take on age-old environmental problems
• When nature meets culture communication happens
• Marsh inspires unlimited projects and new perspectives
• Norris field quarter legacy at UCSC lives on
• Kids in Nature program takes grade-schoolers inside the out-of-doors
• State of California honors regional conservation partnership

Vol. 20, No.3

(Winter 2002)

• Feature: Microbial observatories reveal lively little-known worlds beneath the surfaces of land and lake
• Innovative nesting program at Coal Oil Point Reserve proves great success
• Stunt Ranch Reserve looks forward to new facilities
• Field course students from Minnesota discover California ecology at NRS reserves

Vol. 20, No.2

(Summer 2002)

• Feature: NRS research that revealed collapse of island fox population now focuses on halting species extinction
• First Mathias Symposium highlights 2000-01 winners
• CA Coastal Conservancy support initiates Phase II of San Joaquin Marsh Reserve restoration
• Legacy of 20th-century explorer Al A. Allanson enriches desert research

Vol. 20, No.1

(Spring 2002)

• Feature: James Reserve places nature virtually at our fingertips
• Mother lode of DNA data mined at McLaughlin
• Ever-more-sophisticated technology reveals the secret lives of Año Nuevo elephant seals and sharks
• Super “ear” installed at Boyd Deep Canyon

Vol. 19, No.2

(Winter 2001)

• Feature: Bioregional planning blooms in California’s Coachella Valley
• A Community unites in stewardship of the Carpinteria Salt Marsh
• Longtime reserve director Wayne Ferren charts a new course
• Multiple NRS reserves play important role in the identity of the Putah-Cache bioregion

Vol. 19, No.1

(Spring 2001)

• Feature: Wartime challenges prepared one NRS founder for future environmental battles
• New NRS reserve: Field scientists can order “surf and turf” at the Kenneth S. Norris Rancho Marino Reserve—our 34th site
• Oak researchers at NRS sites plan how to protect an imperiled native habitat
• CA Coastal Conservancy helps two NRS reserves

Vol. 18, No.2

(Winter 2000)

• Feature: A bird in the hand is worth … banding!
• Forest canopy access system being developed at Angelo
• Science teacher training program off to a good start
• Reserve-based research in atmospheric chemistry provides global insights
• Center for science education opens at Valentine Camp

Vol. 18, No.1

(Summer 2000)

• Feature: The past is nonrenewable — natural reserves protect rich cultural resources
• Firsthand impressions of a Santa Cruz Island dig
• Archaeology sheds light on Big Creek mussel mystery
• Of mammoths and men picturing the past in the east Mojave Desert
• And a useful glossary of anthropology terms, too!

Vol. 17, No.2

(Autumn/Winter 1999)

• Feature: From drudgery to discovery — the real life of field researchers
• CA lichens receive some long-overdue attention
• Bee behavior reveals the drawbacks of cooking up habitat from scratch
• Fish stocking becomes frog stalking in the high Sierra
• Millennium falcons get a lift from NRS reserves

Vol. 17, No.1

(Spring/Summer 1999)

• Feature: NRS founding father took reserve system to the millennium
• NRS founder Ken Norris fondly remembered
• UC reserve system plays national stage at AAAS
• 1998-99 Mathias Student Research Grant awardees
• Angelo Reserve receives funding for new environmental sciences center

Vol. 16, No.2

(Autumn / Winter 1998)

• Feature: Scientists at Sedgwick Reserve master the mysteries of mud
• Mud and its ways studied at Sedgwick
• Año Nuevo elephant seal pups struggle for survival
• Reserve staff across the system observe El Niño’s aftermaths

Vol. 16, No.1

(Spring/Summer 1998)

• Feature: Science, art, and community service converge when kids meet in the Carpinteria Marsh “classroom”
• Carpinteria Marsh kids
• Multilevel outreach at SNARL/Valentine Camp
• Jepson Prairie docents
• Wilderness medicine at James San Jacinto Mountains
• Many, many thanks to the Packard Foundation!

Vol. 15, No. 2

(Fall 1997)

• Feature: NRS welcomes new director
• Hastings scientists help make way for newts
• Santa Cruz Island home to nine newly listed plants
• Research takes root at Sedgwick Reserve

Vol. 15, No.1

(Spring 1997)

• Feature: Cougars thrive as top predators
• “Research in art” focuses on Big Creek
• Fort Ord becomes newest NRS reserve
• North Fork lands available for study
• Rock art researchers celebrate Mojave

Vol. 14, No. 2

(Fall 1996)

• Feature: Long-term research, monitoring call for long-range planning
• Marsh ecosystem monitoring
• Fire research and management
• Sustainable fishery
• Grassland restoration
• Island archaeology

•  Feature: Stunt Ranch Reserve joins NRS as post-fire recovery continues

Vol. 13, No. 2

(Winter 1995)

• Feature: Mono Lake and other eco-studies find home sweet lab at SNARL
• Ancestral wetlands restored
• Hastings GIS progresses
• “Most productive habitat” discovered
• Marine mammals monitored

Vol. 13, No.1

(Summer 1995)

• Feature: Fire ecology and management make good news at Big Creek
• NRS and the new national preserve
• Bullfrog invaders in Eel River
• Farewell to founder Mildred Mathias
• NRS now on World Wide Web

Vol. 12, No. 1

(Fall 1994)

• Feature: Our world according to GIS
• Reserve GIS projects aid research, teaching, management
• Green crabs invade Bodega
• NRS managers save a species
• Old growth gets new name

Vol. 11, No. 2

(Fall 1993)

• Feature: Motte Reserve receives resources to save species
• Grassland recovery at Hastings
• Secondary education at Bodega
• A year in the life of Deep Canyon

Vol. 11, No. 1

(Spring 1993)

• Feature: Innovative, self-sufficient research facilities completed at the Granite Mountains Reserve
• Mojave Desert Symposium
• A year in the life of SNARL
• NRS student grant programs

Vol. 10, No. 2

(Fall 1992)

• Feature: Newest serpentine reserve is real gold mine
• Focus on urban reserves
• New stream system at SNARL
• Student grant winners
• NRS Geographic Information System
• Funding opportunities

Vol. 10, No. 1

(Spring 1992)

• Feature: UC Davis celebrates newest NRS Reserve
• Santa Cruz Island research update
• Focus on urban reserves
• New snow lab at SNARL
• Upcoming conferences
• New state council on biodiversity

Vol. 9, No. 2

(Winter 1991)

• Feature: Outstanding Davis professor is appointed interim director of the reserve system
• New NRS reserve
• NSF facilities grants
• Public health course on NRS Sites
• Hastings research update
• Switzer Foundation fellowships

Vol. 9, No. 1

(Spring 1991)

• Feature: Geologist finds fault at Big Creek
• Grassland restoration
• Aquatic ecology at NCCRP
• Ken Norris
• Student grant winners
• New publications

Vol. 8, No. 2

(Spring 1990)

• Feature: Santa Monica Mountains Reserve Joins NRS
• Student research grants
• Mildred Mathias
• James Reserve GIS
• Natural Areas Conference
• Reserve work weekends

Vol. 8, No. 1

(Winter 1990)

• Feature: Reserves receive $500,000 in NSF grants and NRS matching funds for facilities development
• Funding opportunities
• Environmental education
• San Joaquin Marsh plan
• Reserve people
• Research at NCCRP

Vol. 7, No. 2

(Spring 1989)

• Feature: NCCRP brings old growth and Eel River to the UC Reserve System
• Experimental introductions
• Student research grants
• NRS budget increase
• New facilities
• Santa Cruz Island archaeology
• Reserve user data

Vol. 7, No. 1

(Fall 1988)

• Feature: Bodega Laboratory/Reserve plans major expansion
• Beach overlook built at Younger Lagoon
• Fire strikes Stebbins Reserve
• NRS welcomes new personnel
• South Pacific field facilities available

Vol. 6, No. 2

(Spring 1988)

• Feature: Samuelsen reflects on NRS directorship
• Funding opportunities
• New personnel
• Bighorn sheep study
• Elephant seal study

Vol. 6, No. 1

(Fall 1987)

• Feature: Spotted owl chick saved at James Reserve
• NSF director visits reserves
• NSF facilities grants
• Collaborative programs
• New publications

Vol. 5, No. 2

(Spring 1987)

• Feature: Interactive video now simulates James Reserve
• New reserve: Younger Lagoon Reserve
• Opportunities
• Oil spill follow-up
• Granite Mountains profile
• Berkeley citation

Vol. 5, No. 1

(Fall 1986)

• Feature: NRS presents itself to Regents
• New reserve managers
• TBT workshop
• New ANR vice president
• Opportunities

Vol. 4, No. 2

(Spring 1986)

• Feature: The NRS at 20
• Research and job opportunities
• Coal Oil Point gets vernal pools
• New facilities
• New publications

Vol. 4, No. 1

(Fall 1985)

• Feature: Big Creek burns!
• Research and job opportunities
• Celebrate nature with the NRS
• Bodega expands MOMS
• NSF special competition
• New NRS publication

Vol. 3, No. 2

(Spring/Summer 1985)

•  Feature: Carroll to be NRS Associate Director

Vol. 3, No. 1

(Fall/Winter 1984)

• Feature: Oil spill hits Bodega Marine Reserve
• SNARL and Año Nuevo Island Receive NSF facilities grants
• Mosquito research at San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh

Vol. 2, No. 2

(Spring 1984)

• Feature: Researchers study acid precipitation at SNARL
• Housing addition planned for Bodega
• Archaeological survey at Big Creek

Vol. 2, No. 1

(Fall 1983)

• Feature: $900,000 desert study at Deep Canyon
• Protected areas and development
• New program inventories sensitive species and communities

Vol. 1, No. 1

(Spring 1982)

• Feature: Acorn woodpeckers — fast food junkies of the animal kingdom