From Cali Gallardo, incoming class of ‘22 graduate student at UCSC.
This summer, a team of graduate and undergraduate researchers are collecting soil samples in high burn risk regions across California for the CALeDNA archive. Should any of these sites burn in the near future they’ll be resampled, allowing us to compare portraits of biodiversity before and after fire, helping us better understand the effects of fire at a small scale.
The team is sampling all over the state, mostly visiting UC Natural Reserves, Wildlands Conservancy Reserves, and private properties. In the past two months they have collected over 250 soil and sediment samples (1 sample = 3 small tubes of topsoil + 3 from tubes 10cm depth).
Here are some photos from recent trips.
Undergraduates Alicia Paez (‘23) and Ajith Seresinghe (‘23) taking a soil sample at Blue Oak Ranch Reserve (25 July 2022)
Alicia Paez (‘23) and Isaiah Hammond (‘22) get muddy collecting sediment at Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve (31 July 2022)
A baby horned lizard hitchhikes with the team at Fort Ord Natural Reserve (12 August 2022)
Anya Chytrowski (‘23) collects sediment at Sagehen Creek Reserve (9 August 2022)
alia Mosser (‘23) makes new friends at Jollity Farm Goat Dairy (8 August 2022)