Research on animal movement patterns and factors that influence these patterns is vital to conservation of endangered species. The California Red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) is a threatened species native to California. Their rapid decline has been l . . .

Purpose of the Study: The endangered Sonoma County population of the California tiger salamander, Ambystoma californiense, undergoes migrations between breeding pools and upland dry-season refugia. Orientation in this species during breeding migration . . .

Purpose of the Study: The Russian River watershed stretches across a significant portion of Sonoma and Mendocino counties, covering 1,485 square miles, and is home to not only humans, but countless fish and wildlife species as well. The Russian River . . .

Purpose of the Study: Long-lived iteroparous females may suppress reproduction during unfavorable conditions to maximize lifetime reproductive success. Capital breeders must accrue sufficient body reserves to support reproductive effort or they may ex . . .

Purpose of the study: Adipose tissue is essential to endotherms for thermal regulation and energy storage as well as functioning as an endocrine organ. Adipose derived hormones, or adipokines, regulate metabolism, energy expenditure, reproduction, and . . .

Hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas) live in a complex multilevel social system with the one-male-unit (OMU) at the core. OMUs consist of an adult alpha male with one or several adult females, their dependent offspring and sometimes a few follower male . . .

Purpose of the Study: To understand male and female mate choice patterns affecting species and gender recognition via long distance chemical cues, this study examined the rough skin newt, Taricha granulosa, in both pond and creek habitats. Response to . . .

The perciform suborder Notothenioidae is comprised of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic fishes, several of which have lost their ability to rapidly upregulate major heat shock proteins (HSP’s) in response to thermal stress. In fact, some notothenioid spec . . .

Purpose of the Study: California black oak, Quercus kelloggii, plays an important role in the lifeways of many indigenous tribes throughout California. Native peoples tend black oaks using Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) to encourage the devel . . .

Purpose of the Study: Understanding impacts of invasive pathogens and wildfire on forests is a major challenge facing scientists, land managers, and policymakers. In this study, I used a long-term plot network in eastern Sonoma County to disentangle t . . .

All zoos grapple with challenges of keeping captive animals engaged in natural behaviors, especially for bears which prove to be among the more challenging species to keep stimulated. In captivity, a common indicator of poor welfare is the presence . . .