Blog Post

By Manuel Hernandez and Julianne Bradbury: Most problems are relative, right? In an urban creek like Copeland Creek, certain species are bigger problems than others. The Restoration Ecology class at Sonoma State has detected a whole spectrum of problem species living in and around the creek that might not be Read more

By Paolo Solari: Frogs are both terrestrial and aquatic animals, which means they live both on the land and in the water, making all parts of the riparian corridor and creek potentially critical habitat. Pacific Tree Frogs are noisy critters, especially the males, which make relatively loud breeding calls. Additionally, Read more

By Danielle Wegner: Another viewpoint we wanted to incorporate when examining the Copeland Creek is how species with large ranges utilize the creek that cuts through the north end of Sonoma State. We grouped this category into the wide range apex species, which incorporates species such as mountain lion, bobcat, deer, Read more

By Paolo Solari: Coverboards have been used in amphibian and other terrestrial vertebrate studies for many years, and can be a great way to determine which animals are present in an area. Coverboards offer suitable nest sites for terrestrial vertebrates (mostly amphibians) and offer protection from predators. They also are Read more

By Niall Ogburn and Michael Lutz: This semester we were tasked with the responsibility of testing the water quality in Copeland Creek, as well as getting our hands dirty and finding out what kind or organisms live in the creek (and if they’re native or non-native). To test water quality, Read more

By Beverly Wong: One might notice the huge contrast between the atmosphere of  the different parts of Sonoma State’s campus. While there are herds of students buzzing and rushing about to get to their next class in the main area by the infamous ‘Bacon and Eggs’ structure, the atmosphere quickly Read more

By Megan Gaitan and Brian McIsaac: The Copeland Creek Monitoring Plan has grown from an ecological model formed at the start of the semester into a full blown project that now includes a baseline level of data and clearly outlined methods for monitoring in years to come. This investigation stems Read more

By Jordan DeSilva and Jasmin Perdue: The Plan Channel Morphology of Copeland Creek–that was our task.  What did that mean?  What do we measure?  Where do we start?  Those were the thoughts racing through our minds upon our assignment.  The semester long project clearly began with research research research, which is Read more

By Jana Johnston and Jessi Laughlin: We were tasked with collecting base line data for the under story vegetation of Copeland Creek. To do this, we measured whole plot species richness as well as absolute and relative cover of herbaceous species by using a point intercept method and percent cover of shrub Read more