Blog Post

Vertebrate Biology BioBlitz

May 20, 2022
09:00 to 11:30

Rather than giving my Vertebrate Biology students a conventional written final exam, I decided to do something more adventurous: have them participate in a BioBlitz on campus so I could assess their knowledge of local wildlife and identification techniques. For anyone not familiar with the term, a BioBlitz is an effort to document biodiversity in a given location during a certain period of time. While the structure of these events can vary, the idea is to identify as many species as possible in the time you are given.

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By Wendy, ago
Northern Pacific Rattlesnake

Vertebrate Biology Field Trip to Fairfield Osborn Preserve

For the first time since COVID, I’m able to take my students on field trips again, and we had a fantastic one yesterday. I took my upper division Vertebrate Biology class to one of our university’s preserves: the Fairfield Osborn Preserve on Sonoma Mountain. One of the preserve’s researchers and naturalists – Julie Wittmann – was our host for the day, and our primary target was herpetofauna (reptilian vertebrates and amphibians). We started out by surveying some of the coverboards that were established in 2015, and then we headed down to the creek to look for salamanders. All along the way, we saw AMAZING wildlife, with a couple of absolute highlights for the day.

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By Wendy, ago

Adorable baby Western pond turtle discovered at S.F. lake in Presidio, a sign of ecological comeback

This article is from April, but it’s the first I’ve heard of this. The turtles we reintroduced to Mountain Lake in SF have HAD BABIES! This is amazingly good news! These turtles had been extirpated (driven locally extinct) from the lake at some point in the past, and the fact that the introduced turtles are able to reproduce means that this population might be able to sustain itself into the future. LOVE THIS SO MUCH!

Jessica Flores
April 29, 2021

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By Wendy, ago

Inktober

Last month, I decided to do an Inktober challenge, combined with a set of “Drawlogies” prompts inspired by the science show “Ologies.” Here is the entire month’s worth of prompts. I’m re-rendering many of them in different styles, and I’ll be posting some of those as I go.

The Prompts:

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By Wendy, ago

Ecosystem Exploration

This week, I’m using some Virtual Field materials in one of my classes (Ecosystem Exploration: https://thevirtualfield.org/virtual…/ecosystem-exploration).

In addition to the questions provided with the videos, I’m going to ask them to do some additional field journaling, including sketches. Here are the two I drew as examples (based on the Mojave Desert video), to give them some inspiration. (They aren’t expected to render things as completely as the tortoise, but the level of detail in the plant illustration should be doable by everyone).

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By Wendy, ago

Restoration on your Waterways

By Nayeli Lozano: On November 15th, 2019, Restoration Ecology spent the day learning from experts about the different restoration sites based on helping Salmonid communities found throughout our waterways. Restoration Ecology had the opportunity to learn from experts Sara, Eric, Erik, Teddy, and Preston. We learned about the four H’s Read more

By Guest, ago

Salmonid Field Trip in Marin County

By Nicole Dart: 11/15/19- Restoration Ecology’s final field trip of the 2019 Fall semester took us on an exciting adventure in the redwoods of Marin County, exploring different restoration projects at Lagunitas Creek, all working towards restoring habitat for salmonid fish. Our first stop of the day was at the Read more

By Guest, ago