Achievements
Publications and achievements submitted by our faculty, staff, and students.
Faculty Daniel Barton Wildlife
Dan Barton (Faculty, Wildlife) chaired the scientific program of an international joint conference between the Pacific Seabird Group and the Waterbird Society, held in San José, Costa Rica, in early January 2025. The bilingual meeting featured over 300 scientific presentations on seabird and waterbird biology and conservation by authors from over 40 countries.
Faculty Barbara Clucas Wildlife
Dr. Barbara Clucas received Bureau of Land Management funding to support collaborative research with Texas A&M that will investigate common raven presence in Gunnison sage grouse (GUSG) habitat in Colorado. The GUSG is listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act, and this project seeks to understand what habitat features influence ravens, which are potential GUSG nest predators. Results of this study will inform more efficient and effective management of GUSG and their predators.
Project collaborators include Israel Parker of Texas A&M and Aaron Facka of Wildlands Network and Cal Poly Humboldt Wildlife graduate student Leah Roll.
Student Rebeca Becdach, Ho Yi Wan, Micaela Szykman Gunther, Katherine Larson, Kellie Crouch, Elizabeth Meisman, Anna Goldman Wildlife
Current NR-Wildlife graduate student Rebeca Becdach led a collaborative effort to publish an exciting article on equity in publishing in the high-impact Journal of Wildlife Management. The article is entitled "A celebration and reflection on the equity trend between women and men in wildlife publishing". Coauthors include several Cal Poly Humboldt Wildlife faculty members, staff, and students including Ho Yi Wan (mentor and graduate committee chair), Micaela Szykman Gunther (faculty), Katherine Larson (graduate student), Kellie Crouch (undergraduate student), Elizabeth Meisman (graduate student), Anna Goldman (staff), and several collaborators from other institutions.
Student Evelyn Lichwa, Micaela Szykman Gunther, Ho Yi Wan Wildlife
Former NR-Wildlife graduate student Evelyn Lichwa had her thesis research published in the high-impact Journal of Mammalogy. The article is entitled "Ecological and social drivers of Mexican Wolf home range size across spatiotemporal scales". Coauthors include Cal Poly Humboldt Wildlife faculty members Micaela Szykman Gunther (mentor and graduate committee chair) and Ho Yi Wan (committee member), as well as collaborators from the Mexican Wolf Conservation and Management Program in New Mexico.
Student Holly Gamblin, Micaela Szykman Gunther Wildlife
Former NR-Wildlife graduate student Holly Gamblin had her thesis research published in the journal Northwest Science. The article is entitled "Habitat Use and Distribution of a Recently Discovered Population of Humboldt Martens". Advisor Micaela Szykman Gunther is a coauthor.
Faculty Daniel Barton Wildlife
Dan Barton (Associate Professor and Department Chair, Wildlife) was elected chair of the Pacific Seabird Group, a role in which he will serve for the next three years. Pacific Seabird Group is a society of professional seabird researchers and managers that was formed in 1972 out of a need for increased communication among academic and government seabird researchers, and currently has over 500 members from around the world. The society also publishes the journal Pacific Seabirds.
Faculty Frank Fogarty Wildlife
Dr. Frank Fogarty received funding to study how retained patches of trees in timber harvests effect bird communities in managed forests of the Pacific Northwest. Regulations in Oregon and Washington prescribe a minimum number of standing trees that must be retained by timber harvest operations, in part to enhance the biodiversity value of harvested lands. Dr. Fogarty will work with a graduate student to experimentally compare a variety of spatial retention arrangements, with the goal of demonstrating which retention strategies maximize avian diversity post-harvest. Funding comes from the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement.
Faculty Micaela Szykman Gunther Wildlife
Dr. Micaela Szykman Gunther received funding from CalTrans to assess the efficacy and statewide applicability of an electronic elk detection system along a section of Highway 101. The system is designed to detect elk and activate warning signs to increase driver awareness when elk may be on or near the highway. Dr. Szykman Gunther will work with both students and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, who will collar target elk, to monitor elk movement and survival. If successful, this system would increase elk movement between fragmented habitats, increase habitat permeability and survivorship, and decrease risks to passing motorists.
Faculty Ho Yi Wan Wildlife
Dr. Ho Yi Wan received a grant from the CSU Agricultural Research Institute to support research on a collaborative project that will develop a viable business plan associated with mass timber production in the coastal region of northern California. Dr. Wan and his lab will be responsible for assessing some of the ecological benefits of this plan, primarily with regards to wildfire risks reduction from timber harvest.
Student Ivy Widick (former grad student) and Tim Bean (advisor) Wildlife
Published paper in Diversity and Distributions: "Evaluating current and future range limits of an endangered keystone rodent (Dipodomys ingens)"
Student Steffen Peterson with co-authors Daniel Barton, Jared Duquette, and Micaela Gunther Wildlife
Wildlife Graduate student Steffen Peterson presented a paper "Using spatially explicit capture-recapture techniques to determine black bear (Ursus americanus) density and space-use in an arid mountain ecosystem" at The Western Section of the Wildlife Society Annual Meeting in Yosemite, CA.
Student Jade Morning Sky Little, Daniel Barton, Shannon Brinkman, Claire Nasr Wildlife
Presented paper "Pelagic cormorant nesting success and oceanic conditions in northern California" at The Western Section of the Wildlife Society Annual Meeting in Yosemite, CA
Student Club HSU undergraduate wildlife students Samuel Vassallo, Devon Michels, Alex Lewis, Evan Miller, and Marcie Mathieu and faculty member Daniel Barton Wildlife
HSU's Wildlife Conclave team was featured in the two ways in The Wildlife Society's national magazine, The Wildlife Professional. The 2019 National Championship team (Samuel Vassallo, Devon Michels, Alex Lewis, Evan Miller, and Marcie Mathieu) are photographed and featured in an article on quiz bowl, and faculty member Daniel Barton wrote a short article entitled "A proud quiz bowl tradition at Humboldt State" for the magazine.
Student Claire Nasr Wildlife
Wildlife Graduate Student Claire Nasr Presented paper "Measuring relative disturbance risk to marine wildlife in northern California" at Pacific Seabird Group Annual Meeting, Kauai, HI.
http://www.cvent.com/events/psg-2019-kaua-i/custom-18-bb8e62d508874406a…
Student Adam Mohr Wildlife
Wildlife Graduate Student Adam Mohr presented talk at The Western Section of the Wildlife Society Annual Meeting in Yosemite, CA, "Tule elk habitat selection in the Carrizo Plains Region"
Faculty Daniel Barton Wildlife
Invited Presentation at the Shamir Research Institute, University of Haifa, Qatsrin, Israel entitled "Apparent Competition, Hyperpredation, and Spillover in Ecological Restoration: The tales of two lupines and a fish"
Faculty Mark Colwell, Katie Raby, Lizzie Feucht Wildlife
Mark Colwell, Katie Raby and Lizzie Feucht published a paper in Wader Study (https://www.waderstudygroup.org/publications/wader-study/), an international journal dedicated to shorebird ecology and conservation. Their paper summarizes the efficiency of plovers breeding at various locations in Humboldt County over the past 18 years, with the aim of improving conservation and management practices.
Student Trinity Smith Wildlife
Graduate student Trinity Smith (in Wildlife) won best student poster at the North American Society for Bat Research (NASBR) conference last week for her poster entitled:
“Patterns of western red bat occupancy across a disturbed landscape in California’s Central Valley”. The conference was in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico October 24-27 (https://www.nasbr.org/annual-meetings).
Student MS Student Katrina Smith (with D.C. Barton and D.A. Riggs) Wildlife
Presenting a paper "Site selection in a population monitoring program for Townsend’s big-eared bats: Does cave morphology predict abundance of hibernating bats?" at annual meeting of the North American Society for Bat Research, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Student MS Student Alyssa Marquez (with L. Diller and D. C. Barton) Wildlife
Presented a paper "Response of headwater amphibians to logging impacts and assessment of restoration potential in Redwood National and State Parks." at annual meeting of the Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology, Portland, OR
