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Rodrigo Almeida - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Full- no new appr needed Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs Location: On Campus
Grapevine leaf roll disease and red blotch disease are two economically important grape pathogens in California. The diseases are currently not curable, so mitigation efforts including roguing (removing infected plants) are used to reduce disease spread. Roguing requires correctly identifying infected plants, which can be difficult to do visually due...
Biological & Health SciencesRodrigo Almeida - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Full- no new appr needed Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs Location: On Campus
Xylella fastidiosa is a xylem-limited bacterium associated with several important diseases in a wide range of plants. In California, the bacterium causes Pierce's Disease (PD) of grapevine, which has economic and management implications for the state's wine industry. The range of PD in California is limited by cold winter...
Biological & Health SciencesCarl Boettiger - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Full- no new appr needed Weekly Hours: to be negotiated Location: Off Campus
Become familiar with the mathematical, statistical, and computational tools used in the group and learn how to apply these methods to answer questions in ecological research and conservation decision making. Emphasis on the use of deep reinforcement learning and best practices in data science software development...
Engineering, Design & Technologies Environmental Issues Digital Humanities and Data ScienceCarl Boettiger - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Full- no new appr needed Weekly Hours: to be negotiated Location: On Campus
Develop, test, and visualize methods for forecasting ecological variables such as carbon flux, beetle abundance, or indicators of aquatic ecosystem health...
Engineering, Design & Technologies Environmental Issues Digital Humanities and Data ScienceTim Bowles - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Full- no new appr needed Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs Location: On Campus
Despite extensive efforts to measure on-farm soil conditions, the concept of soil health continues to be a murky concept across soil science, agriculture, and policy disciplines. However, soil health is critical to productive agriculture and long-term, whole-farm resilience. At present, most measurements of soil health on organic...
Environmental IssuesTim Bowles - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Full- no new appr needed Weekly Hours: 9-11 hrs Location: Off Campus
Are you longing to engage deeper in food sovereignty and agroecology? Do you long to connect sustainable farming practices to on-the-ground research centered around agroecology, food access, and social movements? This year-long internship with the Gill Tract Community Farm will offer training in agroecological farming methods, engagement...
Environmental IssuesJustin Brashares - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Full- no new appr needed Weekly Hours: to be negotiated Location: On Campus
Rapid climate change has amplified drought conditions in deserts, where many species already subsist at their physiological limits. However, management interventions, such as artificial water catchments may allow some wildlife to persist despite drought. This project examines the influence of artificial water catchments on large mammals, bats, birds, and reptiles...
Social Sciences Environmental IssuesJustin Brashares - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Full- no new appr needed Weekly Hours: to be negotiated Location: Off Campus
Several aspects of global change are changing the dynamics of fire ecology across California and around the world. Recent fires have had devastating effects on livelihoods across the state, but little remains known of the direct and indirect impacts of these fires on wildlife species and the implications of those...
Social Sciences Environmental IssuesGordon Frankie - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Full- no new appr needed Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs Location: On Campus
Under the direction of Dr. Gordon Frankie, the UC Berkeley Urban Bee Lab is monitoring diversity and abundance of California native bee species (1600 species state-wide) and their plant preferences at UC Hopland and at avocado orchards in southern California. Collaborating with farmers at these orchards, we have been...
Environmental IssuesChristy Getz, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Current Term Now Closed Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs Location: Off Campus
Local governments in California can exert a great deal of control over what counts is agriculture and who counts as a farmer. This project seeks to explore the mechanisms and policy instruments through which local governments, especially at the county level, define and defend the boundaries of acceptable agriculture, and...
Rosemary Gillespie - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Current Term Now Closed Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs Location: On Campus
This project looks at how communities of organisms come together, and the role of ecology (migrating into a community, trophic level) and evolution (adaptation and speciation) in determining the composition of species in a community. This in turn will provide information on sensitivity to invasion and probability of speciation and...
Biological & Health Sciences Environmental IssuesRosemary Gillespie - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Full- no new appr needed Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs Location: On Campus
No matter the size, all organisms interact with the world via their senses. Sensory input dictates reactions to stimuli, and the ability of organisms to adapt their neurological and sensory structures is critical to success and survival. Web building spiders in particular use webs as an extension and enhancement of...
Biological & Health Sciences Environmental IssuesRosemary Gillespie - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Current Term Now Closed Weekly Hours: to be negotiated Location: Off Campus
There are two key projects here: (1) Temporal Diversification and Evolutionary History of the Cribellum in Mesh-web Spiders: Webs play many essential roles in spider biology, including communication, prey capture, locomotion, and reproduction. One interesting morphological feature of many spiders is the cribellum, a plate located near the silk...
Biological & Health Sciences Environmental IssuesRosemary Gillespie - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Current Term Now Closed Weekly Hours: to be negotiated Location: On Campus
This project focuses on the biodiversity of insects and spiders on Pacific islands. Biodiversity surveys often accumulate a ton of specimens, but it is usually hard to figure out what the species actually are. Many species cannot be identified because they are immature, or are not yet described. In this...
Biological & Health Sciences Environmental IssuesPatina Mendez - Lecturer, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Full- no new appr needed Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs Location: Off Campus
Species distribution models use collection-based observations (museum specimens) and relate where we find species to the local habitat conditions. This relationship can be used to infer where else we expect to find these species, which can then be used to ask questions about historical distributions and how species distributions...
Environmental Issues Biological & Health SciencesPatina Mendez - Lecturer, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Full- no new appr needed Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs Location: On Campus
Strawberry Creek is an urban stream the flows through the UC Berkeley campus. Over the past 30 years, the campus has focused on improving water quality, restoring habitat, and using the stream as a campus laboratory. In this project, we will monitor adult caddisfly activity over the year to determine...
Environmental Issues Biological & Health SciencesPatina Mendez - Lecturer, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Current Term Now Closed Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs Location: Off Campus
Studies in ecology and evolution rely on properly curated museum material and access to museum records and specimen. Caddisflies, in the insect order Trichoptera, are aquatic insects closely related to moths and butterflies. In this project, the student will assist with labeling, organizing, and curating caddisflies. The student will also...
Environmental Issues Biological & Health SciencesPatina Mendez - Lecturer, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Current Term Now Closed Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs Location: Off Campus
Intermittent streams are streams that only flow for part of the year, and often are dry throughout the summer. Aquatic insects rely on having access to water for at least some of their life cycle. In this project, we explore species diversity of adult aquatic insects during the dry months...
Environmental Issues Biological & Health SciencesStephanie Pau - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Current Term Now Closed Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs Location: On Campus
Phenology, “nature’s calendar”, refers to periodic life history events such as the timing of plant leafing or bird migrations. Changes in plant phenology have provided some of the strongest markers of climate change impacts on species and ecosystems. However, most of this evidence comes from temperate or high-latitude ecosystems...
Biological & Health Sciences Environmental IssuesMichael Polson - Staff Researcher, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Current Term Now Closed Weekly Hours: to be negotiated Location: Off Campus
Students will be working to support a project on the cannabis industry and the general work of the Cannabis Research Center in disseminating research and engaging the public. The project, overall, is a mixed method investigation of: 1) anti-competitive and monopolistic practices of cannabis investors and owner-operators; 2...
Matthew Potts - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Current Term Now Closed Weekly Hours: to be negotiated Location: On Campus
Addressing climate change will require more than reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It will require removing carbon from the atmosphere and durably storing it. Natural pathways for carbon removal, e.g. storing carbon in soils, forests, and wetlands, are likely to be the only way to achieve large scale carbon removal in...
Social Sciences Environmental Issues Biological & Health SciencesMatthew Potts - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Current Term Now Closed Weekly Hours: 3-5 hrs Location: Off Campus
Forest restoration is an increasingly relevant topic across the globe, hailed as a key component to solutions for climate change, biodiversity crises, and sustainable development. Despite a growing awareness of the importance of forests and the need for ecosystem restoration, crucial information on forest resilience and natural regeneration is often...
Social Sciences Environmental Issues Biological & Health SciencesGeorge Roderick - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Full- no new appr needed Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs Location: Off Campus
This project is focused on the residential urban gardens of the East Bay and how those gardens impact butterfly communities with a focus on the Western Monarch butterfly. The project covers topics of native and non-native plants, invasive arthropods, urban gardens, and changes in species interactions. This project is...
Environmental Issues Biological & Health SciencesGeorge Roderick - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Current Term Now Closed Weekly Hours: to be negotiated Location: On Campus
In our lab, we are interested in the ecology and evolutionary history of arthropod (insect and spider) species. We mostly study arthropods from Hawaii and other islands in the Pacific, but also species in California and elsewhere. Some are native species, some are recent invasive species, and some are introduced...
Environmental Issues Biological & Health SciencesGeorge Roderick - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Current Term Now Closed Weekly Hours: to be negotiated Location: On Campus
Are you interested in science news and social media? In our lab, we study the ecological and evolutionary history of arthropod (insect and spider) species--the "little things that run the earth." We mostly study arthropods from Hawaii and other islands in the Pacific. Our current project aims...
Environmental Issues Biological & Health SciencesGeorge Roderick - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Current Term Now Closed Weekly Hours: to be negotiated Location: On Campus
Biodiversity surveys often accumulate many many insect and spider specimens, but it is usually hard to figure out what the species actually are. Many species are not yet described and many are found in an area for the first time, or the species are not yet in DNA databases. In...
Environmental Issues Biological & Health SciencesAlbert Ruhi Vidal - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Current Term Now Closed Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs Location: On Campus
Intermittent streams, or those that temporarily cease to flow or dry completely, are subject to summer droughts which can vary in timing and intensity from year to year. Fish and invertebrates in these ecosystems posses drought-response mechanisms that are broadly categorized into resistance and resilience strategies. Resistant strategists persist...
Environmental Issues Biological & Health Sciences Engineering, Design & TechnologiesAlbert Ruhi Vidal - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Current Term Now Closed Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs Location: On Campus
Water conservation policies in Southern California are promoting the recycling of effluent, but reductions in these discharges may lead to stream drying and alteration of river food webs. Environmental managers are grappling with how much they should reduce discharges to some reaches of the Santa Clara and Los Angeles Rivers...
Environmental Issues Biological & Health Sciences Engineering, Design & TechnologiesChristopher Schell - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Full- no new appr needed Weekly Hours: to be negotiated Location: On Campus
By 2025, the majority of the human population will live in urban areas. This prospect, along with global trends in biodiversity loss and environmental degradation, creates an urgency for understanding the linkages and feedbacks between ecological connectivity, wildlife health, and human health in urban environments. Through a number of case...
Environmental IssuesChristopher Schell - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Full- no new appr needed Weekly Hours: to be negotiated Location: On Campus
Human-wildlife interactions that end with negative consequences (i.e., conflict) typically come from bolder individuals within a population that are more risk-prone and willing to approach humans and human entities. These interactions may also stem from individuals with superior cognitive abilities that use learning and problem-solving to exploit...
Environmental IssuesIan Wang - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Full- no new appr needed Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs Location: On Campus
What makes some groups of animals species rich, while other groups are species poor? This project will examine the diversity of spiny lizards (genus Sceloporus), a group of 100+ described species that range across North and Central America. We will quantify the phenotypic, ecological, and genetic diversity of spiny lizards...
Environmental Issues Biological & Health SciencesIan Wang - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Full- no new appr needed Weekly Hours: to be negotiated Location: On Campus
Understanding how phenotypic variation is generated and maintained in natural populations is a fundamental goal in biology. We are studying the evolution of color and other phenotypic traits in Aegean wall lizards (Podarcis erhardii), an island-dwelling lizard native to the Greek Cycladic islands. Our goal is to understand how...
Environmental Issues Biological & Health SciencesIan Wang - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Full- no new appr needed Weekly Hours: 6-8 hrs Location: On Campus
Genetic diversity is crucial for adaptation and may be a key factor that shapes species responses to climate change, habitat loss, and other stressors. Recently, the California Conservation Genomics Project (CCGP) has gathered genomic data for over two hundred species across California in order to inform conservation efforts. This dataset...
Environmental Issues Biological & Health SciencesIan Wang - Professor, Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Status: Full- no new appr needed Weekly Hours: to be negotiated Location: On Campus
This research investigates the genetic basis of lizard coloration, which is an ideal trait for studying evolution. Animal coloration is divided into pigments and structural colors. Pigments, often red and yellow, are small particles that directly absorb and reflect light of different colors. Structural colors, often blue, are caused by...
Environmental Issues Biological & Health Sciences