Seventeen California State University campuses are joining a statewide biodiversity monitoring effort in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey California Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. Backed by $2.5 million in funding from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Cannabis Program, the collaboration will expand the state's
Sentinel Sites for Nature (SSN) network: California's long-term biodiversity monitoring system. By collecting consistent data across diverse ecosystems, the program aims to help protect biodiversity and support California's conservation goals.
The 17 participating CSUs include Bakersfield, Channel Islands, Dominguez Hills, Fresno, Fullerton, Humboldt, Los Angeles, Monterey Bay, Northridge, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San José, San Luis Obispo, San Marcos, Sonoma and Stanislaus.
The SSN network was created to coordinate long-term data collection across the state and better understand how climate change and human-driven land use are affecting ecosystems. Currently made up of 39 monitoring locations, the network will grow to more than 110 sites through the CSU's participation. In addition to providing data that can be shared among participating institutions for collaboration and research, the partnership will provide CSU students with hands-on experience around data collection.
“The CSUs will make a unique contribution to the initiative by including workforce training as a critical element of the sentinel site deployment and data collection methods," said Micaela Gunther, a Cal Poly Humboldt Wildlife professor and a lead researcher for the project. “We're also bringing in a diversity of habitats not previously included as part of the SSN, especially by including two locations right here on the North Coast in Humboldt County."
Read the full story in the Cal Poly Humboldt newsroom.