Justin Demianew

Justin

Thesis Topic

Effects of invasive salmonid removal on a sub-alpine herpetofauna community in the Trinity Alps Wilderness of northern California

About Me

Justin received his B.Sc. in Wildlife from Cal Poly Humboldt in 2012.  During his undergraduate years he worked for a variety of federal and university entities on everything from small mammals in Yosemite National Park to gray wolves (Canis lupus) in Alberta, Canada.  Since graduating he has captured giant gartersnakes (Thamnophis gigas) with the USGS, banded passerines in the Peruvian Amazon with the University of Florida, and worked on the regulatory side of wildlife management with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).  As reflected in his forays across the western hemisphere and in the diversity of study systems he’s worked in, Justin has broad interests in organismal biology.  However, he is most intrigued with questions surrounding population biology, invasion ecology, and community ecology.

For his thesis research, Justin is studying the effects of non-native fish removal on a herpetofauna community in sub-alpine habitats in northern California.  Utilizing ongoing efforts by the CDFW to remove non-native trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) from a basin within the Trinity Alps Wilderness, he is experimentally assessing the direct and indirect of effects of trout removal on trophic interactions between two species of gartersnake (T. sirtalis fitchi and T. atratus hydrophilus) and the Cascades frogs (Rana cascadae), the latter of which is a Species of Special Concern and Candidate Species under the California Endangered Species Act.

Advisor

Dr. Dan Barton

Undergraduate Institution

  • Wildlife

Cal Poly Humboldt

Favorite Animal

 Bushmaster (Lachesis muta muta)