Thesis

Maximizing the use of a natural avian predator for pest control in an agricultural system

About Me

I’m a Wildlife major in Matt Johnson’s Lab interested in the Barn Owls in vineyards study system. I’m broadly interested in how conservation and agriculture can work together to meet demands for food and other goods sustainably. My thesis will be focused on figuring out if a model that adopts spatial configuration metrics will improve on models created by previous students that predicted nest box occupancy and hunting habitat selection. I also hope to create a map of the probability of nest box occupancy and hunting pressure by Barn Owls across the Napa Valley Study system. 

    I started my educational journey at Cerritos Community College before transferring to the University of California Santa Cruz for my B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2016. Afterward, I worked on jobs and internships including Spotted Owl surveying, Delta Smelt surveys, Satin Bowerbird behavioral studies, passerine bird banding, and Common Murre phenology. My favorite part about being a seasonal worker was being able to work on studies with so many different species in many different ecosystems.

    I moved to Arcata in 2020 and intend on staying here after my 2021 field season. I hope to be able to see a fully open Arcata someday! Hobbies include bird watching, hiking, and artistic expression via notebook doodles, embroidery, and watercolor.