Graduate Student Projects
Student Driven Research Projects
Mitsui Ranch Preserve has hosted several graduate and undergraduate students on the property. Students have the opportunity to develop research projects studying the species that occur on the property, helping support our mission to further education and research. Projects have looked at movement ecology, interactions between native and invasive species, chemical cues, among others.
Sydni Wong
Sydni Wong is our latest graduate student at Mitsui Ranch Preserve! Using radio telemetry her project is focusing on tracking foothill yellow-legged frogs (Rana boylii) movements after breeding in Copeland Creek. She started her field work this spring (2025), documenting the movements of 26 frogs throughout the creek.
Hale Garcia-Dean
Patterns of dispersal and short-term survivorship in post-metamorphic California Red-legged frogs (Rana draytonii) — 2025
Hale’s project looked at newly metamorphosed CRLF at Bonnie’s Pond. Using a uniquely designed telemetry attachment style, Hale was able to follow these frogs as they made their way into the terrestrial environment. This project is the first telemetry project to focus on this life stage and provided new insights into movement ecology of this critical life stage.
Jennaca Hajeck
A Telemetric Study of Migration and Habitat Use of the Post-breeding California Red-Legged Frog (Rana draytonii) — 2023
Jennaca’s project focused on studying adult California red-legged frog using radio telemetry. She tracked over 40 adult frogs at Bonnie’s Pond. Her project looked at the movement patterns of these frogs as they migrated away from the pond after breeding, finding that frogs generally moved along routes with high moisture contents and more often after rain events. Her project emphasized the importance of habitat moisture levels and forest canopy connectivity for migrating CA red-legged frogs.
Anna Erway
Comparative microhabitat use of two California native ranids, California red‐legged frog (Rana draytonii) and foothill yellow‐legged frog (Rana boylii), in a riparian woodland — 2022
This project combined visual encounter surveys and unique thermal imaging technology to determine what microhabitats were preferred in California red-legged frogs and Foothill yellow-legged frogs. Anna’s project found that in California red-legged frogs (a much larger frog species than the yellow-legged frog) that individuals tended to be found further away from the water, the larger they were in size. In addition, thermal images revealed that frogs were not selecting specific basking locations that could be attributed to the finer thermal landscape, as was originally hypothesized.
Daniel Hudson
Differential Mate Choice Responses to Chemical Cues in Male and Female Rough-skinned Newts (Taricha granulosa) — 2020
Lisa Surber
Comparison of Habitat Use and Movement Patterns of Native and Invasive Frogs in a Grassland and Oak Savannah Habitat — 2019
