FITTING PLANT TO PLACE: COMMUNITY-ENGAGED ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION ON STRAWBERRY CREEK 1
Dylan Chapple, Lauren Hallett, Ariel Cherbowsky, Ken Schwab, Katharine Suding Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, UC Berkeley
Background
Strawberry Creek is a unique urban waterway that runs through the UC Berkeley Campus. This project examines the restoration practices employed along the creek, using a trait-based approach for selecting appropriate native species to replace invasive ivy targeted by restoration efforts. We pursue scientific, educational, and community-based approaches to gain insight into restoration techniques and actively restore the creek.
South Fork, Strawberry Creek
What’s in a trait? A plant’s traits relate to how it uses resources. Average leaf size, root length, and root depth are some examples.
Students collecting data 2
Methods
This year’s project builds on plant trait characteristics measured by the Suding lab in 2012-13. To determine whether plants with similar traits to ivy perform better in restoration than plants with different traits from ivy, we planted 220 plants at 9 sites along the creek and collected data on height, leaf count, slope, soil texture and soil pH. We cleared ivy in one plot and planted directly into the ivy in an adjacent plot.
Site before clearance
Measuring traits
Site after clearance 4
Red flowering currant
Accomplishments And Future Work
490 hours of UC Berkeley undergraduate service 200 hours of UC Berkeley undergraduate research 1200 hours of Berkeley High educational service 350 plants planted and maintained along the creek
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Outreach
Managing for drought 2013-14 was one of the driest years on record for California. To adapt our project, we planted less than initially expected and focused our weekly energy on maintaining our plantings. Over 90% of our plantings survived.
Berkeley Undergraduate: 245 students from various campus volunteer groups planted, weeded, and picked up garbage. 35 students from the ESPM Restoration Ecology course assisted in data collection. Berkeley High School: We partnered with 2 sections of Russell Campisi’s IB Environmental Science from Berkeley High School. 60 students worked for 10 weeks to plant, measure and maintain 100 plants along the creek. Each group developed and tested a hypothesis, collected data on plant growth and analyzed their data as part of their final class project.
350 additional plants purchased and propagated for subsequent years 800 square meters of invasive species controlled 1 senior research thesis Future directions: Analyze data (in process) Continue data collection for 2 years Continue planting based on successes Scale up Berkeley High partnership
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