Achievements

Sean Stewart, Kerry Byrne

Environmental Science & Management

Sean Stewart has published the first chapter of his thesis in the journal Restoration Ecology. For this research, Stewart and his M.S. advisor, Dr. Kerry Byrne, compared long-term demographic data and survival of transplanted (9 year) and extant (7 years) individuals of Applegate's milkvetch within the same population. Applegate's milkvetch is a Federally Endangered plant species found only near or within the city limits of Klamath Falls, Oregon. The results of this study suggest that population reinforcement can be a successful conservation tool for Applegate's milkvetch under the right conditions and the study may be used as a tool to inform conservation strategies for other imperiled herbaceous perennial plant species.

Stewart S. M. and K. M. Byrne. 2025. Is reinforcement a viable conservation strategy for the endangered perennial herb, Astragalus applegatei? Restoration Ecology 33: e14314. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.14314

Sean returned to Humboldt State as a non-traditional student and earned his B.S. and M.S. in the ESM Department. He was the 2021 recipient of the McCrone graduate student fellowship award. 

Kerry Byrne (ESM), Justin Luong (FFRM)

Environmental Science & Management

Drs. Kerry Byrne (ESM) and Justin Luong co-led a manuscript published in the journal Ecosphere. The study describes the results of a 4-year drought experiment in southern Oregon on two understudied sagebrush species. They found that severe drought had divergent effects on two adjacent plant communities with differing dominant sagebrush species (low sagebrush and silver sagebrush).

Byrne, K.M.*, J. C. ​​Luong*, and K. Kaczynski. 2025. Divergent drought responses in two cold desert shrublands. Ecosphere 16(3): e70211. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70211
*co-first authors

Pedro Peloso

Biological Sciences

Dr. Pedro Peloso co-authored a publication with colleagues from multiple institutions focused on the evolutionary history and biogeography of the largest genus of Treefrogs in the Americas (Dendropsophus). They also assessed the evolution of egg deposition mode (aquatic vs. terrestrial). The paper was published in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.

Whitcher, C., Orrico, V. G. D., Ron, S., Lyra, M. L., Cassini, C. S., Ferreira, R. B., Nakamura, D. Y. M., Peloso, P., Rada, M. A., Rivera-Correa, M., Sturaro, M. J., Valdujo, P. H., Haddad, C. F. B., Grant, T., Faivovich, J., Lemmon, A., and Lemmon, E. M. "Phylogenetics, Biogeography, and Life History Evolution in the Broadly Distributed Treefrog Genus Dendropsophus (Anura: Hylidae: Hylinae)." Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 204 (2025): 108275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2024.108275.

Destiny Saucedo, Cameron Piper, Deirdre Replinger, Sierra Olsen, Patience Brennan, Joseph Meihak, Daniel Meng, and Sam Strich, Dee Naranjo, BreeLynn Butler, Emma Leininger, Alex Lewis

Wildlife

Undergraduate and graduate students in the Department of Wildlife at Cal Poly Humboldt were recognized at two recent professional conferences for their academic achievements. 

The following students earned recognition and award money for "Best posters":

1st:  Destiny Saucedo, graduate student; Cameron Piper, graduate student

2nd: Deirdre Replinger, graduate student

3rd:  Sierra Olsen, undergraduate student

The Conclave Team won first place in the Quiz Bowl competition. The team included students Patience Brennan, Joseph Meihak, Daniel Meng, and Sam Strich, with Dee Naranjo as an alternate, and supporting crew BreeLynn Butler and Emma Leininger. Graduate student Alex Lewis also supported the team.

Rick Golightly

Wildlife

Dr. Rick Golightly received grant funding to support years 31 to 35 of a long-term project aimed at restoring and monitoring vulnerable seabird populations along the central California coast. Human use and disturbance at coastal areas where seabirds establish nests and raise their young has prompted a need for nest and human activity monitoring, which this work will address. Findings will inform programs that can minimize or eliminate disturbance, and ultimately conserve seabirds and their nesting colonies. 

Pascal Biwole

Environmental Resources Engineering

Professor Pascal Biwole co-authored the following recently published original research papers:

• Hygrothermal performance of wood-cement walls across various climate conditions, by Amer Bakkour, Salah-Eddine Ouldboukhitine, Pascal Biwole, and Sofiane Amziane, Materials and Structures, Volume 58 (8), February 2025.
• Multiple 3D particle tracking velocimetry for measuring airflow and pathogen trajectory in large indoor spaces, by Mohammed Umar Musa, Pascal Henry Biwole, and André Labbé, Building and Environment, Volume 271, 1 March 2025

Kendall Pargot

Biological Sciences

Kendall Pargot, Master's student in Biology (advisor Karen Kiemnec-Tyburczy) was awarded a conservation grant from the Northern California Herpetological Society to support her thesis research. The funds will be used to purchase cameras to record the nocturnal behavior of salamanders.

Andrew P Kinziger

Fisheries Biology

Coauthored and edited a special issue in Molecular Ecology Resources titled:  skúkum tílixam: Uniting to Support Indigenous Contributions to Molecular Ecology

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/17550998/current

Daniel Barton

Wildlife

Dan Barton (Faculty, Wildlife) chaired the scientific program of an international joint conference between the Pacific Seabird Group and the Waterbird Society, held in San José, Costa Rica, in early January 2025. The bilingual meeting featured over 300 scientific presentations on seabird and waterbird biology and conservation by authors from over 40 countries.

Barbara Clucas

Wildlife

Dr. Barbara Clucas received Bureau of Land Management funding to support collaborative research with Texas A&M that will investigate common raven presence in Gunnison sage grouse (GUSG) habitat in Colorado. The GUSG is listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act, and this project seeks to understand what habitat features influence ravens, which are potential GUSG nest predators. Results of this study will inform more efficient and effective management of GUSG and their predators. 

Project collaborators include Israel Parker of Texas A&M and Aaron Facka of Wildlands Network and Cal Poly Humboldt Wildlife graduate student Leah Roll.