ES196 May 2008 Table of Contents

Read the abstracts from the May 2008 Symposium

Abramson, Rachel - Plastic Recycling Awareness among Students at UC Berkeley

Alleyne, Tsering - Social Conflict Between Mountain bikers and Other Trail Users in the East Bay

Brown, Rachel - Tests of Water and Oil-Based Anionic Polyacrylamide Toxicity in Sediment Control Applications

Castrejon, Allison - Bringing Awareness to Potential Social Determinants and Recycling Rates within the Berkeley Unified School District

Chan, Lillian - An efficiency comparison between the BioGeomancer Workbench and manual methods in georeferencing natural history communities

Chen, Stephanie - Wetland plant species composition as an indicator of California black rail (Laterallus jamaicensis coturniculus) presence in the Sierra Foothills

Cooc, May - Choosing an Alternative Water Intake Site for Solano County

Dalke, Amber - The Relationship between Trifolium spp. Abundance and Environmental Variables in East Bay Grasslands

Davis, Laura - Correlation between Salinity, Density, and Growth Rates of Pacific Cordgrass in the Western Stege Marsh, Richmond, California

Do, Doris - The Effects of Temperature and Precipitation on Carbon Dioxide Flux from California Grassland Soil

Dow, Elizabeth - The Effect of Land Use/Land Cover on Mangrove Forest in the Northeastern Panama Canal Region

Downs, Annie - Survey for Chytridiomycosis in Terrestrial Salamanders of the San Francisco Bay Area

Ferguson, Sacha - Determinants of Travel and Schistosomiasis Prevalence in Sichuan, China

Fung, Jennifer - Cooking and Gardening Classes in Fifth Grade Classrooms and their Effect on Food Choice, Preference, and Recognition

Glettner, Courtney - Energy use in the transport of food: Comparing local and conventional food systems in Berkeley, CA

Green, Evan - Urban Farming: Lead Problems and Remediation Solutions

Looman, Mark - The Effect of Human Advertising on the Composting Rate at UC-Berkeley Restaurants

Milliken, Kristen - Examination of the relationship between fuel loads and forest characteristics in the northern Sierra Nevada mixed conifer

Morici, Katerina - Mortality in the urban forest: a comparative analysis of tree survival in West Oakland with respect to planting entity

Murray, Anne - Feeding preference of the Oak moth (Phargandia californica) andthe possibility of tannin sequestration on a diet of Costal Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia)

Ngo, Ky - The Influence of Environmental Claims on Consumers’ Willingness to Purchase

Oinuma, Colleen - Octopus mercatoris Response Behavior to Novel Objects in a Laboratory Setting: Evidence of Play and Tool Use Behavior?

Olney, Bryan - Seed Preferences of the Giant Kangaroo Rat (Dipodomys ingens) in Grasslands of the Carrizo Plain, California

Philips, Aaron - Tree Regeneration in Single-Tree Selection Gaps in the Mixed Conifer Forests of the Sierra Nevada

Placencia, Christian - Understanding the Modern Organic Consumer in Santa Cruz, CA

Regele, Adam - Managing Beijing’s Water Resources with Payment for Environmental Services

Riley, Dana - The Importance of Precision in Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories: Comparing Simple and Precise Data Collection Models

Riley, Melissa - The Effects of Urbanization on Water Quality: A Biological Assessment of Three Bay Area Watersheds using Benthic Macroinvertebrates as Biological Indicators

Rohilla, Eddie - Effects of Biomanipulation with Fishes on Eutrophic Ponds in Andhra Pradesh, India

Ross, Stephanie - Soil Characteristics of Mud from the Indonesian Mud Volcano "LUSI"

Rothschild, James - Environmental Factors Affecting Nymphal Ixodes pacificus Abundance Under Field and Laboratory Conditions

Saad, Kat - Shooting for the Sun: A Comparison of Performance among Photovoltaic Technologies

Shang, Shu - Differentially Expressed Genes in Daphnia magna Exposed to Methyl Farnesoate

Sheppard, Ryk - Crypsis and Color Polymorphism in Theridion californicum (Araneae: Theridiidae)

Song, Daniel - The Effects of Reward Frequency Variation on the Foraging Behavior of the European Honeybee, Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Ankara, Turkey

Suzara, Holly - Modeling the Impact of Temperature on Peak Electricity Demand in California

Talatala, Susan - The Effect of Tap Water Perception on the Consumption of Bottled Water

Thi, Kate - Understanding Wildlife Interactions on Ventana Ranch, CA. based on Local Rabbit Populations

Tu, Chelsea - From Norm to Practice: Comparative Case Studies on International Mechanisms for Wartime Environmental Restitution

Vu, Elizabeth - Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) Calling Behavior in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary in the North Atlantic Ocean

Xu, Tian - Effect of Branding and Store Size on Homogenous Products Prices at Natural and Traditional Grocery Stores

These studies were undertaken by seniors in the Environmental Sciences Group Major, an Interdisciplinary Studies program jointly administered by the College of Letters and Sciences and the College of Natural Resources at the University of California at Berkeley. The Environmental Sciences major allows students to concentrate in one of three fields of specialization: biological science, physical science, and social science. In their senior year, students in the major participate in a two-semester Senior Research Seminar, investigating an environmental topic of current concern. This project gives the students experience in field work, general research techniques, and oral and written presentation of research results. This volume is the compilation of research reports from the fall 2007/spring 2008 Senior Research Seminars.