Californian Cooperative Ecosystem
Study Unit at CSUN
California State University, Northridge, is a member of the Californian Cooperative Ecosystem
Study Unit. CESUs are consortia whereby federal agencies (e.g. National
Park Service) and state institutions (e.g. CSUN) work together on research,
technical assistance and education to address the management of cultural
and natural resources. Typically a staff member in an agency and a faculty
member collaborate on a project that is of interest to both parties. The agency
must contribute more than financial support, and the university must benefit
in a manner that is not merely financial. The purpose of this website is
to allow agency staff to identify faculty members with complementary interests.
CSUN administrative contact: Scott Perez, director of research.
scott.perez@csun.edu
Selected Faculty with Coincident Interests
Larry Allen (Department of Biology) – (1) the community ecology
of California coastal marine fishes particularly those that occur in the
bays, estuaries and harbors of Southern California and with fish assemblages
in kelp bed and rock reef areas in southern California; (2) the population
ecology of commercial species of fishes including white seabass, California
halibut, kelp bass, barred sand bass, and spotted sand bass. larry.allen@csun.edu.
Joyce Broussard (Department of History) – Nineteenth Century U.S.
history with particular reference to the American South and California, Women
and Gender, Public History, Documentary Film. joyce.broussard@csun.edu
Ronald L. F. Davis (Department of History) – U.S. Economic and Labor
history; Civil War history; head of Natchez Project on southern history.
ronald.davis@csun.edu
Thomas W. Devine (Department of History) – History of 20th Century
U.S., Cold War thought and culture, Youth Culture tom.devine@csun.edu
Robert Carpenter (Department of Biology) – (1) the ecology of marine
benthic communities, such as kelp forests and urchin barrens; (2) the mechanisms
by which physical parameters affect physiology and ecology of those communities
using a combined laboratory and field approach to test hypotheses about mass-transfer
limitation of reef algae. rcarpenter@csun.edu.
Helen Cox (Department of Geography) - atmospheric composition,
ozone depletion, air pollution; (2) remote sensing of the atmosphere and
the earth’s surface; (2) climate change; (3) hydrological modeling and issues
relating to increased runoff and water pollution from the increased imperviousness
of the surface resulting from urban sprawl; (4) water supply. helen.m.cox@csun.edu.
Steve Dudgeon (Department of Biology) – the ecological states of
communities on rocky shores, particularly how disturbances and invasive
species result in alternative communities. steve.dudgeon@csun.edu.
Shawna Dark (Department of Geography) – (1) the distribution of
biodiversity and the spatial aspects of human impact on our natural environment;
currently, documenting the distribution and type of wetlands in southern
California, using GIS and color infra-red aerial photography to map and classify
wetlands; (2) the invasion of non-native species (both plants and animals)
into the Mediterranean ecosystems of California from a spatial perspective;
currently, the use of vegetation indices derived from satellite imagery
for identifying the distribution of invasive plants in natural ecosystems.
shawna.dark@csun.edu.
Matthew Des Lauriers (Department of Anthropology) – models of ecological
shifts over the course of the holocene, as well as shorter duration resiliency
and stability in the face of both human and climate induced change. amalgua@yahoo.com.
Robert E. Espinoza (Department of Biology) – The biology of amphibians
and reptiles, with emphases on adaptations to their abiotic environment (e.g.,
temperature) and how the abiotic environment influences where they live
and how they interact with each other and other organisms. One application
of this line of research would be to establish habitat-protection plans based
on the abiotic niche defined for a given species. robert.e.espinoza@csun.edu.
Doug Fischer (Department of Geography) – Biogeography and environmental
geography in general with specific interests in (1) fog, overcast, and other
microclimate factors that affect plant species range limits, (2) climate
change impacts on species distributions and range limits, (3) biodiversity
conservation and reserve management planning. dougfischer@cox.net.
David A. Gray (Department of Biology) – Behavior, coevolution,
and speciation, especially of insects; molecular ecology. Students
have studied a diversity of organisms (crickets, flies, crayfish, bobcats).
dave.gray@csun.edu.
Jim Hayes (Department of Geography) – biogeography and vegetation
dynamics, the landscape ecology of fire/distrubance ecology. james.hayes@csun.edu.
Fritz Hertel (Department of Biology) – the functional morphology
of birds and mammals and its relationship to ecological segregation among
species; students have worked on management plans for endangered mammals
and reintroduced birds. fritz.hertel@csun.edu.
Cheryl Hogue (Department of Biology) – the effects of pollution
and other environmental conditions on the rates of parasitism and the species
diversity of parasites of fishes. cheryl.hogue@csun.edu.
Tim Karels (Department of Biology) – (1) Identifying processes
that influence population growth or decline in terrestrial vertebrates,
primarily small mammals; (2) development and evaluation of statistical and
field methods for monitoring wildlife health and abundance; (3) assessing
impact of climate and climate variability on northern and alpine vertebrate
demography and population dynamics. karels@csun.edu.
Julie Laity (Department of Geography) – aeolian, fluvial, and groundwater
systems in deserts: (1) wind erosion, rock abrasion, and the human impact
on deserts, including problems of dune encroachment and dust generation;
(2) wind erosion and climate change during the past 10,000 years in the southwestern
United States; (3) environmental degradation and groundwater overdraft in
the Lower Mojave Valley, resulting in the death of native vegetation, the
reactivation of ancient dune systems, and problems associated with blowing
sand. julie.laity@csun.edu.
Michael Love (Department of Anthropology) – early complex societies,
archaeological method and theory, ceramic analysis. michael.love@csun.edu.
Kathie Marsaglia (Department of Geological Sciences) – sandstone
petrology, sedimentation. kathie.marsaglia@csun.edu.
Jennifer A. Matos (Department of Biology) – population genetics
of rare, isolated populations, and hybridizing species of plants and vertebrate
animals. jmatos@csun.edu.
Vicki Pedone (Department of Geological Sciences) – Carbonate petrology,
for example of dried lake beds. vicki.pedone@csun.edu.
Suzanne Scheld (Department of Anthropology) – urban contemporary
anthropology with applications for cultural diversity/cultural preservation
in public spaces. suzanne.scheld@csun.edu.
Paula Schiffman (Department of Biology) – (1) the ecology of plants
and the animals that disturb them; (2) California “grasslands” (which in
some places were not dominated by grasses before European alien species arrived);
(3) how the ecological community works at Carrizo Plain National Monument.
pschiffman@csun.edu.
Josh Sides (Department of History) – California history; African-Americans
in California and the West; urban history in twentieth-century Los Angeles
and San Francisco. jsides@csun.edu
Paul Wilson (Department of Biology) – (1) inventories of mosses
from various locations in California to study geographic changes/stasis in
the niche relations of the species; (2) pollination biology particularly
of Penstemon species and relatives; (3) student studies of why rare
species are rare. paul.wilson@csun.edu.
Ali Tabidian (Department of Geological Sciences) – stream/aquifer
hydraulics, nonpoint-source water pollution, perchlorate, and arsenic hydrogeochemistry.
ali.tabidian@csun.edu.
Eugene Turner (Department of Geography) – cartography and American
demography. GIS techniques and application of spatial analysis. Co-author
of: We the People: An Atlas of America's Ethnic Diversity (1988) and The
Ethnic Quilt: Population Diversity in Southern California (1997). eugene.turner@csun.edu.
Jorge Vazquez (Department of Geology) – (1) quantification of magma
residence at Yellowstone and Toba calderas using uranium-series geochronology
and trace-element diffusion, (2) cosmogenic chlorine-36 dating of basaltic
volcanism in eastern California, (3) generation of trachytic magmas in Hawaii.
jvazquez@csun.edu
Scott Williams (Department of Leisure Studies and Recreation) –
ecotourism; tourism in the outdoor recreation context; visitor impacts in
natural areas; past work includes collaborations with the US Forest Service
on the National Visitor Use Monitoring Survey (NVUM) in Oregon and Washington
and is a "Master Educator" with Leave No Trace. sdwilliams@csun.edu.
Douglas Yule (Department of Geological Sciences) - geological mapping,
active faults, and paleoseismology. j.d.yule@csun.edu.