Wildfire Impacts to Populations of a California Endemic Newt
This is an ongoing project aimed at understanding the physiological changes in California
Newts in response to stressful environmental conditions. The 2018 Woolsey Fire severely
disrupted stream ecosystems in the Santa Monica Mountains. This project aims to understand
how the fire's impacts have cascaded throughout the ecosystem and affected the California
Newt. With impacts on suitable habitat and food availability, Newt body condition
and egg masses laid over time were evaluated. Initial results show how both before
and after the fire, Newt body condition was significantly lower in sites affected
by the fire, compared to unaffected sites. This gives rise to previous environmental
stressors such as drought, which have affected the Santa Monica Mountains for years.
Further research is currently underway that is looking to understand egg-mass data
to better understand how reproductive ability has changed over time, as well as a
more in-depth analysis into tagged Newts who were caught and measured before and after
the fire.
