Reclaimed Water & Tadpole Behavior

Jack Keoseyan

Jack has been investigating the effects of two primary issues facing native stream wildlife in the Santa Monica Mountains: urbanization and invasive species. In his work, Jack has compared the effects of urban wastewater with pristine stream water on the predator evasion behavior of Pacific tree frog tadpoles (P. regilla). He is interested in this because predator evasion affects population viability in already-vulnerable native species. Further, he has compared these tadpoles’ evolved predator responses to a native predator (the California newt, T. torosa) with the novel predator evasion capabilities of an invasive and unfamiliar predator, the red swamp crayfish (P. clarkii).