Wildfire, Water Quality, and Invasive Species

Elise DeArment

Elise investigated the impact of wildfires on stream water quality between 2019 and 2022. After the Woolsey fire of 2018 that impacted a large portion of the streams in the Santa Monica Mountains, she began investigating how water quality changed post-fire. She focused on how changes in pH, dissolved potassium, and a variety of other factors impact the behavior of the invasive red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii). She then compiled findings from her several years of research into an honors thesis which was presented in the spring of 2022.