Eucalyptus Euphoria

Being assigned group number one was a great honor, and with this large responsibility also came the heightened expectations in the science community. Thus we had to diligently construct a project that would leave no disappointment among our audience. Therefore, it was no question that the majestic blue gum eucalyptus tree, or Eucalyptus globulus, would be selected for observation. This Australian native has made its way all over the world, to places like Spain, South Africa and, of course, California.  Juvenile leaves are covered in a blueish waxy bloom which gives it its name "blue gum". The eucalyptus trees in Montano de Oro were originally planted to be harvested for railroad tie production, but ended up being abandoned. Now, many people feel that these trees are an invasive species that use their allelopathic features to prevent native plants from colonizing the area. Other believe, however, that these trees are an integral part to the overall look and "spirit" of the state park and they also site that these trees are common living places for migrating Monarch Butterflies. No matter what opinion you have, it is still useful information to know how many eucalyptus trees are in the park in order to: establish trends in population growth through time, determine the cost of removal, or set a precedence for conservation.

Study Site

The location that we have selected to survey is located in Montano de Oro State Park along Pecho Valley Road and the Bloody Nose Trail. There are multiple reasons for choosing this site. First of all, its boundries can be clearly defined because there are two hard dividers on its western and eastern sides (Pecho Valley Road and the Bloody Nose Trail respectively) and a clear stream bed to the north. Due to these geographic features, not only can we clearly define the study area on a map but we can also stick to that area while taking measurements on site. The second reason for choosing this particular area is because the eucalyptus trees plated here are relatively evenly spaced and almost take up the entire plot of land. This will make generating a population estimate in such a large area more feasible.

Methods

Due to the large size of the study area, we plan to use two different sampling methods in the hopes of generating a more accurate population estimation. One method we will use is is fixed area transects on the site. This sampling method will give us populatin density from which we can extrapolate the total population. The reason that this is preferred over quadrats (on site) is because  creating a quadrat large enough to encompass multiple individuals would be difficult and generating a fixed are transect and subsequently walking the study area in a west-east fashion simply makes more sense due to the even spacing of the individuals. The second method we will be exploring is fixed area spot counts. This method is similar to the transect sampling except we will not be walking along transects. Instead, we will be standing at a single point and counting trees around us.