Chapter Meetings

California walnut woodlands

Presented by Natasha Khanna-Dang

Date/Time: Tuesday, May 21st, 7:00 P.M. PT
In-person at Madrona Marsh Nature Center and via Zoom

Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/3547617773?pwd=MGkzNDF2N2liZGR4eEN3VnE2TkhMQT09

Meeting ID: 354 761 7773
Passcode: 224230

Changes in land use following Euro-American and Mexican colonization resulted in the severe reduction of the endemic Juglans californica (Southern California black walnut) and much of its woodland habitat in coastal Southern California. Little is known about the ecological benefits of plants within California walnut woodlands to wildlife.

Inspired by local community efforts in Northeast Los Angeles to use tree protection ordinances as a means of halting development projects, I will share about my research which was inspired and informed by local efforts to conserve habitat and address displacement of low-income residents in Northeast Los Angeles. I conducted a bird foraging study to quantify the ecological significance of key tree and shrub species in Southern California black walnut woodland habitat. I studied plant community composition, and the role plants play within food webs for avifauna. I found that Quercus agrifolia (coast live oak) had the highest use relative to its availability with 29.6% of feeding attempts followed by J. californica with 22.6% of feeding attempts, Heteromeles arbutifolia (Toyon) with 15.1% of feeding attempts, and Malosma laurina (Laurel sumac) with 8.1% feeding attempts. Further, I found strong positive associations between the density of Q. agrifolia and J. californica in greenspaces to bird feeding attempts.

Natasha is pursuing her Master of Science degree in Environmental Science at California State University, Los Angeles, graduating this past weekend. Our chapter supported Natasha’s research who also works as a graduate research assistant in the Wood Lab of Urban and Avian Ecology at Cal State LA. The lab manages a large-scale food web study to critically evaluate the role of native and nonnative oak trees in structuring urban food webs, composed of plants, insects, and birds, in Los Angeles County.

Past Chapter Programs

Our monthly chapter meetings are recorded in full and viewable after the fact for anyone that doesn’t get a chance to attend. For our full playlist of recorded meetings, click here for our chapter YouTube Channel playlist.