Since I began my undergraduate studies, I have been interested in paths of study in or related to biology. I started out as a Cognitive and Brain Sciences major, as I was fascinated with learning about the brain and the interdisciplinary nature of the courses offered. I took computer science and psychology classes like cognitive psychology, which introduced me to concepts such as perception, memory, and information processing. I became a research assistant at a lab in the psychology department focusing on language cognition, where I was responsible for running tests to record brain activity during language processing and creating linguistic stimuli under the supervision of a postdoc.

However, I realized that though I enjoy learning about psychology, I truly wanted to focus on work related to environmental biology in the future. The summer after my sophomore year, I conducted environmental fieldwork as a water quality intern with the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA). At MyRWA, I carried out water sampling and testing procedures to monitor the condition of the watershed. I evaluated samples for cyanobacteria, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity at multiple locations. This internship solidified my commitment to studying environmental science. During my junior year I began to take courses such as conservation biology and marine biology for the Environmental Studies major. These classes were engaging and deepened my understanding of the natural world. I then decided to add Biology as a major because it had the same courses as well as introductory chemistry courses and genetics. I knew that these additional courses would be useful to me because they would allow me to better understand biological processes and the background for why they occur. The utility of such courses became especially apparent to me during my internship at MyRWA. I wanted to learn more about the chemical basis for procedures I was carrying out, such as measuring oxygen in samples by adding various chemicals to the water.

Working with the Refuges Inventory and Monitoring Program with the Fish and WIldlife Service (FWS) this summer further assured me that I want to study wildlife biology as a graduate student. I met refuge biologists and staff and learned about their experiences, what they studied, and their paths to the FWS. I have loved collecting vegetation data in the field and analyzing that data to provide information to the refuges to guide their management actions for the coming year. Though I am still unsure of my exact path in the future, I know that I want to conduct applied research that directly impacts conservation actions for wildlife and management decisions. I am sure that I made the right choice in becoming an intern with the FWS and choosing conservation and wildlife as my academic focus.

Agency: Bureau of Land Management

Program: US Fish & Wildlife Service - DFP

Location: Modoc National Wildlife Refuge

Week 3 in the California Central Valley Wildlife Refuges

I am coordinating a survey that estimates the amount of seeds produced by species that migratory birds need as a food source in the central valley of California. I will be working alongside staff at three wildlife refuges from Kern National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) near Bakersfield to Modoc NWR near the Oregon border. These refuges manage portions of land as wetlands, meaning that they flood the land and then draw down the water periodically during the year. This process allows highly nutritious food sources for waterbirds, like swamp timothy and watergrass, to grow preferentially over other plants.

The interesting thing about my internship is that I am simultaneously refining and adding to the protocol for this survey, writing annual reports using survey data from previous years, and conducting fieldwork to get data for 2021. I spent the first two weeks at the regional Inventory and Monitoring office in Sacramento getting oriented and reading through the protocol for the survey, standards of procedure, and other guidance documents. Then I set off to Kern NWR to begin collecting data.

The refuge biologist, some crew members, and I set out early in the morning to take advantage of the cooler air. We drive on roads and levies that act as borders around the refuge subunits, stopping when close to random sample points on our maps. We then proceed on foot through the dry vegetation in the subunit until reaching the point, stopping to take measurements of swamp timothy and watergrass. One person takes charge of estimating the percentages of the food species within a 15 meter circle plot, while others count the number of seeds within a quadrat (a 30cm2 metal square) and measure the lengths of seeds. These numbers go into a model that estimates the total amount of food in the refuge for waterbirds.

This week I begin processing and analysing the data. I am curious to see how seed production this year compares to the other years where we have data, 2019 and 2020. Once we have three years of data we can begin to see trends in which management actions (tilling or mowing) increase seed production of the food species and which subunits have the most potential for improvement.

In conducting the survey, I have also learned about the planning and management actions that go into running a wildlife refuge. This includes getting water delivered to the refuge and correctly timing the flooding of subunits so that they act as wetlands, even though the area does not naturally flood anymore. The crew and maintenance workers mow the subunits, till the land and remove invasive salt cedar trees. The refuge staff put up cameras to spot shrews and kit foxes, conduct bird surveys, and monitor lizard populations. Now that most of the data for Kern has been collected for the food species survey, I am looking forward to joining refuge staff to observe different tasks they do during a week.

Agency: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Program: US Fish & Wildlife Service - DFP

Location: Modoc National Wildlife Refuge

Rebeca Becdach is a Tufts University student majoring in Biology and Environmental Studies. Her focus of study within the Biology department is global change biology, including topics such as conservation, habitat loss and fragmentation, and climate change. Previously, Rebeca worked to monitor water quality and manage invasive species within a watershed in the greater Boston area. She also conducted research with a Tufts professor regarding the connection between coffee production and deforestation in Ethiopia. After completing a Combined Master’s/Bachelor’s degree at Tufts, she hopes to continue conducting research to support conservation efforts.