FITTING PLANT TO PLACE: COMMUNITY-ENGAGED

ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION ON STRAWBERRY

CREEK

Strawberry Creek is a unique urban waterway

that runs through the UC Berkeley Campus. This

project examines the restoration practices

employed along the creek, using a trait-based

approach for selecting appropriate native species

to replace invasive ivy targeted by restoration

efforts. We pursue scientific, educational, and

community-based approaches to gain insight into

restoration techniques and actively restore the

creek.

This year’s project builds on plant trait characteristics

measured by the Suding lab in 2012-13. To

determine whether plants with similar traits to ivy

perform better in restoration than plants with different

traits from ivy, we planted 220 plants at 9 sites along

the creek and collected data on height, leaf count,

slope, soil texture and soil pH. We cleared ivy in

one plot and planted directly into the ivy in an

adjacent plot.

Background 1

Methods 2

Outreach 3

Berkeley Undergraduate: 245 students from various campus

volunteer groups planted, weeded, and picked up garbage.

35 students from the ESPM Restoration Ecology course

assisted in data collection.

Berkeley High School: We partnered with 2 sections of

Russell Campisi’s IB Environmental Science from Berkeley

High School. 60 students worked for 10 weeks to plant,

measure and maintain 100 plants along the creek. Each group

developed and tested a hypothesis, collected data on plant

growth and analyzed their data as part of their final class

project.

4 Accomplishments

And Future Work

What’s in a trait?

A plant’s traits relate to how

it uses resources. Average

leaf size, root length, and root

depth are some examples.

Managing for drought

2013-14 was one of the driest

years on record for California.

To adapt our project, we planted

less than initially expected and

focused our weekly energy on

maintaining our plantings. Over

90% of our plantings survived.

Dylan Chapple, Lauren Hallett, Ariel Cherbowsky,

Ken Schwab, Katharine Suding

Department of Environmental Science, Policy

and Management, UC Berkeley

490 hours of UC Berkeley undergraduate service

200 hours of UC Berkeley undergraduate research

1200 hours of Berkeley High educational service

350 plants planted and maintained along the creek

350 additional plants purchased and propagated for

subsequent years

800 square meters of invasive species controlled

1 senior research thesis

Future directions:

Analyze data (in process)

Continue data collection for 2 years

Continue planting based on successes

Scale up Berkeley High partnership

South Fork, Strawberry Creek

Red flowering currant Measuring traits

Students collecting data

Site before clearance Site after clearance

Supported by: