Graduate Student - Ph.D.

Environmental Science, Policy, and Management

University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)

Ron Amundson

My project uses a biologic and geologic analysis to determine the forces which cause seasonal wetlands called vernal pools and their upland counterparts, Mima mounds.

My research focuses on wetlands called vernal pools, which harbor numerous endangered species, and small adjacent hillocks called Mima mounds. Despite the biologic importance of these landscapes, the processes that formed them are unknown. I am testing a hypothesis which proposes that burrowing animals create the mounded terrain by preferentially moving soil in response to high water tables that arise on very old landforms. I am using biologic fieldwork, spatial analysis of remote sensing data, and modeling to test the hypothesis and to inform the regulatory effort underway to protect the pools.