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Santa Catalina Island is home to 12 species of native and non-native amphibians and reptiles. These species make-up an important part of the ecosystem acting as both predators and prey and bio-indicators for ecosystem health. Since the Catalina Island Conservancy was created 50 years ago, there have been only a handful of studies looking at species distribution and abundance across the island. In 2022 and 2023 the Conservancy started new surveys to learn more about these charismatic mini-fauna.
Speaker: Makenzie Henk started as a wildlife biologist for the Catalina Island Conservancy in the summer of 2021. Before dedicating her work to the charismatic mini-fauna of Catalina Island she received a masters from Cal Poly Humboldt studying population dynamics of Roosevelt elk. She has contributed to a wide range of research projects from surveying amphibians and reptiles in Puerto Rico to capturing and monitoring bats in the Upper Midwest. She is passionate about the use of non-invasive monitoring for population modeling and conservation of wildlife species.