Zoo InternQuest is a career exploration program for high school students. For more information see the Zoo InternQuest Journals. For more photos see the Zoo InternQuest Photo Journal.

If you ever played outside catching lizards or spiders, Mr. J.P. Montagne may be just the person you’ll want to meet. Mr. Montagne works at the Wild Animal Park monitoring biodiversity in the coastal sage scrub habitat that is located in back of the park. So what is biodiversity? It is the assortment of life within an ecosystem, biome, or the entire earth. Biodiversity is important because it boosts ecosystem productivity.

Mr. Montagne has a very unique way of studying the inhabitants that call the coastal sage scrub habitat home. He places long nets across the ground that lead to underground buckets called “pitfall traps” which trap lizards, snakes, amphibians, and even bugs. During the month, Mr. Montagne and his team go out and inspect the wildlife in the  traps and record data on their findings before releasing the animals safely back into the wild. They have been conducting these biodiversity surveys for more than 10 years and can even overlap their data with natural events such as storms, wildfires, and bug infestations. By analyzing the data as a whole, they know which populations are increasing, which species are in decline, and which ones are staying the same.

This research is very important and Mr. Montagne can use all the help he can get. The Multiple Species Conservation Program is dedicated to protecting San Diego’s natural resources and has funded much of Montagne’s research. If you would like to help preserve ecosystems here in San Diego, it is easy to get involved with the MSCP (http://www.sandiego.gov/planning/mscp/). Another way to help is to be knowledgeable about the diverse habitats in San Diego County. Respect nature and its inhabitants and help to preserve what little bit of undeveloped land we have left.

Eric, Real World Team

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