Students will work with National Park Service and Nature Conservancy staff during the Summer or Fall to learn outdoor and field biology techniques while conducting long term botanical surveys on Santa Cruz Island (Channel Islands). Students will be trained to utilize topographic maps, follow compass bearings, use GPS devices and conduct field identification of numerous native and introduced plants. Students will establish plant transects and use them for data collection, conducting high level research on island biology in cooperation with the UC Natural Reserve System. Students will participate in two vegetation surveys; one that focuses on the effects of feral pig removal on Stipa pulchra (purple needlegrass), and one that monitors the long term health of a variety of plant communities including chaparral, coastal dune scrub, bishop pine forest, grassland, ruderal, and oak woodland communities. Students conduct multiple protocols to collect data to support these studies. The Summer trip to Santa Cruz Island lasts 8 days, the Fall trip lasts 5 days. Students are housed in rustic dorm rooms, and plan and prepare their own meals.