Thomas Ryan

I have worked on the recovery of the California Least Tern for the past 12 years, starting as a colony manager at the Venice Beach Colony. I am a member of the California State Scientific Advisory Board for the California Least Tern and participate in annual California Least Tern Working Group meetings. In partnership with Los Angeles Audubon and later Loyola Marymount University, I have managed the Venice colony with a research and community outreach focus. Research projects have included studying vegetation management in relation to productivity and the use of aversion to reduce predation by American Crows. Our community outreach has focused on introducing students from inner-city schools to conservation efforts at the colony. In 1997, I became interested in the movements of the California Least Terns and searched for wintering least terns along the coast of mainland Mexico with just a few observations. In 2012, we took this to the next level using geolocators to attempt to track the terns, but ran into technical problems recovering the data. This however provided valuable information that will increase our chances of success. I feel that this new GPS technology is our best hope yet at unraveling this mystery. I studied at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona (B. Sc.) and California State University, Long Beach (M.Sc.). I work as an independent researcher for my own small business, Ryan Ecological Consulting, as well as teach biology, environmental studies, and field ecology at Pasadena City College and Santiago Canyon College.

July 2016