#  Amber van Meines 

Senior Thesis Undergraduate Student

 

 

 



   ![Student doing fieldwork](/sites/g/files/omnuum6851/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/2025-09/amber_headshot.JPG?itok=8lBnE_Dp) 

 



 





 

I am a senior thesis student from northern California studying Environmental Science and Public Policy. Growing up among the iconic coastal redwoods sparked my passion for conserving and appreciating the natural world. From a young age, I have known that I wanted to pursue something that would positively contribute to the planet or our understanding of it. This past summer, I had the opportunity to collect data in Kruger National Park in South Africa. With the data collected, I am hoping to better understand the larval community composition at middens and within black and white rhinos, a massively understudied aspect of rhino and ecosystem health. I am interested in seeing how rhinos affect disease dynamics of savanna ecosystems, as they play an important role in the movement of nutrients (and potentially disease!) across landscapes. Improving our understanding of rhino + midden parasites can inform greater conservation efforts, protecting both rhinos and broader ecosystem stability. I hope to dedicate my life to this kind of work.



 

 

 





 

 

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