News | Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute & Bodega Marine Laboratory

Discovering Curiosity: Saving the White Abalone with Kristin Aquilino

For the UC Davis College of Biological Sciences: A UC Davis alumna, Kristin Aquilino directs the Bodega Marine Laboratory's white abalone captive breeding program. In 2001, the marine snail was officially listed as endangered. Using captive breeding, Aquilino and colleagues hope to bring the species back from the brink of extinction.

Investigating Ocean Toxicity with Evan Tjeerdema, Marine and Coastal Sciences Undergrad

Evan Tjeerdema spent the summer at Bodega Marine Laboratory, participating in both of the facility’s summer sessions. While there, he took classes like environmental toxicology and conducted two research projects: He studied the effects of environmental toxins on crab lavae and on predator-prey interactions using red abalone and starfish.

Environmental Toxicology

What’s In a Scientific Name? A Story.

A scientific name means more than just Linnaean nomenclature. Names go out into the world like buoys in the ocean, mere indicators of the stories and relationships weighted below them. Grace Ha writes about discovering a new marine species — and naming it.

California’s Underwater Forests Are Being Eaten by the ‘Cockroaches of the Ocean’

When climate change helped trigger a 60-fold explosion of purple urchins off Northern California’s coast, the urchins went on a feeding frenzy and kelp forests were devoured.

Large Stretches of Coral Reefs Can Be Rehabilitated

New ‘Spider’ Technique Found to Help Coral Reefs

Even after being severely damaged by blast fishing and coral mining, coral reefs can be rehabilitated over large scales using a relatively inexpensive technique, according to a study led by the University of California, Davis, in partnership with Mars Symbioscience.

Conservation

Summer Research on the Coast: Fellowship Supports Undergrad Emily Meyers at Bodega Marine Laboratory

In the early summer months, undergraduate Emily Meyers would rise before the sun, sometimes around 3 or 4 a.m. Keeping time by the ocean tides, she’d cart her research materials to eelgrass beds near the Bodega Marine Laboratory.

Marine Ecology

Discovering Curiosity: Eric Sanford Discusses How Marine Science and Sustainable Fisheries Go Hand in Hand

Outside Eric Sanford’s office window, foamy waters crash against rocky shores and open up to the expansive blue of the Pacific Ocean. Here, at the Bodega Marine Laboratory, Sanford and colleagues in his lab work to understand how ocean acidification is changing the ecology and evolution of the planet’s marine life.

Marine Ecology

Absolutely Crabulous: Why Some Crabs Get Dressed Up

Covering themselves in everything from algae to urchins, crabs know how to accessorize for safety. Sponge crabs use their back pair of legs “to hold an intact sponge over their body,” says Jay Stachowicz.

Marine Ecology

Why are meadow spittlebugs vanishing and why should we care?

Meadow spittlebugs, once very abundant on plants along the California coastline, are declining rapidly or vanishing from their previous habitats, according to ecologists Richard Karban and Mikaela Huntzinger of UC Davis, co-authors of newly published research in the journal Ecology.

Evolution and Adaptation

Defend Against Predators or Run? Evolutionary Tradeoffs in Butterflyfish

Researchers measured the physical traits and defenses of 351 butterfly fish species compared to feeding style. The fish fell into two broad groups: hunters and grazers. Hunters, with deeper bodies and bigger spines, left the reefs; grazers remained in the relative safety of the reefs.

Marine Ecology