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Fish have been migrating to cooler water over the last several decades as the ocean warms. But in Antarctica, the coldest place on the planet, polar species have nowhere to go.

Marine life in Antarctica is especially vulnerable to climate change, which is warming oceans throughout the world. Anne Todgham, an animal scientist at the University of California, Davis, is studying how — and whether — polar fish will adapt to the changing conditions.

UC Davis' very own Kristin Aquilino, a project scientist at Bodega Marine Laboratory,  is in charge of the largest population of endangered white abalone that exists in the world. Her work focuses on a long-term goal is to build the population in captivity, then outplant them into the wild and hope to increase a stable population. However, is there even a chance for them to survive back in the wild with dramatic changes in ocean chemistry due to climate change? 

A study led led by the University of California, Davis, shows that there is a new technology that can help to transform how imperiled species are considered and managed for conservation protection. These technologies can be applied to a wide range of species around the world — from mushrooms to walruses — but the study focuses on two iconic species of Pacific salmon: steelhead and chinook.

Commercial fishermen may be able to catch more of the profitable fish they want with marine reserves than without them, according to a study in the journal PNAS led by the University of California, Davis. Using marine reserves as a management tool could also help the recently rebounded West Coast groundfish fishery sustain itself, the study notes.

Marine reserves are a subset of Marine Protected Areas. Some MPAs allow fishing, but marine reserves are areas of the ocean closed to fishing and other extractive activities.

The University of California, Davis is set to receive nearly $3 million dollars from the National Science Foundation to  train the next generation of marine scientists with an emphasis and  focus on policy at the front end of research.

Kathryn (Kate) Hewett is the 2017 recipient of the Neal Van Alfen and James MacDonald Graduate Student Support Fund award for her exemplary research and leadership on the science of estuaries. Kate is a Ph.D. student in the Hydrologic Sciences Graduate Group. She works with her major professor, John Largier, an oceanographer in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy who is stationed at the Bodega Marine Laboratory. Hewett has been building on her master’s studies on the role of hypoxia, a lack of oxygen, in the Russian River estuary.

UC Davis scientists at Bodega Marine Laboratory have found that under high CO2 conditions, foraminifera had trouble building shells, repairing spines and were physiologically stressed. Without being able to properly form their shelves, their ability to neutralize acidity also lessens, making the deep ocean more acidic. The study’s other co-authors include Emily Rivest from UC Davis and Virginia Institute of Marine Science, UC Davis professors Brian Gaylord and Eric Sanford, and UC Davis associate research scientist Ann Russell.

Postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Mike Gil, has been named one of twenty 2017 TEDGlobal Fellows. Gil’s work on ocean ecology and coral reefs has taken him around the world, from Thailand to French Polynesia, to cruising through the North Pacific “garbage patch.” He is also deeply committed to talking to the public about science. He started blogging in 2011 and launched a YouTube channel in 2012.

One of the friendlier apex predators, the leopard shark, is showing up dead all along our northern California coastlines. Scientists suspect the sharks are being killed by a fatal brain infection linked to a fungus that may have been spread by the huge amounts of rain California received this year. Learn what Jim Hobbs, UC Davis research scientist, has to say about this discovery here.  

Dr. Kristin Aquilino and Professor Gary Cherr at UC Davis hope hope to save the species by reintroducing their captive-bred population back into the wild. While once thriving in kelp forests in Southern California and Mexico, the white abalone are now being threatening by overfishing and are close to extinction. By breeding them in captivity, there is hope that there may be a chance for the populations to recover.