Where do you go when you’re a fish and you need a skincare treatment? Coral reefs contain natural “beauty salons,” lively social hubs of activity where fish “clients” swim up and wait to be serviced by smaller fish cleaners.
Some reef fish have the unexpected ability to move their jaws from side to side, biologists at the University of California, Davis have discovered. This ability – which is rare among vertebrate animals – allows these fish to feed rapidly and efficiently on algae growing on rocks.
The McMurdo Dry Valleys don’t look like they belong in Antarctica. Largely devoid of snow, the landscape is mostly dirt and rock. When explorer Robert Falcon Scott trekked the area in 1903, he referred to it as “the valley of the dead.”
Tiny fragments of DNA permeate the air, soil, and water around us. This environmental DNA (eDNA) unlocks a non-invasive way to monitor biodiversity and detect species that might otherwise go unnoticed.
A mussel bed along Northern California’s Dillon Beach is as healthy and biodiverse as it was about 80 years ago, when two young students surveyed it shortly before Pearl Harbor was attacked and one was sent to fight in World War II.
Scientists at the UC Davis Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute discuss how their research informs and is influenced by policy, illustrating the complex relationship between science, management, and decision-making.
Maddie Frey was still in the early days of her fellowship at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Reserve when she grabbed a bucket and trowel and headed out to the shoreline behind the university’s marine lab near Bodega Head.
White abalone have influenced cultural traditions, inspired regional cuisine, and moved generations of ocean lovers, but when overfishing pushed white abalone to the bring of extinction, humans and white abalone had to develop an entirely new relationship with each other.
Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Hyoyoung Jeong envisions a future of skin-close wearables that capture a broader picture of health. Last year, he initiated a project with the Bodega Marine Laboratory.
On a triple-digit summer day in Davis, community members found shade and science within the walls of G Street WunderBar at the latest Davis Science Café.
