News and Events

What do you picture when you think of the California coast? Perhaps it’s the redwood-covered bluffs that plummet down to crashing waves, or the forests of kelp swaying along with the current. But the one thing that might not have come to mind has a surprising presence at UC Davis’ Bodega Marine Laboratory (BML): corals.

In early June 2025, CMSI sponsored a hands-on workshop at Bodega Marine Laboratory focused on using R to wrangle and analyze Earth System Model (ESM) output (AKA climate models).

New research from the University of California, Davis, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Texas A&M University reveals that massive emissions, or burps, of carbon dioxide from natural earth systems led to significant decreases in ocean oxygen concentrations some 300 million years ago.

“So the clue was, ‘This temperate coral undergoes quiescence in the winter. Another word for this is … ?’” Anya Brown has spent most of her adult life around coral reef systems. Her brother, meanwhile, has cultivated a career as a writer on the American quiz show, “Jeopardy!”

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.

At the Bodega Marine Laboratory, science leapt beyond the lab bench in a surprising collaboration—part fashion show, part modern dance, part film screening—where artistic expression met ecological research on the Sonoma Coast.