The Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute (CMSI) coordinates and promotes new collaborative approaches to research that engage stakeholders and work to solve local, regional, and global challenges emerging in coastal systems.
Research
Featured CMSI Research
Read about some of the long-term projects and innovative research being conducted on campus, in the field, and at our world-class research facility, the Bodega Marine Laboratory.
How Students Dive into Marine Science at UC Davis
UC Davis junior Caroline Donohew watched the everyday power of biology in just five minutes during her summer session class at UC Davis’ Bodega Marine Laboratory, or BML, a coastal research and education facility about 100 miles west of campus.
While observing a mussel’s muscle through a microscope, “I saw it create a byssal thread in real time,” said Donohew, who is from San Anselmo. “And it was just so cool.”
Mussels have an actual muscle called a foot that secretes a “liquid that hardens when it comes into contact with seawater,” Donohew explained. “They stick their little foot down on the rock, pull it back and there’s a thread.”
Category: EducationOcean Acidification: Interdisciplinarity in Marine Science
When we think of the impacts of climate change, the words global warming, sea-level rise, and extreme weather will often come to mind. But another lesser-known, though equally serious, consequence of our anthropogenic footprint is the global acidification of our oceans.
Category: Ocean AcidificationAll Eyes on ARG: Bodega Marine Lab’s Best-Kept Secret
What does it take to study the ocean? It’s a lot harder than you might think, considering most marine research happens in a lab instead of the ocean itself. Imagine you are starting a project at Bodega Marine Laboratory (BML) and given only two weeks with limited funding to set up your study and collect all of the data you need to answer your research question. Data collection is an enormous task, but have you ever thought about the time it takes to replicate ocean environments on land? Researchers need access to a huge supply of seawater –often under very controlled conditions– and may also need access to marine life from intertidal or coastal waters that would have to be captured and brought back to the lab.
Category: EducationCoral’s fight for climate survival, explained in DNA
Life finds a way.
Category: Climate ChangeSustainable Fishery Policy for a Resilient Future
Healthy ocean environments provide vital life support for roughly 3 billion people living in coastal communities worldwide. These vibrant ecosystems deliver numerous benefits to coastal communities that often rely on ocean industries such as commercial fishing for sustenance and income. The resilience of coastal communities and the fishing industry is an issue garnering global attention as fish stocks are pushed to the brink of collapse by combined pressures of overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution, and climate change.
Category: Sustainable Seafood