Research conducted in Brian Gaylord's laboratory explores how organisms interface with physical attributes of their environments, and how such interactions influence population pattern.
Professor Steven Morgan has developed key areas in coastal oceanography and larval biology at BML that are critical to the State’s needs and their priorities. His strong collaborations with the Coastal Oceanography Group is one of the key examples of interdisciplinary science at BML.
Bodega Marine Laboratory is located in the center of the California upwelling system, with the strongest and most persistent winds anywhere along the west coast of North America. It is logical then that researchers are leaders in the science of wind-driven coastal upwelling, and how it yields such a rich ecosystem.
Changing climates inevitably raise the pervasive ecological and evolutionary question of whether populations are capable of persisting, either through dispersal, plasticity, or shifts in the genetic composition of populations. Bodega Marine Laboratory’s strategic location at the center of many ranges of intertidal invertebrates, along with its superb culturing facilities and access to rocky shores, makes it an ideal place to test hypotheses about the responses of marine organisms to changing climates.
Scientists at BML are engaged in researching many other aspects of climate change, which can be grouped broadly into oceanographic and ecological studies as well as in the context of habitat restoration and invasive species.