Kelp Forests

I was one of the Santa Rosa Junior College interns here at Bodega Marine Labs this summer of 2022. I am just beginning my last year at the JC and will transfer to Sonoma State University in the fall of 2023. I am hoping to continue to UC Davis for postgraduate studies and would be thrilled to receive a position here when the time comes.

Dive below the surface with our Aquatic Resources Group (ARG) to get a close-up view of an urchin barren and see how they're impacting kelp forests along the California coast.

Video by Sam Briggs, ARG Lead diver and field operations manager

Read more about the Aquatic Resources Group

“This is actually better than sustainable, because the more you fish it, the better off the kelp forest will be. This is a restorative seafood product.”

-Laura Rogers-Bennett, a research associate at the University of California, Davis and a scientist at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife

This guest blog highlights the experience of a Santa Rosa Junior College - Bodega Marine Laboratory Internship Program participant. The SRJC-BML Internship program is committed to creating an inclusive space for the development of new scientists and leaders and to provide interns with experience conducting research essential to developing careers in the sciences. 
Learn more, apply, or donate on the program website.

This guest blog highlights the experience of a Santa Rosa Junior College - Bodega Marine Laboratory Internship Program participant. The SRJC-BML Internship program is committed to creating an inclusive space for the development of new scientists and leaders and to provide interns with experience conducting research essential to developing careers in the sciences. 
Learn more, apply, or donate on the program website.

Marine ecosystems are vulnerable to climate driven events such as marine heatwaves yet we have a poor understanding of whether they will collapse or recover. Kelp forests are known to be susceptible, and there has been a rise in sea urchin barrens around the world. When temperatures increase so do physiological demands while food resources decline, tightening metabolic constraints. In this case study, we examine red abalone (Haliotis rufescens) looking at sublethal impacts and their prospects for recovery within kelp forests that have shifted to sea urchin barrens.

Researchers at UC Davis’ Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute (CMSI), in collaboration with UC Santa Cruz and Humboldt State University, recently received a joint $1.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation to understand how ecological restoration might incorporate future climate change impacts.