The Office of Public Scholarship and Engagement (PSE) is pleased to announce seven graduate students have been awarded Public Scholars for the Future fellowships.

Traditional shellfish resources are often the lifeway to coastal tribes who rely on indigenous fisheries for subsistence. However, the expanding threat of harmful algal blooms (HABs) contaminate shellfish and poison local communities.

Shellfish, along with other marine organisms, are facing a crisis, one that affects the integrity of their shells. As carbon dioxide emissions increase in the atmosphere, so too does the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by our oceans, leading to ocean acidification. Graduate student Meghan Zulian has devoted her doctoral studies to understanding how ocean acidification, and more broadly climate change, affects culturally, economically and ecologically important shellfish, including abalone.

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.

A unique ocean-going restoration effort is just getting underway along the Sonoma Coast and its goal is to rescue an underwater forest that's critical to marine life.

People often say things like Phoenix has always been dry; Seattle has always been wet; and San Francisco has always been foggy. But “always” is a strong word. 

As winter approaches, many species of animals — from bears and squirrels to parasitic wasps and a few lucky humans — hunker down for some needed rest.

Under the right living arrangement, disease-resistant corals can help “rescue” corals that are more vulnerable to disease, found a study from the University of California, Davis, that monitored a disease outbreak at a coral nursery in Little Cayman, Cayman Islands.

When carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere, roughly 30% of it is absorbed by our oceans, a process called ocean acidification. Tessa Hill, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences and resident at the Bodega Marine Laboratory, studies this phenomenon and its effects on California coastal environments.

As an oceanographer, Tessa Hill has logged many hours bent over shellfish and wading in seagrass beds, trying to understand ocean acidification, climate change and impacts to marine life and coastal communities.