The border between the ocean and dry land is a tough neighborhood. Residents of the intertidal zone—tidepool animals such as mussels and limpets, snails and barnacles—are alternately battered by waves, then exposed to drying sun.
Mathias Graduate Student Research Grants
NRS instrumental in biologist’s ascent to grad school
By Kathleen Wong, UC Natural Reserve System Tim Brown spends his summers on top of the Golden State. While other Californians tan at the beach, hold BBQs, or relax at the pool, he makes a beeline for the high country. Striding across snowfields and rock scree atop eastern California’s highest ranges, this UC Santa Cruz […]
2020-21 Mathias Grant recipients
By Kathleen Wong, UC Natural Reserve System Most people will be staying close to home in 2021 due to the pandemic. UC Santa Barbara graduate student Samantha Sambado will not be among them. Her doctoral research will take her on multiple journeys up and down California, in search of ticks and the human pathogens they […]
2019-20 Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant awards
By Kathleen Wong, UC Natural Reserve System Joshua trees will be under the gun in the California of the future. Scientists predict that it’ll become too hot and dry for these striking Mojave plants to persist in much its the high desert habitat by 2100. How much water these treelike yucca plants can store at […]
Field research, UC mentors inspire career in marine biology
by Brenda Ortiz, UC Merced Lauren Schiebelhut credits the support and opportunities afforded to her at UC with opening the door to her career in marine research. Schiebelhut — a first-generation transfer student from Fresno — earned a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from UC Merced in May 2009 but was uncertain about her future. […]
Foreign bees monopolize Southern California flower resources
Immense numbers of introduced honey bees overwhelm native pollinators for access to pollen and nectar By Mario Aguilera, UC San Diego Hike around the natural habitats of San Diego County and it becomes abundantly clear that honey bees, foreign to the area, are everywhere. In a study published last year, researchers at the University of California […]
Sun protection for mosses and records of paleo climate: the 2018-19 Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant awards
The tiny mosses that glue desert soils together spend the majority of their days dormant—the better to withstand a harsh environment. Yet within seconds of absorbing water, the crumbly wisps of brown green up in a frenzy of photosynthetic activity. How these hardy desert residents withstand the harsh UV rays of the sun while essentially […]
Role of honey bees in ecosystem pollination
by Mario Aguilera, UC San Diego An unprecedented study integrating data from around the globe has shown that honey bees are the world’s most important single species of pollinator in natural ecosystems and a key contributor to natural ecosystem functions. The first quantitative analysis of its kind, led by biologists at the University of California […]