by Scripps Institution of Oceanography An extinct species of whale was recently renamed in remembrance of the late Ken Norris and his son Richard (Dick) Norris, influential scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego. Norrisanima miocaena is newly described in the journal PeerJ. First described in the early 1920s by a researcher […]
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California Heartbeat Initiative soars ahead
A University of California project to study the availability of water in California’s ecosystems is off to a soaring start. The California Heartbeat Initiative (CHI) uses drones, sap flow meters, and other remote sensing techniques to monitor the water status of plants across large swaths of the landscape. The project aims to interpret water status […]
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. […]
Elephant seal “supermoms” produce most of the population
by Tim Stephens, UC Santa Cruz Most of the pups born in an elephant seal colony in California over a span of five decades were produced by a relatively small number of long-lived “supermoms,” according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The long-term study, published September 17 in the Canadian […]
Saving the season
By Shelly Leachman, UC Santa Barbara Conservation requires certain heroics: research to identify and develop solutions, and the resources to put them into place. And sometimes it’s a matter of being quick on one’s feet — quite literally. Case in point: Cristina Sandoval, longtime director of UC Santa Barbara’s Coal Oil Point Reserve. In her […]
Citizen scientists census animals on Año Nuevo Island Reserve
By Tim Stephens, UC Santa Cruz UC Santa Cruz researchers are inviting citizen scientists to help achieve the first comprehensive counts of the thousands of seals, sea lions, and seabirds on Año Nuevo Island, a rocky islet north of Santa Cruz along the San Mateo coast. The Año Nuevo Island animal count project (sealcount.com) launched […]
Genomics project to inform California species conservation
By Stuart Wolpert, UC Los Angeles University of California scientists are leading a $10 million conservation genomics project to help California officials make ecologically wise decisions as the state continues to confront the effects of climate change. The California Conservation Genomics Project, which is funded by the state, will involve conservation biologists, geneticists, ecologists and climate […]
Limited underground water storage make plants less susceptible to drought
Plants accustomed to accessing smaller amounts of moisture stored in underground rock formations are more resilient to drought conditions.