Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Veteran students excel with Bruce Lane Memorial Scholarship

The Bruce Lane Memorial Scholarship was established to support veteran students at UC Santa Cruz. Devin Burkland and Dan Palance are this year's recipients.

Alumna Alexis Jackson takes the lessons from the Pacific Coast near UCSC to the environmental policy tables of California

FUTURE in Biology program receives NSF grant to explore field courses as a tool for equity

A group of researchers at UC Santa Cruz recently received a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study the impacts of these field courses and develop best practices for making them more accessible.

UCSC iGEM 2023 addressing harmful algal blooms through synthetic biology

A team of UCSC undergraduate students is designing and assembling a plasmid that targets the toxic genes of a type of freshwater bacteria responsible for harmful algal blooms.

Eric Palkovacs is awarded the 2023 Excellence in Fisheries Education Award

Eric Palkovacs has been awarded the 2023 Excellence in Fisheries Education Award by the American Fisheries Society, the organization announced. This award is presented to an individual to recognize excellence in organized teaching and advising in some aspect of fisheries education.

2023 ARCS Foundation scholarships support UCSC graduate students in the sciences and engineering

Sixteen UC Santa Cruz graduate students have received scholarships worth a total of $175,000 from the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation for the 2023-24 academic year.

Kathleen Finlay brings UCSC education to the forefront in her fight for food sustainability and social justice

UC Santa Cruz alumna Kathleen Finlay is the president of the Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming in the Hudson Valley and founder of Pleiades.

Golden-crowned sparrows return to overwintering sites in part because of their friends

Golden-crowned sparrows return to the same wintering sites each year after migrating thousands of miles. But their precision — which is often within the tens of meters — depends in part on the return of their friends.

UCSC’s Center for Coastal Climate Resilience awards over $4.6 million to support California coastal projects

The UCSC Center for Coastal Climate Resilience has awarded over $4.6 million in funding to 23 UC Santa Cruz research groups for pilot projects and implementation projects supporting efforts to fight climate change in coastal communities across California and beyond. Funds for these grant programs came from the California State Budget Act of 2022-23.

UCSC Arboretum to conduct vegetation surveys under $2.6M state contract

A team of UCSC botanists will carry out surveys for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in support of a statewide vegetation classification and mapping program.

Study identifies boat strikes as a growing cause of manatee deaths in Belize

Belize is a stronghold of the Antillean manatee population, but increasing boat traffic poses a growing threat to this endangered relative of the Florida manatee

Salmon documentary produced by UCSC team to air on KQED

‘Southern Range’ was directed by Soc Doc alumnus Kyle Baker and produced by the Seymour Center and the Fisheries Collaborative Program at UCSC.

Genome of famed sled dog Balto reveals genetic adaptations of working dogs

Still a good boy nearly 100 years after historic sled run, Balto has now helped scientists explore the genetics of working dogs and demonstrate the power of comparative genomics.

As the California sea lion population got bigger, so did male sea lions

Unlike other marine mammals, male California sea lions have gotten bigger over the past 50 years as their population has grown.

Elephant seals drift off to sleep while diving far below the ocean surface

Brainwave patterns show elephant seals take short naps while holding their breath on deep dives, averaging just 2 hours of sleep per day while at sea.

Biologist Beth Shapiro elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Beth Shapiro, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies.

Collaboration with NASA uses eDNA technology to monitor biodiversity

UCSC scientists collected environmental DNA samples in South Africa as part of the BioSCape project.

Winning Grad Slam presentation highlights disease threat to Hawaiian birds

Ecology and evolutionary biology graduate student Christa Seidl will compete in the UC systemwide Grad Slam in May, presenting her research on avian malaria.

Marine mammal reproduction rests on a precarious tipping point of ocean resources

A study of northern elephant seals reveals a threshold at which a small decrease in the amount of prey females can find during foraging migrations could lead to a sudden drop in reproductive success.

Shrinking age distribution of spawning salmon raises climate resilience concerns

Study suggests changes in hatchery practices could help increase population stability for Sacramento River fall-run Chinook salmon, the backbone of California’s salmon fishery.

Two new species of rare succulents found in Mexico named by UCSC botanist

A retired staff botanist at the UCSC Arboretum & Botanic Garden studied the rare plants found on an island off the coast of Baja California and identified two new species of dudleya.

UCSC leads new multicampus initiatives on climate change and bilingualism

UC Santa Cruz faculty are leading two new collaborative programs funded by grants from UC’s Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (MRPI) program.

Study reveals influence of krill availability on humpback whale pregnancies

Data from Antarctica show more humpback whales get pregnant after years with abundant krill than after years when krill were less plentiful.

Five student teams embark on tech for social good projects

Five student teams will take on tech for social good projects with funding from the UCSC CITRIS and the Banatao Institute and the UCSC Institute for Social Transformation.

Vulnerability of red sea urchins to climate change depends on location

Scientists found that red sea urchin populations are adapted to local environments, but some populations will suffer more than others as conditions change in the future.