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This project will focus on secondary harvests of seaweeds grown in existing shellfish aquaculture sites. Researchers will conduct field studies across Morro, Tomales and Humboldt Bays in an effort to increase the resilience of California shellfish growers by diversifying their products while also meeting a growing demand for seaweeds.

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This project will focus on the Salmon River, which hosts the largest remaining non-hatchery population of spring-run Chinook in the Klamath Basin, making it a high priority for efforts to conserve Klamath Chinook biodiversity. The  goal of this project is to improve understanding of how spring-run Chinook interact with other Chinook genotypes and use freshwater habitat, thereby enhancing our ability to conserve spring-run Chinook populations.

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This project will analyze scale morphometrics and otolith microchemistry to determine which juvenile Chinook life history strategies (lagoon or ocean rearing) are represented in the return adult spawning population on the Mattole River. 

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This project will focus on expanding expertise in dune restoration and implementation approaches to enhance coastal resilience, restore and preserve sandy habitats against sea level rise and other impacts of climate change.  

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Researchers aim to devise strategies for effectively restoring kelp forests and to devise solutions that simultaneously take into account the ecological, socio-economic, and environmental uncertainties of this process. These strategies will promote the restoration of the kelp forest and revitalize local coastal economies.

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This study focuses on the impact of  photodegraded petro- and bio-based plastics on coastal settings. By analyzing which compounds, such as additives, leach from plastics into surrounding seawater, this study will compare the environmental effects of these materials by illustrating their influence on microbial community structure and additive toxicity. 

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This project will combine methods of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and Western-biased Science to understand how two non-native seaweeds may be impacting the native ecosystem and will engage in community conversations regarding food sovereignty as well as subsistence and it’s use in ecological management.

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Biodiversity conservation of our planet’s unique ecosystems necessitates a diversity of

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There is an urgent need to understand how managed and protected marine species will shift their distributions as climate change intensifies. This project will focus on how habitat hotspots of highly migratory marine predators and their prey interact with human uses of the ocean, which will be critical to supporting a viable blue economy in California. 

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The goal of this project is to improve our understanding of long-term changes in the wetland landscape, plant communities and ethnobotanical uses to inform restoration and management of Northern Mission Bay in San Diego, California. 

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