UC Santa Cruz Science

05/20/2026

The results are in, and the chapter of SEEDS took FIRST PLACE in the Ecological Society of America’s national Bioblitz competition! 🥇🌲 🥳

In an around-the-clock 24-hour sprint, over 100 UC Santa Cruz students and community partners came together to log over 5,715 biodiversity observations across over 1,374 different species right here in Santa Cruz. The competition helps the public learn about local natural spaces by empowering participants to better understand and protect biodiversity.

From hunting for fungi in the campus forests and tracking down reptiles on the coastal bluffs, to carpooling at 10 p.m. to scope out sea slugs under the harbor—nature truly is everywhere we look. 🌊🍄🦎

📊 The final breakdown of species observed:
Plants: 53.82% 🌿
Insects: 10.75% 🐞
Fungi: 9.12% 🍄‍🟫
(And zero surprise: our very own campus mascot was the most observed species!)

A big shoutout to everyone who participated, and to our amazing campus partners (Herpetology Club, Norris Center for Natural History, Submerged Slugs, Ornithology Club, and Plant Sciences Club) for teaming up to make this win possible. We blew the competition out of the water!

This Friday is International Day for Biological Diversity, and to celebrate the BioBlitz win, SEEDS is hosting a celebratory party... Come get your free burrito! 🌯🎈Details on the instagram.

Photo descriptions and credit:
1. Close up of students dock fouling at the Santa Cruz harbor at night. Credit: Emily Halim
2. Undergraduate Emily Halim holds up a Southern Alligator Lizard, which defensively bit her three times as she logged its observation. 3. Credit: Emily HalimObservers walk single file through a grassy field with a cloudy sky. Credit: Emily Halim
4. Students lined up on their stomachs peering over the dock at night. Credit: Abe Borker
5. Wide angle of students dock fouling at the Santa Cruz harbor at night. Credit: Emily Halim
6. Three students peer at a tree trunk in a forest. Credit: Rohini Joshi

05/07/2026

One of the biggest threats whales face is being hit by the massive cargo ships constantly crisscrossing our oceans. For those who want to find out where these unfortunate collisions are happening and what we can do to stop it, the best place to go online is BlueCorridors.org.

The website has won a 2026 Webby Award in the Best Data Visualization category, which has been called the “Internet’s highest honor.” The awards ceremony is on Monday in NYC, when other Webby winners like Amy Poehler, Sabrina Carpenter, Bad Bunny, Google and “Stranger Things” will be celebrated.

UC Santa Cruz Ocean Science Professor Ari Friedlaender and his team were central to working with the World Wildlife Foundation to make whale migration routes and critical habitats visible and publicly accessible—in ways that support science, policy, and ocean conservation. 🐋

“At its heart, this work is about making the invisible visible and building stronger momentum to protect the key ocean areas that whales, and all of us, depend on,” said Chris Johnson, Global Lead for WWF Whale and Dolphin Conservation.

Read more at the link in our bio!

📷 Photos of humpback whales in the Monterey Bay by Logan Pallin, postdoctoral researcher in the Bio-Telemetry & Behavioral Ecology Lab. (NMFS Research Permit No. 26602)

03/28/2026

The Multi-Agency Rocky Intertidal Network, also known as MARINe, is a consortium of research groups working together to collect data on the rocky shores of our rugged coastline. This physically complex environment is a unique ecosystem with high biological diversity, including many species that are found only in this narrow band of coastal habitat.

Over 200 rocky intertidal monitoring sites contribute to collecting this data, which is then entered into a centralized database that currently contains over three decades of research.

The MARINe intertidal research group at UC Santa Cruz is headquartered at Long Marine Lab and is led by .ucsc professor Pete Raimondi.

On April 16, join MARINe for their 25th annual public meeting at UC Santa Cruz! Tidepool lovers, marine researchers, and coastal curious folks are all invited to attend for a chance to hear about the latest intertidal ecology and cutting-edge coastal research as well as connect and learn from likeminds. 🐚🦀 Registration closes April 7th– so don’t wait. Learn more and RSVP at the link in our bio. We hope to see you there!

📷 All photos by MARINe:

03/25/2026

🐟 ⏰ California salmon populations historically matured and spawned at a variety of ages, often between 3-5 years old. But this has shifted over time!

📉 🔬 Now, UC Santa Cruz researchers are seeing that spawning salmon are almost always 3 years old. "If there's a really bad year for that cohort of three-year-olds, you have extremely low reproduction". Understanding how this change in spawning age structure impacts current populations is one of the ways our scientists are studying salmon recovery.

🎥 🧪 This research, including an interview with FCP Director, Eric Palkovacs, was featured in a short film by UC Santa Cruz Science Communication Program and UCSC Center for Coastal Climate Resilience fellow, Cassidy Beach.

Check the video out here:

Salmon ancient age research and recovery efforts in California featuring the work of UC Santa Cruz professor Eric Palkovacs, whose work on the Klamath River ...

02/24/2026

Calling all salmon lovers to save the date!🐟🗓️ On March 6, .eeb professor Eric Palkovacs will give a public lecture where he’ll share transformative, research-driven approaches to restoring the Pacific salmon populations.

The ecological and cultural keystone species is threatened on all sides by dams, over harvesting, climate change, and more. As director of UC Santa Cruz’s Institute of Marine Sciences and Fisheries Collaborative Program, Palkovacs will discuss the long-term effort to advance salmon conservation in collaboration with NOAA scientists.

This free event is in-person only, and space is limited. The evening will conclude with a Q&A moderated by Science Dean Bryan Gaensler.

Register at the link in our bio!

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Event info:

🗓️ March 6, 2026
⏰ 6:00–7:30 p.m.
📍Coastal Biology Building, Room 110, UC Santa Cruz Coastal Campus
🎟️ Free to register

This lecture is part of Science in the Neighborhood: a free public lecture series hosted quarterly by the UC Santa Cruz Science Division that brings research that matters to the local community.

02/18/2026

hustled to bring ’s Grant Sanderson to campus last night in front of a packed house! 👏🏾👏🏿👏🏼

On YouTube, Instagram, and many other platforms, Grant uses cool animation to visualize and bring to life tricky topics in math and adjacent fields like physics and computer science.

Who was in the crowd last night!?

02/11/2026

Calling all salmon lovers! 🐟 At the next Science in the Neighborhood talk on March 6, UC Santa Cruz ecology and evolutionary biology professor Eric Palkovacs will share transformative, research-driven approaches to restoring the Pacific salmon populations in the wild.

The ecological and cultural keystone species is threatened on all sides by dams, over harvesting, climate change, and more. As director of UC Santa Cruz’s Institute of Marine Sciences and Fisheries Collaborative Program, Palkovacs will discuss the long-term effort to advance salmon conservation in collaboration with NOAA scientists.

The evening will conclude with a Q&A moderated by Science Dean Bryan Gaensler. This free event is in-person only, and space is limited—please register in advance and submit your questions during sign-up for a chance to have them asked on stage. 🎤

The event goes from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Register and learn more here: https://events.ucsc.edu/event/transforming-pacific-salmon-recovery-from-genes-to-ecosystems/

01/28/2026

King Tides are taking over the Pacific Coast this weekend! 🐚🔬🐙

King Tides happen a few times a year (usually in winter) and create extreme low tides—meaning parts of the rocky shore that are normally underwater suddenly become exposed. These negative tides reveal tidepools packed with life, including sea stars, octopus, anemones, and nudibranchs (aka tiny sea slugs that look like dragons).

📉 How to catch one:
Check a tide chart for a nearby beach and look for a low tide at or below 0 ft. This week’s lowest tides are happening in the afternoon from today through Monday, making them extra accessible—and extra beautiful during the golden hour before sunset.

📍 Santa Cruz spots to explore:
• Pleasure Point
• Mitchell’s Cove
• Natural Bridges State Beach
• Scott’s Creek

🌱 Tidepool etiquette:
Step carefully, don’t remove anything from the beach, and always keep an eye on the waves—never turn your back to the ocean.

Grab a friend, your camera, and your inner marine biologist, and head to the coast this weekend for some intertidal magic 🌊✨

01/06/2026

UC Santa Cruz astronomy and astrophysics professor Raja GuhaThakurta is more than a distinguished researcher focused on the formation and evolution of galaxies. He is also an outstanding teacher and mentor who has made lasting impacts on his students through his committed approach to education and equity in science.

GuhaThakurta was named an American Astronomical Society (AAS) Fellow in 2021 for his extraordinary achievements in his field, and in 2025, received the AAS Education Prize for outstanding contributions to the education of the public, students, and the next generation of professional astronomers.

This afternoon, GuhaThakurta will be a keynote speaker at the annual AAS conference, where he’ll share about the programs he has founded at UC Santa Cruz that provide real research experiences and computational training to young learners and educators, including CrEST (Creating Equity in STEAM) and the Science Internship Program (SIP).

“Diversity isn’t something you do only because it’s the right thing to do,” he emphasized. “It’s how you achieve excellence.”

Read about the professor’s journey from aspiring artist to accomplished astronomer, by way of the Himalayas: https://astrobites.org/2026/01/05/meet-the-aas-247-keynote-speakers-prof-raja-guhathakurta/

12/16/2025

This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the NOAA Fisheries Lab moving onto the UCSC Coastal Science Campus. 🎉 In those 25 years, NOAA and UC Santa Cruz have become the largest and most strategic force fighting to conserve salmon in California. With collaboration at the heart of this effort, we’re building a future where salmon, and the people who depend on them, can survive and thrive.

Take Miles Daniels, associate researcher for UC Santa Cruz and NOAA. He’s leading a long-term project that uses real-time tracking to follow adult salmon along their upstream migration, seeking to understand a critical but often overlooked component of their survival: what affects salmon survival and how many fish actually reach their spawning grounds.

Central Valley fall-run Chinook salmon are the backbone of California’s commercial salmon fishery, and threats like habitat degradation, altered flow regimes, and warming conditions are creating increasingly challenging conditions.

This project is not only made possible by scientists at NOAA Fisheries Service and UC Santa Cruz, but also through an important collaboration with local fishing communities. These communities participate directly in field research operations as well as exchange knowledge with researchers about salmon population health in real time, ensuring the findings are both actionable and grounded in the experiences of those most affected by changes in Chinook abundance.
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Read more about the project and check out the real-time fish tracking map here: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/anglers-catch-salmon-science-tracking-reveals-risks-facing-adult-fall-chinook