Bodega Marine Laboratory Content

Fish ‘Beauty Salons’ Offer Insight into How Microbes Move Within Reefs

Katherine E Kerlin — June 05, 2025 - 9:05am

Where do you go when you’re a fish and you need a skincare treatment? Coral reefs contain natural “beauty salons,” lively social hubs of activity where fish “clients” swim up and wait to be serviced by smaller fish cleaners. The little cleaners dart under and around their much bigger clients — even entering their mouths — cleaning their scales of bacteria and parasites like a team of car washers servicing a Buick. Sometimes cleaners even rub against their clients, providing a soothing massage.

Mussel Bed Surveyed Before World War II Still Thriving

Katherine E Kerlin — January 16, 2025 - 12:22pm

A mussel bed in northern ��Ƶ is as healthy and biodiverse as it was about 80 years ago, when two young students surveyed it shortly before one was sent to fight in World War II, finds a new UC Davis study.

Finding Hope ‘At Every Depth’

Malia N Reiss — January 30, 2024 - 3:24pm

In the prologue for their book At Every Depth: Our Growing Knowledge of the Changing Oceans, UC Davis scientist Tessa Hill and writer Eric Simons open with an astute observation about humanity’s relationship with the ocean.

Ocean Acidification Creates Legacy of Stress for Red Abalone

Katherine E Kerlin — December 06, 2023 - 8:30am

The stressful impacts of ocean acidification can affect red abalone within and across generations, finds a UC Davis study.

Renowned Marine Ecologist Jay Stachowicz Wins Teaching Prize

Andy Fell — December 05, 2023 - 9:45am

When Professor Jay Stachowicz heard that UC Davis’ chancellor needed to speak to him urgently, he worried he had done something wrong.

How Students Dive into Marine Science at UC Davis

Jocelyn C Anderson — October 24, 2023 - 9:15pm

What’s it like to take a summer session in a marine lab? Explore our undergraduate marine research from mussels’ byssal threads to ocean ecosystem impacts.

Introducing ‘The Student Researcher’

Jose Antonio Vadi — October 24, 2023 - 9:28am

A new UC Davis storytelling platform highlights student research experiences.

“The Student Researcher” will showcase undergraduate and graduate stories from across campus and fields of study. These stories will focus on interdisciplinary collaboration with multimedia elements.

Science Helps Coastal Communities Prepare for Extremes

Katherine E Kerlin — May 17, 2023 - 10:18am

Long-term monitoring records at UC Natural Reserves, including UC Davis' Bodega Marine Reserve, can help coastal communities forecast climate change impacts.

Climate Trends in the West, Today and 11,000 Years Ago

Katherine E Kerlin — February 27, 2023 - 9:30am

What we think of as the classic West Coast climate began just about 4,000 years ago, finds UC Davis study on climate trends of the Holocene era.

Science Storytelling Through a Camera Lens

Katherine E Kerlin — January 18, 2023 - 10:07am

From Chilean tidepools to the High Sierra, 12 UC Davis graduate students traveled the world this summer in search of answers to ecology’s most pressing questions.

In the blazing 100-degree Texas sun, Jon Aguiñaga waded through polluted waters on the side of freeways to capture tiny fish, which he then ran experiments on in the garage of an Airbnb. Marissa Sandoval flew to Florida to extract sexual-selection perfumes from the green inflorescent legs of orchid bees. MJ Farruggia trekked more than 1,000 miles in the Sierra backcountry for 240 days and is “still not tired of it.”