UC Santa Cruz - Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Impact Scientist

Biologist Beth Shapiro selected as Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator to research ancient DNA

Shapiro’s Paleogenomics Lab at UC Santa Cruz uses ancient DNA to study evolutionary history and the effects of environmental change on species and ecosystems

droneviewlongmarinelab

jordanfieldwork

otters eye view

freshwater stream

Land Acknowledgement

Younger Lagoon

“The land on which we gather is the unceded territory of the Awaswas-speaking Uypi Tribe. The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, comprised of the descendants of indigenous people taken to missions Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista during Spanish colonization of the Central Coast, is today working hard to restore traditional stewardship practices on these lands and heal from historical trauma.”

Department News

March 1, 2021Scientists describe ‘hidden biodiversity crisis’ as variation within species is lost
February 26, 2021Massive debris flow swamps Big Creek Reserve as heavy rains follow summer wildfire
February 17, 2021Oldest DNA sequences reveal how mammoths evolved

Photo Journal

Assistant Professor Kathleen Kay studies a diverse radiation of the genus Costus, a group of gingers in the Central and South American rainforests. All species in the Neotropics use either orchid bees or hummingbirds for pollination, and hummingbird pollination has evolved many times.

Professor Dan Costa and colleagues of the Souther Ocean Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (SO GLOBEC) program are trying to understand the southern ocean circulation processes around Antarctica and their effect on sea ice formation, Antarctic krill distributions and the factors that affect krill survivorship and availability to higher trophic levels. Their focus is to relate the behavior of crabeater seals to the distribution and abundance of krill and to examine factors which contribute to krill being the optimal prey.

The North American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) is thought to be a carrier of the pathogens that cause both chytridiomycosis and ranaviral disease, two emerging infectious diseases associated with large amphibian die-offs. Assistant Professor Marm Kilpatrick and colleagues found imported frogs infected with both pathogens in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, suggesting that the amphibian trade can contribute to introductions of these pathogens into new regions.

Professor Giacomo Bernardi documented tool use an orange-dotted tuskfish digs a clam out of the sand, carries it over to a rock, and repeatedly throws the clam against the rock to crush it.

Assistant Professor Jarmila Pittermann studies xylem structure and function across the gymnosperm phylogeny

Assistant Professor Rita Mehta discovered that morays have a reduced capacity to suction feed and apprehend their prey by biting. When the prey item is apprehended in their oral jaws, morays protract a pair of pharyngeal jaws, located behind the head, into their oral cavity. Once in the oral cavity, the pharyngeal jaws bite down on the prey item and transport the prey into the esophagus.

Professor Laurel Fox downloading microclimate data at her ongoing herbivore exclusion experiment site in the chaparral ecosystem at Fort Ord, a UC reserve near Monterey, CA. For the past 15 years, Dr. Fox has been studying the community ecology of browsed and unbrowsed microcosms that she fences off using hog wire. Enclosed unbrowsed plants grow to be large and leafy while the controls are browsed continuously by deer to the point where they look like topiaries or shrublets.

Professor Bruce Lyon and a former graduate student Alexis Chaine discovered that female lark buntings show strong preferences for certain traits in the males, but those preferences change from year to year. Their findings, published in the journal Science, show a surprising level of flexibility in the females, who enhance their nesting success by choosing mates with the right traits in any given year.

Thompson Lab: A female Greya politella moth preparing to oviposit into a Lithophragma parviflorum flower that has been cut in half. Pollen from a visit to a previous flower is visible as a yellow ring at the base of the moth's abdomen.

Prospective Grads

ATTENTION FALL APPLICANTS:

Applications for Fall can be submitted beginning October 1st and must be received by DECEMBER 10th.

The GRE subject test is no longer required for admittance to our graduate program.

Click on the links below for more information:

Quick Links

Click on the links below for more information:

Exciting Research

Click on the links below for more information: