Environment & Ecology

To the Limit: Long-Term Study Reveals How Kelp Forests Respond to Repeated Disturbances

The researchers were particularly interested in how the different layers of vegetation throughout the kelp forest would adapt to the loss of the canopy.
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With California Heating Up, UCSB Researchers Study the Future of the State’s Fires

In their most recent research, Tague and her collaborators focused on the Big Creek watershed in the southern Sierra Nevada, a region which is particularly sensitive to climate change.
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Looking Back at the Campaign to Save the West Mesa

Now, as part of Phase 2, fundraising is being done to create an endowment and restore the West Mesa.
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UC Researchers Dive Deeper Into the Nitrogen Cycle at Sedgwick Reserve

“Although it's interesting that rock is delivering nitrogen to ecosystems, at least in Sedgwick it’s not going to be a big contributor to the functioning of the system,” Chadwick said.
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With Life Cycle Assessment, Researchers Peer Into the Environmental Legacy of Products

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a way of measuring the environmental impacts in the stages of a product's life.
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Fleshing Out the Meaning of Regenerative Agriculture

While regenerative agriculture is still very much a fluid concept, its momentum is steadfast.
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New Evidence from Yucatán Caves Pour In, Suggesting Region Was Wetter Millennia Ago

The team learned this by examining the isotope composition of stalagmites, mounds of mineral deposits found on the floors of caves that grow upward as water drips from cave ceilings.
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UCSB Researchers Piece Together Detailed Kelp Forest Food Web, Incorporating Parasites

Morton hopes that the higher resolution of this food web will aid in efficiency and clarity for future research.
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Forks in the Road Emerge in India’s Quest to Expand Renewables

The country hopes to install more than 400 gigawatts of wind and solar generation by the year 2030.
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UCSB Lecturer Partners with CEC in Advocacy of Sustainable Living

The campaign, known as Earth Day Every Day, represents the culmination of five years of accumulated lifestyle changes carried out by Williams and her husband.
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Following Widespread Die-offs, Researchers Investigate the Dangers Droughts Pose to Oaks

Anderegg and his collaborators have studied oaks across the west in North America, hoping to understand what resilience individual species of trees have to drought.
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As Santa Barbara and California Pursue Decarbonization, Electrification Presents New Opportunities

“It’s easy to get stuck in the mindset that Santa Barbara is so small when, actually, we can create a lasting impact on a global scale,” Parenteau said.
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Following Negotiations, Environmentalists and Indigenous Activists Must Raise $20 Million in 90 Days To Protect West Mesa

If 90 days have elapsed and the funds have not been procured, Save the San Marcos Foothills has agreed not to further oppose the development.
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UCSB Researchers Uncover a Hydrocarbon Cycle Beneath the Ocean

Prior to these findings, the extent of the ocean hydrocarbon cycle was largely unknown, according to Love.
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Tracing the Spread of Early Humans Across East Asia

New knowledge supplied by better technology allowed Kennett and his research group to determine the timing of ancestry change and population movements. 
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