Research Opportunities in the Ecology and Evolution Program

The Ecology and Evolution program at the University of California at Santa Cruz provides undergraduate and graduate students with a wealth of opportunities. Undergraduate research opportunities are unique because our program is designed to give students individual attention through our independent research courses or honors thesis study. Start the application process. In your junior year or in the fall of your senior year approach faculty that match your interests. Space is limited and quality grades and narrative evaluations are a plus. Both undergraduate and graduate studies in Ecology and Evolution benefit from the proximity of UC Reserves, the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary, the Long Marine Lab, and a county that supports more than 50% of land in the public trust. Our faculty support a diversity of research interests and students can carry out projects in both terrestrial and marine ecosystems under faculty supervision. Plan a fun and exciting project in the beautiful natural evirons of the Monterey Bay area.

Find out more about the faculty, courses, and careers at these links:

• visit the Who are we? page to find faculty matching your interests.
• visit the courses page to plan your program of study.
• visit the Careers page to choose a career path.

Ano Nuevo

Each winter, a large population of elephant seals breeds at Aņo Nuevo near Santa Cruz. This event provides a unique opportunity for studying these animals from a broad biological perspective, ranging from behavior to population genetics. Researchers in our group (Costa, Ortiz, Le Beouf) have conducted long-term studies for decades.

PISCO

All conservation efforts in nearshore marine ecosystems, including fisheries mangement andthe design of marine reserves depend on understanding the dynamics of marine species. Determining causes of community variation is daunting in nearshore marine communities because three prominent sources of variation are poorly understood - coastal nutrients and productivity, dispersal of offspring and oceanic climate. The goal of our research program is to make breakthroughs in our understanding of these issues in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS).

Long Marine Lab

The long marine lab provides the only facilities for housing marine mammals in the UC system. The facilities provide unprecedented opportunities for conducting physiological and behavioral research on local species such as dolphins, sea lions, and elephant seals.

Channel Islands

The biota of the channel islands are unique with respect to evolutionary studies. Several researchers conduct studies in both marine (Bernardi) and terrestrial systems (Sinervo). The phylogeny to the left shows evolutionary relationships among populations of fish that inhabit the Channel Island reefs.

In conjunction with ICEG (Island Conservation Ecology Group) we have begun study of Anacapa island and the impact of pest species like Rats. The channel islands contain a large number of "endemic" (found only there) species of lizards, birds, mammals, insects, and plants.

Coast Range Plant Communities

California coastal systems include richly diverse plant communities and are threatened by human development and invasive species. Several researchers focus on the biology and conservation of sites at nearby Fort Ord (Fox) and Bodega Bay (Parker).

Coast Range Communities

The coast range of California contains a remarkably large tract of undeveloped land that remains in a natural state. This area provides a unique setting in which to study large-scale geographic changes among populations (Sinervo) or coevolving species (Thompson).

Intertidal Monitoring

The central/southern California mainland possess an exceptional diversity of valuable rocky intertidal resources. Major factors contributing to the richness of coastal marine life in this region include their location along the boundary of two major biogeographic provinces (cold-temperate Oregonian and warm-temperate Californian), their high diversity of habitat types, and their exposure to varying local oceanographic conditions. Long term monitoring (since 1991) at 30 sites provides baseline information on community structure and dynamics of coastal biota in central and southern California (Raimondi, Pearse). This baseline information is also essential for understanding potential anthropogenic (e.g. oil spills) and natural (ENSO events) disturbances.

Marine ecosystems: Kelp to Coral

Researchers in our group study marine ecosystems from Kelp to Coral (Raimondi, Potts), and from Tropical to Polar regions (Williams, Costa, Estes).

Bird Research

Many faculty also conduct studies on birds (Lyon, Costa). In particular, UCSC is close to many sea bird colonies that are located in nearby sanctuaries, State Parks, and National Parks.

Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary

No creature typifies the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary like the sea otter. The proximity of UCSC to the Sanctury gives us a unique opportunity to carry out research and teaching in one of the largest marine sanctuaries in the world. Adjunct faculty (Estes) are involved in the yearly population surveys of sea otters.

Affiliations with IMS and Ocean Sciences

Many of the researchers in Ecology and Evolution and allied faculty in the Institute for Marine Sciences carry out studies in the Gulf of California. The whale exemplifies the kind of research organism studied in these areas. Other faculty are working on fish and lizard studies in Baja and the Gulf of California. We also offer a field course to Baja in alternate years.