Central Coast Naturalist

In this episode of Santa Cruz Naturalist, Chloe briefly talks about humpback whale mothers and behaviors.

This week in Santa Cruz Naturalist, Chloe talks about two native birds: the California scrub jay and the Steller's Jay

Chloe continues their conversation with Quinn Todzo, a geotechnical engineer. Tune in to learn about the Marble Caves, and what makes Santa Cruz geology special.

This week at Santa Cruz Naturalist, Chloe Rickards chats with Quinn Todzo about the geological history of the Santa Cruz Mountains and the sandstone formations at Castle Rock State Park. Learn more about geology with Quinn at his podcast, The Rock Behind the Climb . Episode 1 goes into a deep dive of the Santa Cruz Mountains and Castle Rock State Park

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Nikka interviews UCSC masters student Sarah Mastroni, who is working with Blue Ocean Barns on using red algae to make cows more climate-friendly! 

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, we will be airing Sea Change, a 6 part series from the 2021 Global Change Ecology class at the University of California Santa Cruz. Each episode explores local climate change issues right here in Santa Cruz, CA. Sea Change is written and produced by UCSC undergraduate students under the guidance of Dr. Kristy Kroeker. Episode 6 focuses on marine heat waves.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, we will be airing Sea Change, a 6 part series from the 2021 Global Change Ecology class at the University of California Santa Cruz. Each episode explores local climate change issues right here in Santa Cruz, CA. Sea Change is written and produced by UCSC undergraduate students under the guidance of Dr. Kristy Kroeker. Episode 5 focuses on phenology.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, we will be airing Sea Change, a 6 part series from the 2021 Global Change Ecology class at the University of California Santa Cruz. Each episode explores local climate change issues right here in Santa Cruz, CA. Sea Change is written and produced by UCSC undergraduate students under the guidance of Dr. Kristy Kroeker. Episode 4 focuses on ocean deoxygenatio...

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, we will be airing Sea Change, a 6 part series from the 2021 Global Change Ecology class at the University of California Santa Cruz. Each episode explores local climate change issues right here in Santa Cruz, CA. Sea Change is written and produced by UCSC undergraduate students under the guidance of Dr. Kristy Kroeker. Episode 3 focuses on ocean acidificatio...

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, we will be airing Sea Change, a 6 part series from the 2021 Global Change Ecology class at the University of California Santa Cruz. Each episode explores local climate change issues right here in Santa Cruz, CA. Sea Change is written and produced by UCSC undergraduate students under the guidance of Dr. Kristy Kroeker. Episode 2 focuses on wildfires.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, we will be airing Sea Change, a 6 part series from the 2021 Global Change Ecology class at the University of California Santa Cruz. Each episode explores local climate change issues right here in Santa Cruz, CA. Sea Change is written and produced by UCSC undergraduate students under the guidance of Dr. Kristy Kroeker. Episode 1 focuses on range shifts.

This week, Sara talked with Dr. Alexis Fischer, an associate scientist at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and a visiting scientist at NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center. If you've spent a lot at the ocean, you've probably encountered an algal bloom that turned the water dark and opaque for a few days. But not all algal blooms are harmful. Tune in to learn about the hidden...

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily interview PhD student, Ben Walker. Before starting his PhD, Ben worked as a technician on the endangered white abalone at UC Davis. Tune in to hear the history of abalone in California!

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily interviews Dr. Kristy Kroeker about COP 26. Dr. Kroeker is an Associate Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz. Her research focuses on the ecological impacts of global climate change and ocean acidification.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily interviews PhD candidate, Jason Toy, about a local genus of fishes, the surfperches. In this episode, Jason, explains how important and interesting these fishes are. In part two of our interview, he'll tell us more about how and why he uses surfperches to study adaptation right here in our own Monterey Bay. Tune in on November 16th to hear more!

In the second part of Nikka's chat with Dr. Darrin Schultz, we go big picture. Find out why ctenophores hold the key to understanding how important animal features, like brain cells, came to be. 

Nikka interviews Dr. Darrin Schultz, a research scientist at MBARI, about ctenophores, also known as comb jellies. He helps us get to know these beautiful animals - look out for part 2, when we'll learn more about how studying ctenophores can teach us about animal evolution.

This week, Sara talked with Kathleen Aston, the Collections Manager for the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. The museum displays many aspects of the natural world, but here we focus on fossils--where you can find them around Santa Cruz and what history they reveal. 

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily interviews UCSC PhD student, Ben Walker, about abalone. Before starting his PhD, Ben worked as a technician on the endangered white abalone at UC Davis. Tune in to hear what makes abalone one of the coolest mollusks in ocean!

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Nikka Malakooti gives us an introduction to salps, beautiful gelatinous organisms found filter feeding, jet-propelling, and occasionally causing mayhem in oceans around the world.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily Donham introduces listeners to one of Monterey Bays most common intertidal invertebrates, the California mussel. Mussels are important foundation species, creating habitat for diverse assemblages of seaweeds and animals.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily Donham chats with UCSC Ecology and Evolutionary Biology PhD candidate Casey Sheridan about his work on sea urchins. Casey shares how sea urchin behavior might impact how (and where) they get their dinner. 

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily chats with UCSC PhD candidate Lauren Bell about coralline algae. Lauren explains what coralline algae are and why they're so important in all marine ecosystems.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily introduces listeners to one of her favorite seaweeds, Postelsia palmata, commonly known as the sea palm. Sea palms can be found right here in the Monterey Bay. Listen in to learn more!

This week, Sara talked with Wendy Bragg, a PhD student at UC Santa Cruz who is leading a recovery effort of the endangered black abalone following last year’s fires. You might not think that terrestrial forest fires would impact coastal marine life, but Wendy explains how large loads of sediment make their way to the coastline, and the impact this has on black abalone populations.