Central Coast Naturalist

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily speaks with Stanford graduate student Melissa Palmisciano about her work on juvenile rockfish. This is part two of a series on rockfish found right here in the Monterey Bay. Tune in to learn more!

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily speaks with Moss Landing Marine Laboratories graduate student Kristin Saksa about her work on rockfish larvae “babies”. Kristin’s work focuses on how climate change will impact this vulnerable stage in rockfish life. This is part one of a series on rockfish found right here in the Monterey Bay. Tune in to learn more!

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Theadora talks more about Great Horned Owls, following up on last month's episode . Learn about some of their special adaptations which make them such amazing hunters. They are some of the only predators around who eat skunks!

This week, in celebration of Black History Month, Sara highlights someone who made important contributions to preserving California’s natural habitats and making them accessible for people to enjoy. This person was Colonel Charles Young, the first Black superintendent of a U.S. National Park. In 1903, he oversaw construction and development at Sequoia National Park and a portion of Kings Canyon na...

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, host Emily Donham introduces listeners to the hairy chiton, a common critter found in the intertidal zone in Santa Cruz.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Theadora talks about Great Horned Owls. They are one of the larger Owl species in North America, and have a wide range through all of North America and some parts of South America. Great Horned Owls can be difficult to see as they roost quietly in trees during the day, but they are much easier to find by listening for their song at night. Listen in to hear their...

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Sara interviews Dan Abbott, the Central California Regional Manager for Reefcheck, a non-profit organization that monitors underwater reefs and kelp forests with help from citizen scientists. Reefcheck has been operating in kelp forests around the Monterey Bay area since 2006, and their data help to track important ecological and environmental events. Some of th...

Theadora follows up with Jessie Kendall-Bar, a Ph. D. student at UC Santa Cruz in the Ecology & Evolutionary biology department. In two previous episodes, we learned about her research on sleep in marine mammals, including how elephant seals sleep underwater ( here ) and on migration ( here ). Jessie is also a wonderful artist. This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist we learn how she uses art to tu...

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Sara interviews Azucena Lucatero, a Ph. D. candidate at UC Santa Cruz, about urban garden ecology. She tells us about the purpose of urban gardens and the interactions between plants and insects that occur there, and touches on how the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the practice of urban gardening.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily chats with graduate student Becca Nelson about a sometimes voracious herbivore, the tussock moth. Tussock moths are commonly found on live oak trees in Santa Cruz with their abundances fluctuating from year to year. Tune in to learn more!

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily chats with UCSC PhD student, Clara Qin about how fires impact soil microbes.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Sara follows up with Yana Valachovic, UC Cooperative Extension forest advisor and director for Humboldt and Del Norte counties, talk more about forest resilience and fire management. She tells us about fire frequency, using fire management as a tool to preserve forests, and evaluating management outcomes. 

Theadora follows up with Jessie Kendall-Bar, a Ph. D. student at UC Santa Cruz in the Ecology & Evolutionary biology department. Last month , she told us about her research focusing on the neurophysiology of sleep in marine mammals, specializing in elephant seals. This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, she tells us more about how elephant seals sleep on their long migrations. Elephant seals sleep...

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Sara talks with Yana Valachovic, who is the UC Cooperative Extension forest advisor and director for Humboldt and Del Norte counties, to help us understand the ecological effects of forest fires. She describes what happens to the ecological community of a forest after a fire, and the process of renewal afterwards.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily returns to a discussion with Sara Gonzalez, UCSC PhD candidate, about her work with the giant kelp Macrocysistis pyrifera. Listen in to learn about the interesting life cycle of kelp.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Theadora interviews Jessie Kendall-Bar, a Ph. D. student at UC Santa Cruz in the Ecology & Evolutionary biology department. Jessie studies the neurophysiology of sleep in marine mammals, specializing in elephant seals. Learn how Jessie researches elephant seal sleep and some of the differences between marine mammal and human sleep. For more information about...

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Sara talks with Sabrina Shirazi, a Ph. D. student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, about environmental DNA. Animals and plants shed DNA all the time into the environment, and by analyzing small samples of soil or water, scientists can discover which organisms are present there, whether they are animals, plants, fungi, or bacteria, even if the organis...

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily chats with UCSC PhD candidate Sara Gonzalez about her work on the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera . Some of her work is focused on alginates, a polysaccharide, found in these towering seaweeds. Tune in to learn more! 

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Theadora talks about the two main hummingbird species seen in Santa Cruz: Anna’s and Allen’s hummingbirds. Learn how to attract them to your backyard, and how to tell them apart. Hummingbirds are very nimble fliers and are the only birds in the world that can fly backward. They beat their wings incredibly quickly to hover and fly in any direction, around 60 time...

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily heads back to the UC Ford Ord Reserve to chat with the field manager of the reserve, Joe Miller. To learn more about the reserve please visit: https://fortordreserve.ucsc.edu

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Theadora tells you about a wonderful bird that is easily seen all over Santa Cruz, and most of the USA: the house finch. Learn about how their population recently expanded throughout the United States, the sound of their lovely song, and what some of their mating behaviors are like. Male house finches perform a number of elaborate rituals to attract and keep the...

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily speaks with Dr. Yui Takeshita, a scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Dr. Takeshita explains how he uses chemistry to better understand the ocean and shares an interesting story about internal waves in the Monterey Canyon.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily speaks with Dr. Katie Pitz, a research associate at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Dr. Pitz explains what environmental DNA or eDNA is and how it can be used to better understand the critters living within the Monterey Bay.

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Theadora talks about two species of birds that you can easily see in your backyard! Listen with me to learn about Northern mockingbirds and California towhees and some of their fascinating behaviors. California towhees might not be colorful, but they make up for that by being cute and very devoted to their mates – the pairs usually stay together for life!

This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily chats with Brett Bell, Restoration Steward at the UC Santa Cruz Fort Ord Natural Reserve. Listen in as Brett introduces listeners to a rare and tiny flower, Gilia tenuiflora ssp. arenaria, found in Monterey Bay's coastal chaparral.