Central Coast Naturalist

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.

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 national park, working to protect California’s natural habitats while increasing their accessibility to the public, and securing more land in the national parks for future generations.