UC Davis Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute

A portrait of Andrea Alfaro laughing into the camera in front of an expanse of greenery.

We’re excited to share that Andrea C. Alfaro has been appointed the new director of the UC Davis Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute, effective January 1, 2026. She will also serve as director of the Bodega Marine Lab.

Read the announcement from @ucdavisresearch.bsky.social here: buff.ly/RzKwN30

Dr. Alyssa Frederick holds a white abalone and smiles as they look at each other.

A pair of hands hold a mass of seagrass

A small metal trap sits on a shoreline where a visible oil slick covers the water.

Federal funding fuels discoveries that flow #FromLabsToLives. @ucdavis.bsky.social researchers are reviving kelp & white abalone, tracing pollution’s legacy, and showing how seagrasses safeguard coasts: marinescience.ucdavis.edu/ripple-effec...

📸: Jessica Lee, @karolcha.bsky.social, Whitehead Lab

Watch the live webcam here any time: marinescience.ucdavis.edu/bml/webcam

YouTube video by BodegaMarineLab Beautiful morning in Horseshoe Cove

Enjoy a stunning post-storm morning in Horseshoe Cove on the @ucdavis.bsky.social Bodega Marine Reserve: youtu.be/F-bIMfiUwJs

Becoming A Snail Dentist My name is Qing Fields, and I’m an SRJC student dual majoring in Biology and Natural Sciences, with plans to transfer to CSUMB in the fall of 2026 to study Marine Science and Scientific Illustration. ...

Qing Fields, a student at @santarosajc.bsky.social, spent a summer internship studying intertidal snails at Bodega Marine Lab, combining fieldwork, lab research, and her talent for scientific illustration to explore how feeding ecology shapes snail anatomy: marinescience.ucdavis.edu/blog/becomin...

POV: You’re dulse — a red algae grown at the Bodega Marine Laboratory to feed endangered white abalone.

Happy #WorldAlgaeDay from our tanks to yours!

A Special Summer at the Bodega Marine Laboratory Hi, I’m Lucas, a SRJC student who is transferring to UC Davis in the fall of 2025.  At Davis, I will be majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology.  This summer, I had the pleasure of working unde...

Lucas Hernandez-Real, a student at @santarosajc.bsky.social, spent the summer interning in the Brown Lab at Bodega Marine Lab, studying seagrass wasting disease and discovering how collaborative and rewarding marine research can be: marinescience.ucdavis.edu/blog/special...

My Time at the Bodega Marine Lab My time at BML was spent working with Dr. Boles on researching abalone (Haliotis spps.) reproduction and larval success. Dr. Boles has spent her career working with California abalone, investigating t...

Keith Mo, a student at @santarosajc.bsky.social, spent his summer interning at the Bodega Marine Lab, assisting with abalone and seaweed research in Dr. Sara Boles’ lab: marinescience.ucdavis.edu/blog/my-time...

A panoramic view of a seagrass meadow from the water level, with blue skies above it.

Elisabeth Sellinger and Karolina Zabinski, PhD candidates at @ucdavis.bsky.social, study how #seagrass, sediments & #shellfish adapt under stress, while also navigating uncertainty in their own careers. Both kinds of resilience rely on federal support: arcg.is/1KTj02

A Seagrass Summer I am a second-year Environmental Science major at Santa Rosa Junior College and will be transferring to UC Santa Cruz this fall to complete my undergraduate degree. I spent my summer at the Bodega Mar...

Katie Brenninger, a @santarosajc.bsky.social student, spent a summer interning in the CHANGE Lab at the Bodega Marine Laboratory, gaining hands-on experience with seagrass mesocosms, new lab technologies, and the challenges of keeping research tanks clean: marinescience.ucdavis.edu/blog/seagras...

My Summer with Bull Kelp, Sea Urchins, and Abalone Katherine Pearson is a biology student who just finished at SRJC and is transferring to Cal Poly Humboldt in the fall semester of 2025. She is majoring in marine biology but hopes to major in biochemi...

Katherine Pearson, a @santarosajc.bsky.social student, spent a summer internship at the Bodega Marine Laboratory gaining new skills in the field and lab, and fresh inspiration for her future in marine science. marinescience.ucdavis.edu/blog/my-summ...

First Steps in the Field I came into the Bodega Marine Laboratory summer program completing as a third year from Santa Rosa Junior College. I had applied the previous two years for this internship with no success, until this ...

Jafet Torres, a student at @santarosajc.bsky.social, shares how a summer internship at Bodega Marine Laboratory opened the door to seagrass research, while exploring future paths in marine science: marinescience.ucdavis.edu/blog/first-s...

Alex poses with a fellow angling volunteer on a CCFRP boat, holding up a rockfish they caught.

For @santarosajc.bsky.social student Alex Margand, a summer internship at the @ucdavis.bsky.social Bodega Marine Lab meant learning the ropes of fisheries science — literally — while sampling fish with the California Collaborative Fisheries Research Project: marinescience.ucdavis.edu/blog/fishing...

Join us for the Bodega Marine Laboratory Seminar Series! On 9/24, @catalicu.bsky.social, an Associate Professor at Cal Poly Humboldt, will present “Negative biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships in the context of microbial community assembly”

Register: ucdavis.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Join us for the BML Seminar Series! On 9/17, Holly Moeller @mixotrophe.bsky.social, an Associate Professor in the Dept of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology at UCSB, will present "Trade, Borrow, or Steal: How Acquired Metabolism Drives Evolutionary Innovation."

ucdavis.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

A group of people wearing brightly colored life jackets aboard a small blue boat with the words RESEARCH on the side of it.

A boat at dock filled with students, with a staff member standing next to it speaking to them.

Behind the boat, greenish waves show the effects of an algal bloom.

We’ve had some requests to see our new research vessel — so here it is! 🌊🚤

Thirty-three @ucdavis.bsky.social undergrads ventured out for the inaugural class trips last week, with perfect weather & plenty of excitement on board. Watch for an announcement of the vessel’s name soon!

📸: John Largier

“The Best Job I’ve Ever Had” It’s early—almost too early to be out walking. But Leo Konefat, a rising third-year undergraduate at UC Davis and one of the 2025 EVE Scholars, has an urgent appointment with a low tide.

It’s early — almost too early — but @ucdavis.bsky.social microbiology major Leo Konefat has a low tide to catch. Follow 2025 EVE Scholar Leo through a summer spent at the Bodega Marine Laboratory investigating eelgrass wasting disease: marinescience.ucdavis.edu/blog/best-job-ive-ever-had

A map of the ocean off the coast of Bodega Bay, showing a route that spells out "BML" in capital letters.

Bodega Marine Lab’s new boat went out for its first sea trial last week. This involves running the engine at different speeds while staying close to shore for safety, so the team made the most of it by spelling “BML” with their route!

We’re excited to welcome this vessel to our fleet!
📸: Abbey Dias

Join us for the Bodega Marine Lab Seminar Series! On 9/10, Beth Rose Middleton, a professor at @ucdavis.bsky.social, will present “From the Mountains to the Sea: Restoring Relationships for Landscape and Community Resilience”

Register: ucdavis.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

A collage of three images showing researchers sampling and analyzing microplastics with the UC Davis logo and the words "You're Invited" superimposed on top.

Microplastics are everywhere—oceans, rivers, even bottled water. What does that mean for marine life & communities?

Join UC Davis researcher Dr. Christina Pasparakis + the ToPEC Lab on 9/10 at 12pm PT for "Beneath the Surface: Advancing Science for a Cleaner Ocean."

ucdavis.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Join us for the Bodega Marine Lab Seminar Series! On 9/3, Maya Groner, a Senior Research Scientist at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, will present "Warming seawater and disease in iconic crustacean fisheries"

Register: ucdavis.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Join us for the Bodega Marine Lab Seminar Series! On 8/27, Adrian Stier, an Associate Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will present “Dynamic Seascapes: Feedbacks Between Habitat-Forming Species and the Communities They Host.”

Register: ucdavis.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

A dark blue graphic with a quote that reads "There are very few happy stories in restoration and conservation science. So few examples of where it just works. We have this team, probably hundreds of people who've worked on this project, and it's working. We're putting out animals. They're surviving." -Dr. Alyssa Frederick - Director, White Abalone Captive Breeding Program, alongside a photo of Dr. Frederick holding a white abalone and looking into its face.

The @ucdavis.bsky.social led Kelp RISES project and White Abalone Conservation program show what’s possible when federal funding supports science with depth and direction: reviving species, connecting disciplines, and keeping knowledge alive and growing. 🌊🐌🌿
arcg.is/0SOHeT3

#NSFfunded #NOAAscience

Join us for the Bodega Marine Lab Seminar Series! On 8/13, Bethanie Edwards, an Assistant Professor at University of California, Berkeley, will present “Oxylipin chemical signaling across trophic levels and ecosystems”

Register: ucdavis.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Join us for the Bodega Marine Lab Seminar Series! On 8/6, Jonathon Stillman, a Professor and Adjunct Professor at SFSU and UC Berkeley, will present “Does the thermal environment induce transgenerational plasticity in the porcelain crab, Petrolisthes cinctipes?”

ucdavis.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

A whale breaching off the coast

A whale's tail disappearing into the ocean

WHALE hello there 👋🐋 A few giant visitors passed by Bodega Head on July 26, captured in these images by naturalist and Bodega Marine Reserve Research Coordinator, Jackie Sones.

See more wild finds on her blog, The Natural History of Bodega Head: bodegahead.blogspot.com

An image of Andrew Whitehead working in the field with a quote next to it that reads "I think a lot of people would prefer to live in a society where we can predict and prevent problems before people and creatures get sick."

Dark red oil rippling across the water next to a shoreline, with small fish traps behind it.

How far do the ripple effects of #marinescience at @ucdavis.bsky.social go?
Our new story series starts with Andrew Whitehead’s research on how #pollution changes fish biology for generations. It's a story of genes, justice, and lasting impacts: arcg.is/1uGiPj1

📸 Andrew Whitehead | ✍️ Lila Magbilang

Join us for the Bodega Marine Lab Seminar Series! On 7/30, @hankbaker.bsky.social, a postdoc in the Dept of Environmental Science Policy and Management at @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social, will present “Causes and consequences of variation in fish movement strategies”

ucdavis.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Elisabeth Sellinger presenting to a conference audience from a podium. On the screen behind her is a presentation that reads "Quantifying Carbon Sequestration in Restored Seagrass Meadows for Climate Mitigation"

UC Davis PhD candidate Elisabeth Sellinger traveled to France as part of the French American Doctoral Exchange (FADEx) Program in Marine Science. She explored international collaborations, connected with fellow ocean researchers, and even gave her biggest talk yet: buff.ly/dkRlHyP

📸: Joaquim Nassar

Two students use calipers to measure the size of a snail's shell

A group of students gathered around a lab bench, working collaboratively

A student adjusts the flow of water to a tank set up in a row of glass tanks.

Students in Eric Sanford's BIS 124 and EVE 114 classes at the Bodega Marine Lab tested how seawater exposed to different sea star species might influence Black Turban snail feeding—and practiced skills they'll put to use in their own independent projects later this summer.