California’s Coastal Upwelling Creates A Moveable Feast Offshore
In California, local upwelling centers power the extraordinary abundance of marine life at sites such as the Farallones, Monterey Bay, and the Channel Islands.
The Ocean
From Collecting to Recollecting
This San Mateo coast reserve--home to brilliantly colored nudibranchs, 20-armed sun stars, and pupping harbor seals--has been transformed from a place of collection and plunder to one of exploration and...
Russian River Coho Salmon Captive Broodstock Program
From November to February this past winter, biologists scoured lower Russian River tributaries in search of spawning coho salmon. The fish they were hoping to find were no ordinary salmon,...
The Simple Life of a “By the Wind” Sailor
Usually around late April, following spring storms, Northern California beaches are littered with something that looks like gobs of purple-tinted slimy cellophane.
The West Coast’s Living Sand Dollars
There’s a lot more to the western sand dollar (Dendraster excentricus) than meets the eye. Most people who spend any time at the beach are familiar with the sand dollar’s...
Book Review: Wave-Swept Shore: The Rigors of Life on a Rocky Coast
Wave-Swept Shore: The Rigors of Life on a Rocky Coast, text by Mimi Koehl, Photographs by Anne Wertheim Rosenfeld, UC Press, 2006, 179 pages, $39.95 www.ucpress.edu This book is not...
Beachfront Property
San Francisco’s Fort Funston is perhaps best known for dogs and hang gliders, but its cliffs also host a thriving coastal bank swallow colony.
Tagging Marine Animals
The tools scientists use to study pelagic marine life have come a long way. Now, with the use of advanced computing technologies, scientists are pondering the relationships hidden in data...
Ano Nuevo and Farallones Seabird Nesting Update
As we reported in our July-September 2006 feature The Ups and Downs of Coastal Upwelling, last year’s delayed coastal upwelling event proved catastrophic to animals that depend on this annual...
California Ocean Protection Act
In response to a landmark state ocean bill signed into law last year, top state agencies are taking aggressive steps to protect California’s coastline and marine habitats from overfishing and...
