Exploring Nature in the San Francisco Bay Area
Mosses are not particularly competitive; they do not crowd out other species. They find a foothold where there are the proper resources: moisture, a place to tuck their rhizoid roots. The range from which they can acquire nourishment is limited. Humans are on the opposite end of that spectrum, able to move resources long distances,…
Oodles of nudibranchs showed up in Lake Merritt after the harmful algal bloom of August 2022. These sea slugs appeared in record breaking numbers, taking Oakland’s beloved tidal lagoon by storm.
Invasive species removal is a long game. If you see the entire job before you, you may despair. But if you keep your head down and only look at what’s right in front of you, then you have a chance of really making a difference in the long term.
When other plants start hunkering down, clarkias send up a dazzling array of purples and pinks.
While walking in the woods, you’ve likely encountered a dead log engraved with maze-like squiggles. These natural carvings are known as beetle galleries, and the grooves are munched out by the larvae of bark beetles in the subfamily Scolytinae.
Bits of DNA linger on the forest floor, in the ocean, and even in the air—and these strands have stories to tell, back at the lab. Here’s how environmental DNA (aka ‘eDNA’) is starting to transform how ecologists work in the Bay Area and beyond.
Independent, nonprofit environmental journalism connecting people with nature in the San Francisco Bay Area.
