Studying the Jewel of the Kalahari: Doctoral Candidate Receives Funding to Further Water Chemistry Research in Okavango Delta

For the past five years, Goabaone Jaqueline Ramatlapeng, a National Geographic Explorer and UC Davis earth and planetary sciences doctoral candidate, has studied the water chemistry of the Okavango Delta, the largest freshwater wetland in southern Africa. Recently, she received $100,000 from the National Geographic Society to further her research.

Finding Hope ‘At Every Depth’: New Book Chronicles Our Changing Oceans and How Humans Are Responding

While so much of the ocean is still a mystery to us, the beauty and life within it are being affected by our choices as a species. In some ways, its' changing faster than we can study them. In the book “At Every Depth,” UC Davis scientist Tessa Hill and writer Eric Simons chronicle those changes through the eyes of the community members closest to the shores. But the book is not a passive volume. Instead, it’s a call to action.

Books on Climate Change From UC Davis

You don't have to be a student at UC Davis to learn from these professors. Their knowledge about Earth and its environment is woven throughout these new books, including two from College of Letters and Science faculty, that came out in 2023 or are about to be published.

Molecular Fossils Shed Light on Ancient Life

Paleontologists are getting a glimpse at life over a billion years in the past based on chemical traces in ancient rocks and the genetics of living animals. Research published Dec. 1 in Nature Communications combines geology and genetics, showing how changes in the early Earth prompted a shift in how animals eat.

What Shells Tell: Studying Abalone with Meghan Zulian

Shellfish, along with other marine organisms, are facing a crisis, one that affects the integrity of their shells. As carbon dioxide emissions increase in the atmosphere, so too does the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by our oceans, leading to ocean acidification. Graduate student Meghan Zulian has devoted her doctoral studies to understanding how ocean acidification, and more broadly climate change, affects culturally, economically and ecologically important shellfish, including abalone

A Career Built in Deep Time: Geochemist and Paleoclimatologist Isabel Montañez Wins Arthur L. Day Medal

Over the course of her career, Distinguished Professor Isabel Montañez has created a research niche in the fields of geochemistry and paleoclimatology: applying an Earth systems science approach to recreate Earth from eons past. For her monumental work in the geology field, Montañez recently received the Geological Society of America’s Arthur L. Day Medal.

Helping Clams Deal With Climate Change Using Interdisciplinary Tools

As we reckon with the effects of climate change, so too must the other organisms that call Earth home. But what if you couldn’t move away from your dwelling to escape a threat? What if your shelter, your refuge, was a part of your body? Shellfish face this plight. Supported by an $80,000 California Sea Grant Graduate Research Fellowship, UC Davis doctoral candidate Hannah Kempf is exploring how to unify modern scientific techniques with Indigenous shellfish management practices to help protect shellfish from ocean acidification.

Climate Change Likely Led to Violence in Early Andean Populations

Violence during climatic change has evidence in history. University of California, Davis, researchers said they have have found a pattern of increased violence during climatic change in the south central Andes between A.D. 470 and 1500. During that time, which includes the Medieval Climatic Anomaly (ca. A.D. 900-1250), temperatures rose, drought occurred, and the first states of the Andes collapsed.

UC Davis Student Studying Ancient Microbial Life Named Goldwater Scholar

Caden Williams is among 413 college students nationwide selected from a pool of more than 5,000 applicants to receive the prestigious STEM scholarship, which was established by Congress in 1986 to honor the late U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater. The award provides up to $7,500 for college expenses. This is the sixth consecutive year that a UC Davis student has been named a Goldwater Scholar.   

Climate Trends in the West Today and 11,000 Years Ago

People often say things like Phoenix has always been dry; Seattle has always been wet; and San Francisco has always been foggy. But “always” is a strong word. A study from the UC Davis Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences synthesizes climate trends across the Western U.S. during a relatively young and lesser-studied period of Earth’s history — the Holocene Era, which stretches from the present day to the past 11,000 years.