Rosenberg Institute Seminar Series - Kathryn Beheshti

Kathryn Beheshti, Principal Investigator, University of California, Santa Barbara

Restoring California's coastal foundation species

Abstract: Field experiments provide the site-specific insights necessary for informed coastal resource management. Longer-term field experiments and monitoring informed by natural history provide an opportunity to test our assumptions of key coastal processes and the how the influence of physical and biological factors may vary over space and time. This talk will begin with research from Elkhorn Slough, including how quickly ecosystem functions return post seagrass restoration and how the recovery of a top-predator can mitigate bank erosion in tidal marshes. The second half of the talk will focus on studies from two large-scale mitigation projects (373-acre artificial reef and 150-acre wetland restoration) in the Southern California Bight. Together this talk will demonstrate how we can respond to impacts to our coastal resources with science as the conduit between impact assessments and management actions.

Bio: Dr. Kathryn Beheshti is an Assistant Researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Marine Science Institute. Kat is a coastal marine ecologist that specializes in restoration ecology of salt marsh, seagrass, and kelp forest habitats. Kat received her PhD from the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2021. Currently, she is one of the Principal Investigators for the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Mitigation Monitoring Program. In this role, Kat leads the long-term monitoring of two large-scale mitigation projects, work that is at the interface of science, policy, and industry.