News
Bayside newsletter - Summer 2019
Captain of the Ship – a woman at the helm
An interview with Estuary & Ocean Science Center's Amanda Dostie by staff members Aimee Good and Sarah Ferner
Can an endangered plant help wildlife escape rising seas?
On a recent sunny day, we pounded large wooden branches into the sand and mud next to newly planted shrubs at a salt marsh in a northern part of San Francisco Bay. Our research lab, led by Dr. Katharyn Boyer at San Francisco State University’s Estuary & Ocean Science (EOS) Center, was testing whether an endangered plant with a propensity to climb can help provide endangered animals with refuge from increasingly rising seas.
Ten essential articles on the San Francisco Estuary
Dr. Wim Kimmerer’s publications featured in “Ten Essential Bay–Delta Articles”. His publication from 2009 “Is the Response of Estuarine Nekton to Freshwater flow in the San Francisco Estuary explained by variation in habitat volume?” was included as one of the ten essential papers.
Bridging: From Father to Daughter - Mori Point
The conservation work of our faculty, students and staff reaches far and wide, bridging generations, across the Bay Area, both at work and at home.
Our own Dr. Mike Vasey (Director of the SF Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve) helped save the land at Mori Point [San Mateo Co.] in 2000. Now his daughter Georgia Vasey works for the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy stewarding that land nearly every day.
Super-Shore: A Multi-Habitat Experiment at Giant Marsh
Interview anyone of any stripe about the Giant Marsh living shorelines project and the same two words will be in every other sentence: high tide.
Climate change may turn important marine organisms into ‘junk food’
Study shows that predicted future ocean conditions make tiny algae, vital to ocean food webs, less nutritious
A new experiment by San Francisco State University scientists shows that the oceans of the future may make some types of microscopic algae poor eating for the creatures that feed on them, a shift that would have a big impact on fish and other marine animals we eat.
Will a cleaner San Francisco Bay be a more toxic one?
San Francisco Bay enthusiasts are pleased that the waters of San Francisco Bay are becoming cleaner and clearer, but researchers are worried that this might invite a new problem – blooms of toxic phytoplankton. Although these microscopic, toxin-producing algae are already found in the Bay, with clearer waters permitting more light to reach these photosynthetic algae, it’s feared that the Bay could turn into a toxic soup of both freshwater and marine harmful algae, potentially impacting shellfish and even the marine mammals that are finally starting to re-populate the Bay.
Estuary and Ocean Science Center drums up ‘hope for the Bay’
Annual Discovery Day draws more than 1,000 visitors as center unveils a new collaboration
EOS Center Research included in CDFW Awards of $48.5 Million for Ecosystem and Watershed Restoration, Protection and Scientific Study Projects
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) today announced the selection of 38 projects to receive funding for multi-benefit ecosystem restoration and protection projects under its Proposition 1 and Proposition 68 grant programs.
Among the awards is one to EOS Center researchers Drs. Richard Dugdale and Frances Wilkerson: Enhancing predictive capability for phytoplankton response to natural and operational induced variability of phytoplankton blooming in the Delta. ($784,970 to San Francisco State University)
Oysters to defend San Francisco Bay from sea level rise? Marin research shows promising results
As sea levels continue to rise, Marin and state researchers are set to begin a second phase of tests on how San Francisco Bay and the wildlife within it can come to the defense. While oysters and sea grasses may not immediately stand out as defenders against sea level rise, a five-year test run using oyster reefs and eelgrass beds in the waters off of San Rafael has shown promising results.