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Early this year, graduate students in the Scientific Filmmaking course (ECL 290/PBG 298) shared their short films at the Ecology Film Festival, which was held at both the Bodega Bay Grange Hall and at the Veterans Memorial Theatre in Davis.

From Chilean tidepools to the High Sierra, 12 UC Davis graduate students traveled the world this summer in search of answers to ecology’s most pressing questions. The Ecology Film Festival, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023, at Bodega Bay; and Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023, in Davis showcased graduate students who took part in UC Davis’ Scientific Filmmaking course this past fall.

He quipped that he was "going to cover 40 years of science in 40 minutes."  And UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus and Department of Evolution and Ecology faculty member, Harris Lewin, did just that when he delivered the inaugural UC Davis New Emeriti Distinguished Lecture on “From Chickens to Cows to Everything: Perspectives from 40 Years in Science."

As winter approaches, many species of animals — from bears and squirrels to parasitic wasps and a few lucky humans — hunker down for some needed rest. The northern star coral (Astrangia poculata) also enters a hibernating state of dormancy, or quiescence, during this time. But what happens to its microbiome while it’s sleeping?

Under the right living arrangement, disease-resistant corals can help “rescue” corals that are more vulnerable to disease, found a study from the University of California, Davis, that monitored a disease outbreak at a coral nursery in Little Cayman, Cayman Islands. 

UC Davis postdoctoral scholar Marina LaForgia, Ph.D. '21 was recently (Nov. 3) named a 2022 For Women in Science (FWIS) Fellowship from L'Oréal USA, making her one of only five postdoctoral scholars in the United States to receive this grant.

LaForgia's research focuses on seed dispersal of plants to help determine which species will be most vulnerable to environmental change.

There’s a phrase that rings loudly in the heads of Popular Science editors any time they bring together a new Brilliant 10 class: “They’ve only just begun.” Their annual list of early-career scientists and engineers is as much a celebration of what those honorees have already accomplished as it is a forecast for what they’ll do next.

The UC Davis campus Laboratory Safety Awards Program recognizes labs with a strong safety emphasis.  The Grand Prize Winner for 2022 is EVE Faculty member, Dr. Rachael Bay.  Congratulations to Rachael and the Bay Lab!

The international Explorers Club recently honored Department of Evolution and Ecology faculty member Harris Lewin for his work with the Earth BioGenome Project, presenting him with a Lowell Thomas Award, named after the famed explorer and broadcast journalist.

Three departments in the College of Biological Sciences welcome new crop of researchers and mentors...  The college is very pleased to welcome the newest members of its broad and diverse faculty.

Every modern mammal, from a platypus to a blue whale, is descended from a common ancestor that lived about 180 million years ago. We don’t know a great deal about this animal, but the organization of its genome has now been computationally reconstructed by an international team of researchers. The work is published Sept. 30 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Deep evolution casts a longer shadow than previously thought, scientists report in a new paper published Aug. 1 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Coral reefs are home to a spectacular variety of fish. A new study by biologists at the University of California, Davis, shows that much of this diversity is driven by a relatively recent innovation among bony fish — feeding by biting prey from surfaces. The work was published the week of July 25 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Marina LaForgia, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Evolution and Ecology, in the lab of EVE faculty member Jennifer Gremer, has received the 2022 Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research.  Congratulations to Marina!  Read more about this award here.

As a community college transfer student who grew up in poverty and is now pursuing his postdoctoral research, Edwin Solares hopes to show the students he mentors how far they can go.