Conservation Science

For the Amah Mutsun, an indigenous people of the central coast, the land was never ‘theirs.’ They didn’t think of the land as belonging to anyone. Blessed to live along the central coast and eastward, they belonged to the land. They were tender toward it — and tenders of it. Now, after centuries of cultural upheaval, they’re learning to recover their roles as the land’s stewards. ...

Biologists have discovered high levels of pesticides and other contaminants from marine mammals in the tissues of endangered California condors living near the coast that they say could complicate recovery efforts for the largest land bird in North America.

Increased shipping noise is disrupting the foraging behaviour of humpback whales in the North Atlantic, according to a new study. Scientists in the US and UK said their findings could impact upon the numbers of humpback whales in the long term. Many whales are found in coastal areas with high levels of shipping traffic, which often results in frequent fatalities from collisions. The team collected data from 10 whales within the Stellwagen Bank national marine sanctuary, which is a popular whale watching site between Cape Cod and Cape Ann in the US. ...

California Sea Grant is pleased to announce the selection of 12 outstanding doctoral graduate students and postdoctoral researchers as recipients of the 2016 Delta Science Fellowship. Awarded periodically by the Delta Stewardship Council’s Delta Science Program and administered by California Sea Grant, the fellowship partners junior scientists with academic and community mentors to work on collaborative data analysis and research projects applicable to the California Bay-Delta system. ...