Conservation

UC Davis' very own Kristin Aquilino, a project scientist at Bodega Marine Laboratory,  is in charge of the largest population of endangered white abalone that exists in the world. Her work focuses on a long-term goal is to build the population in captivity, then outplant them into the wild and hope to increase a stable population. However, is there even a chance for them to survive back in the wild with dramatic changes in ocean chemistry due to climate change? 

A study led led by the University of California, Davis, shows that there is a new technology that can help to transform how imperiled species are considered and managed for conservation protection. These technologies can be applied to a wide range of species around the world — from mushrooms to walruses — but the study focuses on two iconic species of Pacific salmon: steelhead and chinook.

Commercial fishermen may be able to catch more of the profitable fish they want with marine reserves than without them, according to a study in the journal PNAS led by the University of California, Davis. Using marine reserves as a management tool could also help the recently rebounded West Coast groundfish fishery sustain itself, the study notes.

Marine reserves are a subset of Marine Protected Areas. Some MPAs allow fishing, but marine reserves are areas of the ocean closed to fishing and other extractive activities.

Dr. Kristin Aquilino and Professor Gary Cherr at UC Davis hope hope to save the species by reintroducing their captive-bred population back into the wild. While once thriving in kelp forests in Southern California and Mexico, the white abalone are now being threatening by overfishing and are close to extinction. By breeding them in captivity, there is hope that there may be a chance for the populations to recover. 

Bodega Marine Laboratory team member Kristin Aquilino has been featured on KQED Science regarding her efforts to study and protect white abalone. Aquilino reflects on her time at BML researching abalone and the path to species revival.

Read the KQED Science article here. 

The study, published January 12 in the journal Ecology, found that coral reef fish, like some land-baed animals, experience “landscapes of fear”. The term describes how fish and other organisms perceive the safety of their environment based on where and how much shelter from predators is available.