What's Current in
Ecology Evolution and Marine Biology
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![A mantis shrimp emerges from its burrow to confront a rival.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-05/Mantis-shrimp-fight-uc-santa-barbara.jpg?itok=dVwHyRUg)
Photo Credit
Roy Caldwell
These territorial crustaceans use their tails as shields to defend against the explosive punches of their rivals.
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![2024 Goldwater scholars](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-04/3up-portrait-hero-uc-santa-barbara.jpg?itok=k7nPYUgs)
Clockwise, from left: Matthew Unger, Riya Nilkrant, Xuanwei Liang, Isaac Hair, Anika Jena
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![aerial shot of North Atlantic right whale and calf](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-04/NorthAtlanticRightWhale_mother_calf_NOAA-uc-santa-barbara.jpg?itok=gVWAZ_03)
Photo Credit
NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center/Lisa Conger and Elizabeth Josephson
North Atlantic right whale mother and calf as seen from a research drone called a hexacopter
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![A chiton sits among algae on a rock.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-03/V-tonicia-cropped-inaturalist.jpg?itok=8o8V4Zit)
Photo Credit
Marcelo Rojas González via iNaturalist
The shell of the variable tonicia is covered in complex, image-forming eyes.
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![A foothill yellow-legged frog perches on a rock.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-02/FYLF-uc-santa-barbara.jpg?itok=jYzF_v04)
Photo Credit
Brome McCreary
Foothill yellow-legged frogs live in the flowing water of rivers and streams, so are especially vulnerable when these shrink to isolated pools.
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![lab equipment](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-01/tribeam-prototype-echlin-uc-santa-barbara-small.jpg?itok=0tlx-WTu)
Photo Credit
McLean Echlin
The prototype of UCSB's TriBeam microscope, developed by the Tresa Pollock Lab before it was commercialized by Thermo Fisher Scientific
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![Amber hills roll away behind a lone oak tree, with facilities in the background.](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-01/Sedgwick-grassland-uc-santa-barbara.jpg?itok=HXv4aprj)
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
The rolling hills of Sedgwick Reserve offer a testbed for researchers to probe grassland ecology.
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![Shorebirds on a kelp-laden beach](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2024-01/marbled-godwit-shorebirds-jennydugan-uc-santa-barbara.jpeg?itok=1xSbjkCs)
Photo Credit
Jenny Dugan
Shorebirds forage in kelp wrack on a beach in California
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![Side view of a researcher in a lab, wearing goggles and a white coat, looking down](/sites/default/files/styles/large_2340x1212/public/2023-12/researcher-lab-UCOP-2023-2-uc-santa-barbara.jpg?itok=gq5VrXsA)
Photo Credit
Elena Zhukova