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Climate Change

Featuring research and hands-on efforts around climate change

Sand dunes surround palms, trees, shrubs and a small lake in the UAE.
Photo Credit
Jing Yang via iStock
A desert oasis is perhaps the most striking example of a groundwater-dependent ecosystem.

Groundwater is key to protecting global ecosystems

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Yellowtail dascyllus and other tropical fish swim by a cauliflower coral in American Samoa.
Photo Credit
Dam via Adobe Stock
Damselfish like these yellowtail dascyllus have an outsized effect on reefs compared to their humble proportions.

Coral reefs: battlegrounds for survival in a changing climate
photograph of student activists marching for climate justice
Fossil Free UC student activists, June 2015.

Fossil Free UC historical records added to UCSB Library Special Research Collections
Theo world map fading into blue water.
Photo Credit
Philip Hoeppli via iStock

UC Santa Barbara leads $9 million research project on ocean cycles
Icebergs float of Greenland in the arctic sea.
Photo Credit
Explora_2005 via iStock
Legions of icebergs brought the Atlantic circulation to its knees during the last glacial period.

Historic iceberg surges offer insights on modern climate change
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Investigating the changing disease ecology of California
Waves crash on a revetment protecting houses along Broad Beach, Malibu.
Photo Credit
Charles Lester
The ocean is advancing on California, and we need to determine how we will respond.

Securing the future of California’s coasts
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New study in Nature Water puts spotlight on importance of groundwater
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Climate change policies lose popularity when combined with pausing regulations or social justice
A large field of sunflowers near Sacramento.
Photo Credit
Tfoxfoto via iStock
Tweaks to farming practices could preserve some of California’s declining water resources.

Small changes can yield big savings in agricultural water use
Amber hills roll away behind a lone oak tree, with facilities in the background.
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
The rolling hills of Sedgwick Reserve offer a testbed for researchers to probe grassland ecology.

Extreme drought hits grasslands and shrublands harder than anticipated
A person walks past a Vote Here sign in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Photo Credit
Lorie Shaull via Wikimedia
Climate concerns likely gave Democrats the White House in 2020

US voters’ climate change opinions swing elections

Global groundwater depletion is accelerating, but is not inevitable
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