Join us on Saturday, February 7th from 9 am - 2 pm at Kendall-Frost Marsh Reserve for a family-friendly celebration of wetlands. Meet scientists sharing the latest marsh science, join a guided marsh clean up walk, and interact with local environmental organizations in the 21st anniversary of this community event. 

From now until Jan 12th, event t-shirts are available for preorder. 

Love Your Wetlands Day is co-hosted by UC San Diego Natural Reserve System and the San Diego Bird Alliance in partnership with the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve and the City of San Diego.

Join our quarterly lecture series on the Wonders of the Wetlands at Kendall-Frost Marsh Reserve Field Station and Community Learning Center (2055 Pacific Beach Dr) on Thursday, Jan 15th from 3 - 4 pm. Dr. Georg Matt,  Director of the SDSU Center for Tobacco and the Environment, will share updates from local tobacco pollution monitoring efforts. Registration is suggested but not required.

The application period is now open for UC undergraduates interested in a paid summer research experience within the UC Natural Reserve System. The Field Science Fellowship Program provides a $5,000 stipend and $1,000 for project costs. Find more information and apply here. 

Summarized by Trey Stowe, Roy Little Fellow 

In a 2021 study, researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, University of California, Davis and University of California, Santa Cruz deployed sensors at seven different sea grass meadow sites along the California coast, including at our own Kendall-Frost Marsh Reserve in Mission Bay. The goal was to determine whether native seagrass (Zostera marina) can help reduce one of the major impacts of climate change: ocean acidification. As human caused carbon emissions continue to increase, the emitted CO2 does not just stay in our atmosphere. This CO2 also dissolves into our oceans and can drastically decrease the pH of aquatic habitats. This change can destroy ecosystems by degrading the shell building capacity of marine life, disrupting food webs, and countless other processes which threaten marine life around the world. However, in areas of the ocean with high photosynthetic rates, this pH decrease can be mitigated to great effect, as the dissolved CO2 is absorbed during the process of photosynthesis. This concept of photosynthetic-based ocean acidification mitigation has been applied effectively to seagrass meadows along California.

To further test the efficacy of sea grasses’ ability to ameliorate ocean acidification, the researchers used their sensor packages to record the pH, oxygen content, temperature, salinity, water depth, and flow speed within these sea grass meadows. The data revealed that areas with seagrass meadows had significantly higher pH levels compared to nearby unvegetated areas. Previously, seasonal changes in water conditions had raised questions about how effective seagrass could be at improving pH. However, after accounting for these seasonal shifts, the researchers still found a significant rise in pH within seagrass meadows. These findings indicate that the seagrass can help mitigate the local effects of ocean acidification despite seasonal changes or sudden pH declines from other sources. Not only do our natural habitats look beautiful, but they also provide us with services that benefit us immensely. As such, there is much to be gained from restoring and expanding sea grass meadows along California’s coast line to mitigate the effects of ocean acidification.

Find the full text here: Ricart, A.M., Ward, M., Hill, T.M., Sanford, E., Kroeker, K.J., Takeshita, Y., Merolla, S., Shukla, P., Ninokawa, A.T., Elsmore, K. and Gaylord, B. (2021), Coast-wide evidence of low pH amelioration by seagrass ecosystems. Glob Change Biol, 27: 2580-2591. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15594

Find the latest on our Calendar of Events

(no weeding Friday, Dec 26th due to campus closure)

(no activities Saturday, Dec 27th due to campus closure)
Activities will alternate between guided bird outings, fish seining (counting) and work parties to improve the habitat of Kendall-Frost Marsh. Locations will vary between the dirt lot at the north end of Crown Point Park and the Kendall-Frost Marsh Reserve Field Station, 2055 Pacific Beach Drive. This is a partnership project between UC San Diego Natural Reserve System and San Diego Bird Alliance. No pre-registration is required. Find the activity on our calendar of events.