Santa Cruz Naturalist: Recent Episodes
Santa Cruz Naturalist
Santa Cruz Naturalist invites listeners to join UCSC Ecology and Evolutionary Biology graduate students as they explore nature in and around Santa Cruz County. Each episode will enrich your next experience with nature as you learn fascinating insights (from local experts) about the creatures that inhabit your favorite hiking trails, beaches and even your own backyard.
In this week's episode, host Frankie Gerraty chats with Georgia Third, a fisheries ecologist and PhD student at UC Santa Cruz. They chat about genetics, snorkeling in rivers, and all things steelhead trout.
This episode is part 2 of our conversation with Julia Harenčár, a botanist, evolutionary biologist, and PhD candidate at UC Santa Cruz. Frankie and Julia discuss weeds, evolution, and Julia's favorite plants!
In this episode, host Frankie Gerraty interviews Julia Harenčár, a botanist, evolutionary biologist, and PhD candidate at UC Santa Cruz. They discuss when and where to find wildflowers in Santa Cruz county, and how to identify them!
In this week's episode with host Niki Sridhar, we continue our conversation with Keenan Chau-Pech on effects of aquaculture facilities in Tomales Bay on the entire ecosystem!
On this episode, host Niki Sridhar interviews undergraduate researcher Keenan Chau-Pech on his recent project looking at ecosystem services of aquaculture facilities in Tomales Bay. Spoiler alert: birds are attracted to habitat created by aquaculture gear!
This week, hosts Frankie Gerraty and Nikka Malakooti discuss the biology underpinning the unique bioluminescence currently taking place along the Santa Cruz coastline.
In otter news, Frankie Gerraty covers a developing story about "841," a southern sea otter who has gotten too comfortable with humans—so comfortable, in fact, that she has been stealing surfboards!
In this episode, host Frankie Gerraty discusses the ecological effects of one of the most common and widespread human infrastructures: fencing.
In this week's episode, host Frankie Gerraty continues his conversation with Nicolás Cruz about prescribed and cultural burning.
In this episode, host Frankie Gerraty talks to fire ecologist Nicolás Cruz about forest fires, cultural burning, and his research on the role of fire in wetland ecosystems.
In this episode, host Frankie Gerraty discusses the important ecological roles that fallen trees play as they move from forests to rivers to oceans.
On today's episode, host Niki Sridhar talks about the sunflower seastar. A now critically endangered species that plays an important role in kelp forest dynamics.
This week on the Santa Cruz Naturalist, Frankie talks to Moss Landing Marine Labs masters student Jacob Harris about ongoing efforts to restore Olympia oyster populations in Elkhorn Slough.
This week on the Santa Cruz Naturalist, Frankie talks to UCSC marine mammal biologist Allison Payne about ocean acoustics and eavesdropping on rare, deep-ocean whales.
Niki Sridhar continues her conversation with Aspen Ellis, discussing conservation strategies for protecting seabird populations.
On this episode, Niki Sridhar speaks with PhD student at UC Santa Cruz, Aspen Ellis, about the life of a seabird ecologist and why seabirds are quite an extraordinary taxonomic group!
In this week's episode of Santa Cruz Naturalist, Chloe wraps up their series on the Norris Center by speaking with Dr. Gizelle Hurtado about community and outreach events, and where the field of natural history is going over the next 20 years.
Even though this series is at an end, you can still visit the Norris Center! For more information, including the current operating hours, check out https://norriscenter.ucsc.edu/
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Chloe sits down with Dr. Gizelle Hurtado, Assistant Director of the Norris Center. We hear about Dr. Hurtado's background and some of the amazing work she does at the Norris Center
Chloe continues their conversation with Dr. Andy Kulikowski, the lead entomologist at the Kenneth S. Norris Center for Natural History at UC Santa Cruz. Dr. Kulikowski talks about how the Norris Center interfaces with education and conservation, and tells us about some interesting specimens in the museum.
Norris Center Fall 2022 hours:
Monday - Thursday 10am - 4pm
Friday 10am - 2pm
Chloe interviews expert entomologist Dr. Andy Kulikowski, to talk about his background as a naturalist and the future of natural history.
In this week's episode, and the second in the Norris Center series, Chloe continues her interview with Dmitrius Rodriguez, and together they speculate about the future of natural history.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Nikka interviews Chloe Rickards, M.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, about the mind-controlling Cordyceps fungus, which served as the inspiration for their award-winning entry for the Coha-Gunderson Prize in Speculative Futures at the UCSC Humanities Institute. To see the pieces we reference, check out Chloe's Instagram: @clo.makes.art
In this second-parter interview with Sarah Mastroni, we learn more about the red algae responsible for lowering methane emissions from dairy cows.
In this week's episode of Santa Cruz Naturalist, and the first installment of the Norris Center Naturalist series, Chloe talks with Dmitrius Rodriguez about natural history, community science, and more.
In this episode of Santa Cruz Naturalist, Chloe briefly talks about humpback whale mothers and behaviors.
This week in Santa Cruz Naturalist, Chloe talks about two native birds: the California scrub jay and the Steller's Jay
Chloe continues their conversation with Quinn Todzo, a geotechnical engineer. Tune in to learn about the Marble Caves, and what makes Santa Cruz geology special.
This week at Santa Cruz Naturalist, Chloe Rickards chats with Quinn Todzo about the geological history of the Santa Cruz Mountains and the sandstone formations at Castle Rock State Park.
Learn more about geology with Quinn at his podcast, The Rock Behind the Climb. Episode 1 goes into a deep dive of the Santa Cruz Mountains and Castle Rock State Park
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Nikka interviews UCSC masters student Sarah Mastroni, who is working with Blue Ocean Barns on using red algae to make cows more climate-friendly!
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, we will be airing Sea Change, a 6 part series from the 2021 Global Change Ecology class at the University of California Santa Cruz. Each episode explores local climate change issues right here in Santa Cruz, CA. Sea Change is written and produced by UCSC undergraduate students under the guidance of Dr. Kristy Kroeker. Episode 6 focuses on marine heat waves.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, we will be airing Sea Change, a 6 part series from the 2021 Global Change Ecology class at the University of California Santa Cruz. Each episode explores local climate change issues right here in Santa Cruz, CA. Sea Change is written and produced by UCSC undergraduate students under the guidance of Dr. Kristy Kroeker. Episode 5 focuses on phenology.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, we will be airing Sea Change, a 6 part series from the 2021 Global Change Ecology class at the University of California Santa Cruz. Each episode explores local climate change issues right here in Santa Cruz, CA. Sea Change is written and produced by UCSC undergraduate students under the guidance of Dr. Kristy Kroeker. Episode 4 focuses on ocean deoxygenation.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, we will be airing Sea Change, a 6 part series from the 2021 Global Change Ecology class at the University of California Santa Cruz. Each episode explores local climate change issues right here in Santa Cruz, CA. Sea Change is written and produced by UCSC undergraduate students under the guidance of Dr. Kristy Kroeker. Episode 3 focuses on ocean acidification.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, we will be airing Sea Change, a 6 part series from the 2021 Global Change Ecology class at the University of California Santa Cruz. Each episode explores local climate change issues right here in Santa Cruz, CA. Sea Change is written and produced by UCSC undergraduate students under the guidance of Dr. Kristy Kroeker. Episode 2 focuses on wildfires.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, we will be airing Sea Change, a 6 part series from the 2021 Global Change Ecology class at the University of California Santa Cruz. Each episode explores local climate change issues right here in Santa Cruz, CA. Sea Change is written and produced by UCSC undergraduate students under the guidance of Dr. Kristy Kroeker. Episode 1 focuses on range shifts.
This week, Sara talked with Dr. Alexis Fischer, an associate scientist at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and a visiting scientist at NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center. If you've spent a lot at the ocean, you've probably encountered an algal bloom that turned the water dark and opaque for a few days. But not all algal blooms are harmful. Tune in to learn about the hidden world of phytoplankton, why they bloom, and when a bloom is considered harmful.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily interview PhD student, Ben Walker. Before starting his PhD, Ben worked as a technician on the endangered white abalone at UC Davis. Tune in to hear the history of abalone in California!
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily interviews Dr. Kristy Kroeker about COP 26. Dr. Kroeker is an Associate Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz. Her research focuses on the ecological impacts of global climate change and ocean acidification.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily interviews PhD candidate, Jason Toy, about a local genus of fishes, the surfperches. In this episode, Jason, explains how important and interesting these fishes are. In part two of our interview, he'll tell us more about how and why he uses surfperches to study adaptation right here in our own Monterey Bay. Tune in on November 16th to hear more!
In the second part of Nikka's chat with Dr. Darrin Schultz, we go big picture. Find out why ctenophores hold the key to understanding how important animal features, like brain cells, came to be.
Nikka interviews Dr. Darrin Schultz, a research scientist at MBARI, about ctenophores, also known as comb jellies. He helps us get to know these beautiful animals - look out for part 2, when we'll learn more about how studying ctenophores can teach us about animal evolution.
This week, Sara talked with Kathleen Aston, the Collections Manager for the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. The museum displays many aspects of the natural world, but here we focus on fossils--where you can find them around Santa Cruz and what history they reveal.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily interviews UCSC PhD student, Ben Walker, about abalone. Before starting his PhD, Ben worked as a technician on the endangered white abalone at UC Davis. Tune in to hear what makes abalone one of the coolest mollusks in ocean!
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Nikka Malakooti gives us an introduction to salps, beautiful gelatinous organisms found filter feeding, jet-propelling, and occasionally causing mayhem in oceans around the world.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily Donham introduces listeners to one of Monterey Bays most common intertidal invertebrates, the California mussel. Mussels are important foundation species, creating habitat for diverse assemblages of seaweeds and animals.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily Donham chats with UCSC Ecology and Evolutionary Biology PhD candidate Casey Sheridan about his work on sea urchins. Casey shares how sea urchin behavior might impact how (and where) they get their dinner.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily chats with UCSC PhD candidate Lauren Bell about coralline algae. Lauren explains what coralline algae are and why they're so important in all marine ecosystems.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily introduces listeners to one of her favorite seaweeds, Postelsia palmata, commonly known as the sea palm. Sea palms can be found right here in the Monterey Bay. Listen in to learn more!
This week, Sara talked with Wendy Bragg, a PhD student at UC Santa Cruz who is leading a recovery effort of the endangered black abalone following last year’s fires. You might not think that terrestrial forest fires would impact coastal marine life, but Wendy explains how large loads of sediment make their way to the coastline, and the impact this has on black abalone populations.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily speaks with Stanford graduate student Melissa Palmisciano about her work on juvenile rockfish. This is part two of a series on rockfish found right here in the Monterey Bay. Tune in to learn more!
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily speaks with Moss Landing Marine Laboratories graduate student Kristin Saksa about her work on rockfish larvae “babies”. Kristin’s work focuses on how climate change will impact this vulnerable stage in rockfish life. This is part one of a series on rockfish found right here in the Monterey Bay. Tune in to learn more!
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Theadora talks more about Great Horned Owls, following up on last month's episode.
Learn about some of their special adaptations which make them such amazing hunters. They are some of the only predators around who eat skunks!
This week, in celebration of Black History Month, Sara highlights someone who made important contributions to preserving California’s natural habitats and making them accessible for people to enjoy. This person was Colonel Charles Young, the first Black superintendent of a U.S. National Park. In 1903, he oversaw construction and development at Sequoia National Park and a portion of Kings Canyon national park, working to protect California’s natural habitats while increasing their accessibility to the public, and securing more land in the national parks for future generations.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, host Emily Donham introduces listeners to the hairy chiton, a common critter found in the intertidal zone in Santa Cruz.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Theadora talks about Great Horned Owls. They are one of the larger Owl species in North America, and have a wide range through all of North America and some parts of South America.
Great Horned Owls can be difficult to see as they roost quietly in trees during the day, but they are much easier to find by listening for their song at night. Listen in to hear their song, learn how to tell the males apart from females, and more!
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Sara interviews Dan Abbott, the Central California Regional Manager for Reefcheck, a non-profit organization that monitors underwater reefs and kelp forests with help from citizen scientists. Reefcheck has been operating in kelp forests around the Monterey Bay area since 2006, and their data help to track important ecological and environmental events. Some of this information has been used to inform coastal policy to protect abalone and sea stars. Do you want to become a citizen scientist with Reefcheck and help monitor the health of our kelp forests? Visit their website at reefcheck.org to learn more.
Theadora follows up with Jessie Kendall-Bar, a Ph.D. student at UC Santa Cruz in the Ecology & Evolutionary biology department.
In two previous episodes, we learned about her research on sleep in marine mammals, including how elephant seals sleep underwater (here) and on migration (here).
Jessie is also a wonderful artist. This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist we learn how she uses art to turn research into a beautiful story, and how she is using 3D animation to display some fascinating new feeding behaviors discovered in humpback whales.
To see more of her art, including photography, woodburning, and animation, visit her website: www.jessiekb.com
And her Instagram: www.instagram.com/jessiekb_art
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Sara interviews Azucena Lucatero, a Ph.D. candidate at UC Santa Cruz, about urban garden ecology. She tells us about the purpose of urban gardens and the interactions between plants and insects that occur there, and touches on how the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the practice of urban gardening.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily chats with graduate student Becca Nelson about a sometimes voracious herbivore, the tussock moth. Tussock moths are commonly found on live oak trees in Santa Cruz with their abundances fluctuating from year to year. Tune in to learn more!
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily chats with UCSC PhD student, Clara Qin about how fires impact soil microbes.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Sara follows up with Yana Valachovic, UC Cooperative Extension forest advisor and director for Humboldt and Del Norte counties, talk more about forest resilience and fire management. She tells us about fire frequency, using fire management as a tool to preserve forests, and evaluating management outcomes.
Theadora follows up with Jessie Kendall-Bar, a Ph.D. student at UC Santa Cruz in the Ecology & Evolutionary biology department. Last month, she told us about her research focusing on the neurophysiology of sleep in marine mammals, specializing in elephant seals. This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, she tells us more about how elephant seals sleep on their long migrations.
Elephant seals sleep manage to sleep underwater, at depths of around 200 meters! For how long you wonder? Listen to find out more.
Jessie has more information about her research and other projects on her website: https://www.jessiekb.com/research
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Sara talks with Yana Valachovic, who is the UC Cooperative Extension forest advisor and director for Humboldt and Del Norte counties, to help us understand the ecological effects of forest fires. She describes what happens to the ecological community of a forest after a fire, and the process of renewal afterwards.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily returns to a discussion with Sara Gonzalez, UCSC PhD candidate, about her work with the giant kelp Macrocysistis pyrifera. Listen in to learn about the interesting life cycle of kelp.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Theadora interviews Jessie Kendall-Bar, a Ph.D. student at UC Santa Cruz in the Ecology & Evolutionary biology department. Jessie studies the neurophysiology of sleep in marine mammals, specializing in elephant seals.
Learn how Jessie researches elephant seal sleep and some of the differences between marine mammal and human sleep.
For more information about Jessie's research and other projects, check out her website: https://www.jessiekb.com/research
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Sara talks with Sabrina Shirazi, a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, about environmental DNA. Animals and plants shed DNA all the time into the environment, and by analyzing small samples of soil or water, scientists can discover which organisms are present there, whether they are animals, plants, fungi, or bacteria, even if the organism cannot be visually observed.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily chats with UCSC PhD candidate Sara Gonzalez about her work on the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera. Some of her work is focused on alginates, a polysaccharide, found in these towering seaweeds. Tune in to learn more!
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Theadora talks about the two main hummingbird species seen in Santa Cruz: Anna’s and Allen’s hummingbirds. Learn how to attract them to your backyard, and how to tell them apart. Hummingbirds are very nimble fliers and are the only birds in the world that can fly backward. They beat their wings incredibly quickly to hover and fly in any direction, around 60 times per second.
Feel free to ask Theadora your bird questions, find her on twitter @gcsparrow.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily heads back to the UC Ford Ord Reserve to chat with the field manager of the reserve, Joe Miller. To learn more about the reserve please visit: https://fortordreserve.ucsc.edu
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Theadora tells you about a wonderful bird that is easily seen all over Santa Cruz, and most of the USA: the house finch. Learn about how their population recently expanded throughout the United States, the sound of their lovely song, and what some of their mating behaviors are like. Male house finches perform a number of elaborate rituals to attract and keep their mates around!
Feel free to ask Theadora your bird questions on twitter @gcsparrow.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily speaks with Dr. Yui Takeshita, a scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Dr. Takeshita explains how he uses chemistry to better understand the ocean and shares an interesting story about internal waves in the Monterey Canyon.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily speaks with Dr. Katie Pitz, a research associate at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Dr. Pitz explains what environmental DNA or eDNA is and how it can be used to better understand the critters living within the Monterey Bay.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Theadora talks about two species of birds that you can easily see in your backyard! Listen with me to learn about Northern mockingbirds and California towhees and some of their fascinating behaviors. California towhees might not be colorful, but they make up for that by being cute and very devoted to their mates – the pairs usually stay together for life!
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily chats with Brett Bell, Restoration Steward at the UC Santa Cruz Fort Ord Natural Reserve. Listen in as Brett introduces listeners to a rare and tiny flower, Gilia tenuiflora ssp. arenaria, found in Monterey Bay's coastal chaparral.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily explores the beautiful UC Fort Ord Reserve with the reserves' field manager, Joe Miller. Tune in to hear more about what makes the Fort Ord Reserve such a special place! If you'd like to learn more about the reserve please visit: https://fortordreserve.ucsc.edu
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily chats with Reef Check CA's climate change coordinator, Kate Vylet. Tune in to hear more about how Reef Check trains volunteer citizen scientists to monitor climate change. To learn more about Reef Check, visit reefcheck.org.
We talk with Regina Spranger, a Ph.D. student at UC Santa Cruz, about California Giant Salamanders and where to find them. Ever wondered how they go from eggs to adults? The amazing things that happen during metamorphosis? They live up to their name and can grow to be up to 12 inches long. Learn all about these enormous salamanders who are the banana slugs’ only predator!
You can imagine how difficult it is to eat a banana slug, but these salamanders are able to get through all the slime.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist we follow up with Dr. Zeka Glucs, Director of Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group because we just couldn't get enough of the peregrine falcons (the intro 41 seconds in the same, but don't worry, everything is brand new). In this interview (find part one here) Dr. Glucs tells us about her work with monitoring Peregrine Falcons, how they learn about them, and facts about their migration. Come listen and learn about birds that were once on the brink of extinction and are now thriving today!
For more information about the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group, visit them here: https://pbrg.pbsci.ucsc.edu/
To see fascinating behaviors from live birds check these nest cams for observations of breeding Peregrine falcons in San Jose and San Francisco. (Make sure you look at the right time of year though!).
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily chats with Alex Krohn, the Assistant Director of the Ken Norris Center for Natural History at UCSC, and Cathy Flores, a UCSC undergraduate intern with the center. Listen in as Alex and Cathy explain the art of taxidermy as a way to preserve natural history specimens.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily chats with UCSC PhD Candidate Doriane Weiler, about mosquitofish. Listen in as we venture to Antonelli pond on Santa Cruz's westside to find juvenile mosquitofish and learn more about these interesting little fish.
Kelley interviews UCSC doctoral candidate Helen Holmlund has traveled all over the world to study the fascinating physiology of ferns. She has even risked being eaten by Australian crocodiles in order to collect her data! Locally, she studies resurrection ferns, which may appear dead in the dry season, but come right back to life when they’re watered again! Listen in for more on Helen’s work in the most unlikely corners of Santa Cruz.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily chats with Chris Lay, the director of the Ken Norris Center for Natural History at UC Santa Cruz. Chris tells us a little about one of Santa Cruz's most influential naturalists, Ken Norris, as we walk through the redwoods surrounding UCSC's upper campus. If you'd like to learn more about the Ken Norris Center please visit: https://norriscenter.ucsc.edu.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist we talk with Dr. Zeka Glucs, Director of Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group. She tells us about their work with monitoring Peregrine Falcons, how they learn about them, and what sorts of behaviors they exhibit in the wild. Come listen and learn about birds that were once on the brink of extinction and how they are thriving today!
For more information about the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group, visit them here: https://pbrg.pbsci.ucsc.edu/
Don’t forget to check their nest cams for live observations of breeding Peregrine falcons during the spring and summer in San Jose and San Francisco.
Join us this week on Santa Cruz Naturalist as the Director of the Younger Lagoon Reserve, Elizabeth Howard, takes Emily on a tour of the lagoon. This feature is just Part 1 of an interview with Elizabeth where she delves in to the interesting flora and fauna found within the Younger Lagoon. Tune in again the week of October 14th to hear Part 2 of this interview where we will explore the unique dune habitat that helps make Younger Lagoon such a special place.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily continues her discussion with UCSC graduate candidate and SCN co-host Kelley Voss about her work on octopuses.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily returns to Elkhorn slough with UCSC graduate candidate, Kat Beheshti to learn more about unique ecosystems found within the slough.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily takes a walk through Natural Bridges State Beach with UCSC graduate student Christa Siedl. Christa introduces listeners to some of the common birds found within the park.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily chats with Ornithologist (and SCN co-host) Theadora Block about her work on golden crowned sparrows.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily chats with UCSC graduate candidate Kelley Voss (and SCN co-host) about her work on octopuses. This is part 1 of an interview with Kelley. Tune in on the week of July 15, 2019 for part 2.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily Donham takes a walk through the intertidal with Dr. Kristen Heady-Kusic to search for some of her favorite seaweeds.
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily chats with Dr. Gina Contolini to learn about some of her dissertation work in the rocky intertidal found along Westcliff. Her work focuses on marine snails that spit acid to dissolve the shells of their prey, mussels. Tune in to learn more!
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily ventures into the woods surrounding Aptos with local mushroom expert, Philip Carpenter. If you'd like to learn more about mushrooms around Santa Cruz (and beyond) please visit the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz at: http://ffsc.us/
This week on Santa Cruz Naturalist, Emily Donham chats with Dr. Josh Smith about some his work on kelp forests in Monterey Bay. He explains how changes to predators and prey can have major impacts on kelp within the bay.
On the first episode of Santa Cruz Naturalist Emily chats with Sarah Lummis, UCSC graduate student and seagrass expert, as she explores the seagrass beds found along East Cliffs rocky intertidal.