Northern Channel Islands Algae Collection Trip

By Niko Kaplanis In a recent collaboration with the Paul Jensen Lab here at Scripps, I travelled to the Northern Channel Islands to assist with collections for their research. The Jensen lab focuses on microbial distributions and interactions with marine plants and invertebrates as well as sequence-based approaches to the discovery of natural products from marine microbes. Our objective for … Read More

The CAU Slaughterhouse Chronicles

By Adi Khen   As a first-time volunteer at the Smith lab, I got to be involved in one of the most exciting parts of data processing: drying, weighing, acidifying and, basically, slaughtering CAUs! Let me explain… CAU stands for Calcification Accretion Unit, or in this case a set of two stacked PVC tiles that are used to measure carbonate … Read More

My first summer in the field – by Gideon Butler

My first summer in the field   When I tell people that I spent six weeks on Maui this summer, nobody seems to believe that it wasn’t a vacation. I tell them that I was working from dawn to dark every day and that my body was covered in scrapes and bruises by the end, but all they hear is, … Read More

Smith Lab’s Clint Edwards Publishes New Paper!

Smith Lab’s Clinton Edwards is now a proud author of the Proceedings of the Royal Society Biology!  His Master’s thesis: Global assessment of the status of coral reef herbivorous fishes: evidence for fishing effects examines the global status of herbivorous fish and how their presence affects the dynamics of the marine ecosystem.  Abstract: Coral reefs are among the most threatened ecosystems on the planet due … Read More

It’s Not a Sprint….

2013 has been a crazy year for PhD student Levi Lewis, and it’s not over yet! Levi gives a brief glimpse of what he’s been up to these past 9 months, and reflecting about how sweet the experience continues to be.

Smith Lab Ocean Acidification Experiments Featured in the Environmental Monitor

The Environmental Monitor is a journal, published by Fondriest Environmental, that covers topics like products, projects and trends in the environmental monitoring industry. It aims to keep professionals informed about developments in their field. Members of the Smith Lab at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Hamilton Lab at Moss Landing Marine Labs have been performing several experiments that look at … Read More

Smith Lab Collects Data From Year Long Ocean Acidification Experiment

Members of the Smith Lab have been hard at work in collaboration with Emily Donham from Scott Hamilton’s Lab at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories to collect data from a year long ocean acidification experiment looking at effects of pH on marine benthic communities in kelp beds.

Perks of Being A Marine Ecologist

Jill Harris, a PhD student in the Smith Lab, talks about one of the many perks of being a marine ecologist. Can you spend the day looking out on the beautiful oceanic landscape of San Diego as part of your “job”

The Grass is Always Greener…

Members of the Smith Lab get to travel the world to conduct their coral reef research, but PhD student Levi Lewis reminds us that when you live in San Diego, life is not too bad.