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Quantitative ecologist Kai Zhu wins NSF funding for climate change research and education UC Santa Cruz News July 02, 2021 By Allison Arteaga Soergel SHARE THIS STORY:TwitterFacebookLinkedInReddit Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Kai Zhu specializes in research that combines traditional ecology methods with cutting-edge data science tools. Changes in plant phenology—like earlier emergence of flowers and leaves in the spring—are a more easily observable impact of rising global average temperatures. Photo: Carolyn Lagattuta  Associate Professor of [...]

Lab members, partners, and friends enjoyed kayaking and group dinner in Elkhorn Slough as the first in-person gathering after normal life returns.

Yiluan Song is awarded the Hammett Fellowship established by Benjamin and Ruth Hammett in the Department of Environmental Studies, UC Santa Cruz. The Hammett Fellowship funds interdisciplinary research on climate change or climate change and water issues. Yiluan will use this fellowship to improve the ecological forecasting of leafing and flowering phenology during climate change to inform public health.

From UC Santa Cruz News Climate change sends tropical species racing to higher elevations, while temperate counterparts lag behind Responses to rising temperatures vary by latitude, but researchers fear there may be no clear winners among these strategies May 17, 2021 By Allison Arteaga Soergel   Mount Karimui, in Papua New Guinea, is one example of a mountainous tropical environment where species are rapidly moving to higher altitudes in an attempt to escape warming temperatures. [...]

Kai and Prof. Yu Zhang (Electrical and Computer Engineering) are awarded a Collaborative Research Grant from the Committee of Research at UC Santa Cruz for 2021-2022. The research topic is to model and predict wildfires using artificial intelligence.

ESA Announcement UC Santa Cruz News UC Santa Cruz faculty recognized for excellence in ecology March 25, 2021 By Allison Arteaga Soergel   UC Santa Cruz Professor Ingrid Parker earned a 2021 ESA fellow award for her work partnering with resource managers to conserve biological diversity through invasive species removal and ecosystem restoration.  Professor Karen Holl's award recognizes her accomplishments in "bringing science into decision making," through her efforts to improve the effectiveness of tree-growing campaigns. Professor [...]

UC Santa Cruz News Forest monitoring efforts contribute to new understanding of climate change impacts February 25, 2021 By Allison Arteaga Soergel The Forest Ecology Research Plot, part of the UCSC Campus Natural Reserve, includes about 31,000 tagged plants monitored by student interns. Photo by Cody Perhamus. Data collected by student interns at UC Santa Cruz’s Forest Ecology Research Plot (FERP) recently contributed to a breakthrough in understanding how climate change affects forests. A new [...]

Clara was featured on the Ecological Society of America's (ESA) blog as a 2020 NEON-ESA Early Career Scholar. This program supports early-career scientists in attending the ESA Annual Meeting and a pre-conference meet-and-greet where they can connect with peers. The theme of the 2020 Annual Meeting was "Harnessing the Ecological Data Revolution" – which made it an ideal venue for learning to leverage large datasets such as those available from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). [...]

A team led by Yiluan Song and advised by Kai Zhu received the Tech for Social Good Program Award, funded by CITRIS and the Banatao Institute in partnership with UCSC Institute for Social Transformation. In a six-month project, the team seeks to enhance climate change education through personalized scientific communications on phenology. This award will enable the team to assimilate crowdsourced phenology observations into data-driven phenology models, provide customized information on climate-phenology coupling, and encourage [...]

UC Santa Cruz News Quantitative ecologist wins Tansley Medal for plant science contributions November 04, 2020 By Allison Arteaga Soergel Kai Zhu joined the UC Santa Cruz faculty in 2017 and is now an assistant professor in the Environmental Studies Department.  From a global field of applicants, environmental studies assistant professor Kai Zhu was recently chosen as one of two honorees to receive the Tansley Medal for Excellence in Plant Science. This annual award, presented by [...]