Earth Sciences

For this project, BIDS-Accenture Global Environmental Change Research Fellow R.J. Cody Markelz focuses on the intersection between invasive species, climate change, and wildfire in California ecosystems. Using his background in functional genomics and physiological ecology, Markelz applies these expertise areas to larger spatial scale models to better understand climate change and the impacts of fire on California ecosystems and biodiversity.

BIDS Senior Fellow Lauel Larsen and ESDL Project Scientist Dino Bellugi are offering this project (#4) through UC Berkeley's Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP).

River flow forecasting is essential for planning reservoir operations, defense strategies against flooding, and fluvial ecosystems management plans. However, flow forecasting is a highly uncertain science. One of the biggest uncertainties lies in resolving the timescales over which water is stored in the subsurface and time lags between perturbations in hydrometeorological variables and perturbations in streamflow.

The Moorea Biocode Project built the first comprehensive inventory of all non-microbial life in a complex tropical ecosystem.  Supported by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Moorea Biocode Project sent researchers climbing up jagged peaks, trekking through lush forests and diving down to coral reefs to sample the French Polynesian island's animal and plant life. The resulting database is publicly available as a resource for ecologists and evolutionary biologists around the world.

The Berkeley Ecoinformatics Engine provides access to biodiversity information from the university’s rich and diverse repositories as well as tools to promote visualization and in-depth analysis.