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California Coastal Biodiversity

A visit to our local tidepools will demonstrate the great diversity of marine life in the rocky shores environment.   The easy tidepoolaccess provides an opportunity to learn about the environment and investigate changes to these ecosystems.

Photo gallery of the intertidal zone at Bird Rock, La Jolla, California.
by J.J. Newman, CMBC/MAS graduate 2008

Current Research

Burton Lab

  • Genetic structure of natural populations of marine invertebrates
  • Microbial community dynamics
  • DNA "Barcoding" of California marine fish


Levin Lab

  • Connectivity of Garibaldi in Southern California Rocky Reefs (Geoff Cook)
Rouse Lab
  • Phylogeny and systematics of marine invertebrate groups

Please contact Greg Rouse for more details on current research.

Planned research

Bar-Coding the Light and Smith Manual 
The Light and Smith Manual (2007) shows distribution of intertidal invertebrates  along the Pacific Coast from Central California to the Oregon/Washington border.  Species distributions provide a baseline for future change. 

This project seeks to involve students in the collection and sequencing of the standard bar-coding mitochondrial markers e.g., Cytochrome c oxidase 1 (or other relevant marker) for as many of the taxa in Light and Smith s manual as possible.  The project will uncover "cryptic" species, facilitate species identification

Multiple individuals (~10) would be collected from each of 12 rocky shore sties from La Jolla to Washington to encompass variation with species ranges.  The individuals would then be photographed and recorded into the Benthic Invertebrate Collection (BIC) at SIO and archive frozen tissue samples for additional DNA sequencing.   The database would be provided online via the BIC. 

The project will uncover "cryptic" species, facilitate species identification (larvae, plankton samples etc), provide for phlogeographic studies to clarify genetic structure and contemporary influences. 

The project will require costs to support student researchers (graduate and postgraduate), travel and supplies and costs for the extraction and sequencing.  With the baselines and database established by this project, grant funding may be available to expand coverage.  

Completed Research 

Levin Lab

  • Community and ecosystem-level effects of Cordgrass invasion in Pacific Coast estuaries
  • Trophic recovery in a restored Pacific coastal wetland
  • Alteration of Wetland Habitat by Two Exotic Invertebrates
  • Faunal recovery in restored wetlands
  • Restoration of coastal wetlands: Colonization enhancement and evaluation of trophic functions
  • Improving ecosystem-level function of artificial armored shorelines