The Long View

Ecosphere journal highlights UCSB’s Long-Term Ecological Research sites in the effort to understand and predict the effects of climate change
Sonia Fernandez
Kelp torn from kelp forests during storms can pile up on Campus Pt beach

Kelp torn from kelp forests during storms can pile up on nearby beaches. Drift kelp supports sandy beach biodiversity, connecting these coastal ecosystems. Photo Credit: SBC LTER

The National Science Foundation has developed a network of 28 sites representing diverse ecosystems where more than 2,000 multidisciplinary scientists work to get a grasp on the situation, and the changes to come. UC Santa Barbara is home to two of these Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network sites: Santa Barbara Coastal (SBC), focused on local kelp forests, and Moorea Coral Reef (MCR), focused on coral reefs in French Polynesia.

MSI Principal Investigators