Nature & Conservation

From California to the Congo Basin, we use everything from advanced genomics to ancient tree rings to study the world’s complex, beautiful and dynamic ecosystems and how to protect them.

Magazine

October 9, 2026

Zuzana Buřivalová wins UCLA’s 10th annual Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award

Using bioacoustics, the conservation scientist has made a global difference for tropical forests and countless lives — human and otherwise

Story

10.1.2026

Yosemite toad killer may be hiding in their own homes

UCLA biologists have discovered a fungus decimating amphibian populations around the world can live-and infect frogs-in their burrows, helping inform a captive rearing and reintroduction program to protect the species.

Story

5.13.2026

Dr. Iroro Tanshi Awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize

Dr. Iroro Tanshi, recipient of the Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award, has been honored with the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in recognition of her extraordinary leadership in wildlife conservation and environmental advocacy.

Story

12.11.2025

Report puts numbers on massive gap in water costs in the West

Claire Griffiths

A new UCLA–NRDC report finds cities pay far more for water than agricultural districts, even as climate change exacerbates shortages across the Lower Colorado River Basin

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Projects

Practicum Project

Applications of Community Science for Marine Conservation in the Santa Monica Bay

A gloved hand holds a small bat during a field survey beneath a graffiti-covered urban underpass.

Research Project

Assessing Spatial and Altitudinal Variation in Artificial Light at Night Across Urban Los Angeles

Wildfire over grasslad with fire fighters in the background.

Research Project

Assessing the Stability of Ecological Communities by Combining Data and Theory

Research Project

Patterns of Adaptive Genetic Variation in a Chaparral Oak, Quercus berberidifolia

Research Project

Quantifying Cold-Water Coral Community Composition Using Environmental DNA Metabarcoding Analysis

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In the News

October 27, 2026

La Kretz Postdoc Joseph Curti for LA times – Los Angeles County reported 69 rabid bats. What you need to know

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Joseph Curti spoke with the LA times on rabid bats in Los Angeles and how to handle a bat encounter.

October 18, 2026

Forest fires significantly worsening across Africa’s tropical nations, data shows

The Congo Basin Institute's Faculty Director Elsa Ordway explains the risk fires pose to people and nature in the Congo Basin.

October 12, 2026

Saving California’s ancient oak trees with DNA analysis

La Kretz postdoctoral researcher fellow Ryan Buck talks about UCLA's partnership with The Nature Conservancy to study plant DNA to help California’s oak trees adapt to climate change.

September 10, 2026

Planting Trees While Rome Burns

There is an urgent need to address the unintended consequences of our pursuit of green and to return to mitigating the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing the root problem.

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Videos

October 9, 2026

Beating the Heat at UCLA’s Sage Hill

Wildlife visit a bird bath at Sage Hill on the UCLA Campus during a fall heat wave in October 2026.

January 27, 2025

Video: Expert insights on the causes, impacts and aftermath of the L.A. wildfires

https://youtu.be/PzfuAN8kfpE?si=zjIwCch9LhHW-uv7 UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and and UCLA’s Sustainable LA Grand Challenge recently hosted a virtual seminar addressing the historic wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles in January…

January 6, 2025

Travis Longcore for ABC7 News—Efforts to Save the Birds We are Losing

Bird populations across the United States are plummeting at an alarming rate, with three billion birds lost since 1970, according to UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability professor Travis…

July 29, 2024

Climate chaos with climatologist Daniel Swain

UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain joined EarthSky’s Dave Adalian for a live discussion on the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events caused by climate change. Swain, known for…

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Centers

White Mountain Research Center — elevating the sciences

Take a video tour of one of University of California's true gems, a research station along a 10,000-foot elevation gradient in the eastern Sierra Nevada.

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Publications

Preserving oaks and oak ecosystems vulnerable to climate change

V.L. Sork, R.C Buck, and A.R.B. Goetz

International Oaks 37, 2026.

Published Work, Permalink

Understanding and managing ecological light pollution

A. Dickerson, T. Longcore, A. Jechow, E. Knopp, B. Thiggins, F. Hölker

Nature Reviews Biodiversity, 2026.

Published Work, Permalink

Fungal Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis infections proliferate during amphibian terrestrial dormancy

D.R. Daversa, R.L. Grasso, M. Posta, J.O. Lloyd-Smith, B. Shaffer