The waters of the Central Coast have seen some radical changes in recent years, including much warmer than normal temperatures, massive algae blooms, a decline in eel grass and a mass wasting disease among sea stars.
Scientists are working hard to get a handle on the changing environments of the world’s oceans, and one woman in particular, Cal Poly’s very own biologist Jennifer O’Leary is among those leading the way.
O’Leary recently received a prestigious Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation and is freshly back on the Central Coast from management and conservation work she’s doing in East Africa and the Western Indian Ocean.