Carol Blanchette

Biography

I am a Research Biologist in the Marine Science Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the current Director of the Valentine Eastern Sierra Reserves. I received a BA in Biology at the University of Notre Dame, and a PhD in Zoology at the Oregon State University, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University before coming to UCSB. My research is focused on the dynamics of coastal marine ecosystems - the interactions among organisms, and the effects of the environment on those species. My studies have focused largely on coastal ecosystems; rocky intertidal, kelp forest and seagrass beds, and the ecological effects of changing climate conditions, and ways to improve resilience in natural populations.

Research

I am a Research Biologist at the Marine Science Institute at the University of California at Santa Barbara. My research is focused on marine ecology, however I have wide range of related interests in other topics ranging from network theory to science education. I am also the Director of the Valentine Eastern Sierra Reserves (VESR). VESR consists of two separate reserves, Valentine Camp and the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory (SNARL), located approximately eight miles apart. They are situated in Mono County on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, near the Town of Mammoth Lakes, CA. VESR provides protected wildlands, on-site experimental facilities, as well as the support facilities for conducting studies of natural systems over a large part of central, eastern California and western Nevada.