UC San Diego’s already deep involvement in climate change research is about to expand further with a $10 million donation that will enable scientists to examine how ocean warming affects the nervous system and behavior of marine life.
The gift was announced Tuesday by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation in Seattle, which has long underwritten this type of research. The foundation is named after the late computer scientist Paul Allen, who cofounded Microsoft.
The research will be conducted by UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which will look especially closely at how the acidification brought on by warming oceans can alter the brain development of marine life.
Scripps says researchers will focus on four marine species: staghorn coral, the slipper snail, the painted sea urchin and three-spined stickleback fish.
“The primary research aims include developing neural maps for each of the four species, examining how environmental changes affect each animal’s behavior and sensory perception, and identifying genetic variations that may help some animals adapt to changing oceans,” UCSD said in a statement.
