Dr. Laura Rogers-Bennett completed her Ph.D. in Ecology at the University of California, Davis and two post-doctoral fellowships one at U.C. Santa Cruz’s,Institute of Marine Science and the other at the U. Washington’s, Friday Harbor Labs. Dr. Rogers-Bennett is a Research Associate with the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center at the University of California, Davis and a Senior Environmental Scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in the Marine Region. She is based at the UC Davis, Bodega Marine Lab where she leads a team investigating marine ecosystem health and invertebrate populations, fishery management and marine conservation in a changing ocean climate. To do this work they use an interdisciplinary approach combining field, laboratory and quantitative modeling to examine questions related to wildlife health, ecosystem tipping points, marine conservation biology, fisheries sustainability and climate change. She has over 50 scientific publications and 10 book chapters on marine issues. She is also a co-PI working on the restoration of the critically endangered white abalone in California. She established a 20-year underwater marine ecosystem monitoring program and has documented the impacts of climate change and the massive marine heatwave of 2014-2015 on kelp forests and abalone resources in northern California.  

 Bodega Marine Lab website: submerg.org. 

Organization(s)

University of California - Davis

As a leading global university, UC Davis and its community of faculty, students and staff are dispersed throughout the state, nation and world.

They are also home to the Tahoe Environmental Research Center, the Natural Reserve System, and the Bodega Marine Laboratory.

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California Department of Fish and Wildlife

The Department of Fish and Wildlife maintains native fish, wildlife, plant species and natural communities for their intrinsic and ecological value and for their use and enjoyment by th public. This includes habitat protection and maintenance in a sufficient amount and quality to ensure the survival of all species and natural communities. The department is also responsible for the diversified use of fish and wildlife including recreational, commercial, scientific and educational uses.

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