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This challenge is available now through Monday, March 8th–will you join them and maximize your gift?
An outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza has been confirmed in our local northern elephant seals at Año Nuevo, and we are mobilizing immediately to respond — but we need your help to sustain this effort.
UC Santa Cruz researchers are on the beach right now conducting daily health assessments, documenting symptoms, collecting diagnostic samples, deploying drone surveys, and coordinating in real time with state and federal wildlife partners in response to the first confirmed cases in this population.
This work is intensive. It requires trained field staff to conduct systematic observations, safely handle sampling materials, maintain strict biosecurity protocols, and ensure continuous monitoring in a rapidly evolving situation. Protective equipment, field supplies, and expanded staffing coverage are essential to sustain this level of response while minimizing risk to both people and wildlife.
This is a narrow and important window for data collection and coordinated action. What we learn now will help determine how the virus is affecting the colony, inform response efforts along the West Coast, and strengthen preparedness for future wildlife health threats.
Your support ensures this work continues without interruption. It keeps researchers in the field, equipping them with the protective gear they need and sustaining the science-driven response this moment requires.
The work being done at the Año Nuevo is supported by many campuses, UC, state, and federal partners. If you would like to discuss more specifically how you can financially support the broad efforts, please reach out to Diane Wilson at dibwilso@ucsc.edu.
About the Beltran Lab: The Beltran Lab is part of the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Our team studies the movement, physiology, and ecology of marine mammals. By utilizing mark-recapture data from the six-decade long northern elephant seal program at Año Nuevo Reserve in California, along with biologging data from instrumented seals, our team explores how among-individual variation, species interactions, and environmental conditions in the open ocean drive ecological patterns and evolutionary processes.
About Año Nuevo Reserve: Año Nuevo Reserve is one of the University of California’s 39 Natural Reserves, located just north of Santa Cruz and renowned as a major breeding site for northern elephant seals and other marine wildlife, welcoming nearly 100,000 visitors annually. Its close proximity to UC Santa Cruz makes it a hub for hands-on undergraduate research, supporting world-class scientific studies on marine mammals, ocean health, and environmental change.
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