Jennifer O'Leary: Pew Fellowship funds Cal Poly biologist's study of Indian Ocean

Editor's note: The following radio report was first broadcast on KCBX FM. It can also be heard on their website. Jennifer's early work with Marine Protected Areas management in Kenya was supported by a Switzer Leadership Grant.

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.

Additional Resources

Sea Grant researchers work to restore seagrass, a key to growing fisheries and reducing ocean acidification, from the Sea Grant California website