Panoramic lake with clear blue sky, tree-lined shore and an inflatable raft on the water.
Photo by Christine Parisek

Stop-and-Go Science: Researchers Pivot to Try to Salvage Important Work

Climate change and unstable funding are repeatedly interrupting environmental field research in California and forcing scientists to rethink long-term studies. Researchers at the Center for Watershed Sciences have had to pivot wildfire-damaged lake studies into new ecological questions, while winter-run Chinook salmon restoration above Shasta Dam has been interrupted after funding for reintroduction was not renewed. The piece, Stop-and-Go Science by Kat Kerlin (UC Davis), frames this “stop-and-go science” as a structural challenge to ecological research and conservation.

Read the piece here: Kerlin, K. 2026. Stop-and-Go Science. UC Davis Climate News. https://www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news/stop-and-go-science-researchers-pivot-try-salvage-important-work