Insight With Vicki Gonzalez

Something is killing tidal pool life off the Northern California coast. Millions of purple sea urchins and tiny sea stars have died along a 62-mile stretch of coast in Northern California in the past two years, according to a new study by UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory. Lead author Laura Jurgens says algal bloom is the likely culprit behind the sea urchin die-off. Unlike sea star wasting syndrome, a disease that has progressed over years as sea stars literally waste away, the sea urchin die-off was fast, wiping out these two species in as little as a few days. Jurgens joins us from the Bodega Marine Laboratory to talk about the long-term population and ecosystem consequences this die-off may indicate.

• Patterns of Mass Mortality among Rocky Shore Invertebrates across 100 km of Northeastern Pacific Coastline