Academy Research

• Botany
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  Botany

  We invite you to join us in a botanical exploration of our planet.

• Entomology
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  Entomology

  Insects and arachnids (spiders and their kin) account for more than four-fifths of the described species in the world.

• Herpetology
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  Herpetology

  Our collection of amphibians & reptiles is one of the ten largest in the world.

• Ichthyology
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  Ichthyology

  Ichthyology is the study of fishes. The department maintains the third most important fish collection in North America.

• Invertebrate Zoology and Geology
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  Invertebrate Zoology and Geology

  This department does research on Recent invertebrates, fossils, diatoms, and minerals and maintains their collections.

• Microbiology
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  Microbiology
• Ornithology & Mammalogy
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  Ornithology & Mammalogy

  We have over 135,00 bird and mammal specimens from 120+ countries, and one of the world's largest marine mammal collections.

• Vertebrate Zoology and Anthropology
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  Vertebrate Zoology and Anthropology

  Welcome to the Department of Vertebrate Zoology & Anthropology.

• Academy Library
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  Academy Library

  Online home of the California Academy of Sciences Library, serving the information needs of researchers since 1853.

• Center for Applied Biodiversity Informatics
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  Center for Applied Biodiversity Informatics

  CABI integrates biodiversity data with spatial information about the Earth to understand changing patterns of biodiversity.

• Center for Comparative Genomics
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  Center for Comparative Genomics

  The Center for Comparative Genomics is a core facilty comprised of three units

• Scientific Publications
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  Scientific Publications

  Publishing scientific material on the natural world since 1854.

Alaska's Juneau Icefield, 2012

In collaboration with the Juneau Icefield Research Program and the U.S. Forest Service, this expedition aimed to inventory the plants and beetles of "Paradise Valley," a lush isolated valley, virtually surrounded by ice and apparently ice free for hundreds if not thousands of years-potentially an ideal spot for the differentiation of new species. The botanists, entomologist, soil biologist, glaciologist, and geologist pursued different lines of evidence to estimate just how long the valley has been ice-free.

Brazil, 2012

On this recent expedition to survey fish and corals in Parcel Manuel Luiz, of the northernmost coral reef in Brazil, Academy scientists collaborated with researchers from Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina under the auspices of the SISBIOTA-MAR project. A key objective was to evaluate the status of the fire coral, Millepora laboreli, a species that was almost completely decimated by bleaching during the 1999 El Niño. This year, Academy researchers were glad to see that many of its colonies had recovered.

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Colombia 2012

As part of a National Science Foundation Planetary Biodiversity Inventory (PBI) program, Academy researchers participated in a two-month, multi-team expedition to lowland rainforests, cloud forests, and high elevation environments above the tree line (paramo ecosystems) in search of nearly 500 Colombian species that make up a large branch of the Princess Flower family tree called the tribe Miconieae.

Gulf of Guinea

For the past twelve years, the Academy's herpetology curator Dr. Bob Drewes has conducted six multidisciplinary explorations of the island nations São Tomé and Príncipe. His research in the Gulf of Guinea just off Africa's west coast has documented the highest concentration, by area, of endemic species in the world. For his sixth expedition, Dr. Drewes and his team partnered with the government to distribute biodiversity educational materials to schools, hospitals, hotels, and airports.

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Hawaii, 2012

Academy scientists traveled to Oahu and Hawaii's Big Island to document the distribution of mosquito species that have a role in transmitting infectious disease. Two invasive species-Aedes albopictus (Asian tiger mosquito) and Aedes aegypti (yellow fever mosquito)-are vectors of dengue virus. Dr. Shannon Bennett, the Academy's curator of the Department of Microbiology, has discovered ecologic factors that inhibit the spread and efficacy of these species.

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Hearst Philippines Biodiversity Expedition, 2011

In the largest expedition in the Academy's recent history, a multidisciplinary team of scientists undertook a 42-day journey to the Philippines archipelago to document the biodiversity of this island nation in collaboration with local colleagues. More than 500 new species were documented by researchers conducting a comprehensive survey of three non-overlapping habitats: shallow-water, deep sea, and terrestrial. Working in collaboration with the Philippines Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, findings by Academy scientists are guiding the nation's environmental policies and the establishment of new marine and coral sanctuaries.

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Madagascar

For over two decades, Academy scientist Brian Fisher has led research expeditions to this island nation in the western Indian Ocean near Africa, identifying more than a thousand new species of ants and partnering with 180 taxonomic collaborators around the world. This year, Dr. Fisher focused on documenting the ant population of the Kasijy, one of the last standing pristine forests in Madagascar.

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Mount Tamalpais, 2012

Academy scientists, in partnership with the Marin Municipal Water District, led a team of volunteers to the Bay Area's Mt. Tamalpais to conduct a citizen science "bio blitz"—a focused survey of botanical life within a targeted portion of the watershed's 18,000 protected acres. These volunteers, aka "citizen scientists" have established a new baseline of plant and animal distributions in the face of climate change. Their work has added many specimens, photos, and GPS coordinates to records that advance the Academy's research.

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Nigeria, 2012

Academy scientists journeyed to the field station of the Nigerian Montane Forest Project to conduct the first in-depth survey of amphibian and reptile fauna on the Mambilla Plateau in eastern Nigeria.

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Raja Ampat, Indonesia

Continuing the baseline survey documentation begun with the Hearst Philippines Expedition, Academy scientists Terry Gosliner and John McCosker undertook reconnaissance visits to Raja Ampat, laying the groundwork for a future, multidisciplinary research project. The oceanic area of the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia is known as the "Coral Triangle"-an area with the highest diversity of marine life in the world. The Raja Ampat archipelago, part of the West Papua province of Indonesia, is said to be the richest biodiversity hotspot within the Coral Triangle, and scientific knowledge will be key to its conservation.

South Africa, 2011

As members of the South African National Survey of Arachnida (SANSA), Academy scientists and graduate students searched for spiders across South Africa from Cape Town to the Zimbabwe border. They found new species of assassin spiders, sheet and lace web builders, giant goblin spiders and tree trap-door spiders. These data are being used to map the distribution of biodiversity in South Africa, understand the history of biogeography and climate change in Africa, and to study the evolution of predatory behavior in assassin spiders.

Uganda, 2012

Ten years ago, Academy scientist Dr. Brian Fisher created "Ant Course"—a public workshop for biologists, researchers, and students that teaches ant taxonomy and field research techniques. In 2012, the Ant Course was held for the first time in Africa at the Makerere University Biological Field Station, located in the heart of Kibale Forest, Western Uganda.