The following sources from the University of California, Davis, are available to talk with media about climate change impacts and solutions related to water. 

More UC Davis climate change experts lists are available under the topic areas of atmospheric sciences, wildfire and air quality, wildlife conservation and infectious disease, agriculture, energy and transportation, and community resilience.

Water Management

Jay Lund, director of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences can discuss water supplies, droughts, floods, planning and infrastructure in California and its Delta. Contact: 530-304-9543, jrlund@ucdavis.edu

Nicholas Pinter, a geologist and associate director of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Scientist can discuss flooding, flood risk and management, as well as the topic of managed retreat, or relocating towns off floodplains and coastlines subject to rising sea levels. 530-754-1041, npinter@ucdavis.edu

Helen Dahlke is a hydrology professor in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources. She can discuss strategies for storing groundwater and recharging the aquifer, particularly by flooding farmlands in the offseason. The strategy could be an important tool in building climate resilience into water systems. Contact: 530-302-5358, hdahlke@ucdavis.edu

Thomas Harter is a professor, groundwater hydrologist and Cooperative Extension Specialist in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources. He can discuss issues of groundwater management and its increasing importance in a changing climate. Contact: 530-752-2709, thharter@ucdavis.edu

Water law

Rick Frank, an environmental law professor and director of the California Environmental Law and Policy Center, can comment on legal and policy issues related to the allocation of water and other environmental issues. Contact: 530-752-7422, rfrank@ucdavis.edu 

Fish and conservation

Peter Moyle is a distinguished professor emeritus of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology. He’s studied the ecology and conservation of California’s fishes for more than 40 years and can discuss climate change’s impacts on native fish and their habitat. Contact: pbmoyle@ucdavis.edu

Nann Fangue is a professor of physiological ecology and chair of the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology. She studies the physiological requirements fish need to survive and thrive in complex environments, and she can discuss how climate change is impacting fish and aquatic systems. Contact: nafangue@ucdavis.edu

Carson Jeffres is a senior researcher and field and lab manager of the Center for Watershed Sciences. He can discuss how spring-fed systems can provide refuge for cold-water fishes under a warming climate and how floodplain restoration can help move water around urban and agricultural lands during extreme precipitation events, while also creating fish habitat. Contact: cajeffres@ucdavis.edu

Rob Lusardi is an aquatic research ecologist at the Center for Watershed Sciences and the California Trout-UC Davis Wild and Coldwater Fish Scientist. He can discuss climate change’s effects on rivers and native fish populations. Contact: ralusardi@ucdavis.edu

Andrew Rypel is a fish ecologist in the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology. He can discuss how climate change affects fish, as well as the potential for agricultural rice fields to be used to conserve native fish populations. Contact: 530-752-9567, rypel@ucdavis.edu

Anne Todgham is an associate professor of animal physiology in the Department of Animal Science. She can discuss how fish, including polar fishes and aquaculture species, are impacted physiologically by climate change. Contact: 530-752-1897, todgham@ucdavis.edu

Oceans and sea level rise

Tessa Hill is a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the Bodega Marine Laboratory, as well as associate director of the Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute. She can discuss how ocean acidification, hypoxia and climate change are affecting the oceans, including shellfish. She can also discuss strategies such as using seagrass to store carbon and buffer those effects. Contact: tmhill@ucdavis.edu

John Largier is director of the Bodega Marine Laboratory and associate director of the Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute. He can discuss how water moves from land to sea and in the ocean, transporting pollutants, plankton, nutrients and more. He can address changing temperatures, deoxygenation and acidification of coastal waters, including San Francisco Bay, and also the link between sea level rise and coastal flooding in bays and estuaries. Contact: 707-875-1930, jlargier@ucdavis.edu

Fraser Shilling is co-director of the Road Ecology Center and a professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy. He can discuss near-term sea level rise and its impacts on people, roads and natural systems. Contact: 530-752-7859, fmshilling@ucdavis.edu

Mark Lubell is director of the Center for Environmental Policy and Behavior and a professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy. He can discuss climate adaptation planning efforts and regional governance issues related to planning for sea-level rise in the San Francisco Bay Area. Contact: 530-752-5880, mnlubell@ucdavis.edu

Designing with sediment

Brett Snyder and Beth Ferguson are professors in the Department of Design working on a project, Public Sediment, to “design with mud” to enhance the level of sediment entering the San Francisco Bay Area as protection against flooding and rising sea levels. Contacts: Snyder, 646-382-8726, blsnyder@ucdavis.edu; Ferguson, 512-228-4877, bferguson@ucdavis.edu

Brett Milligan is an assistant professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design in the Department of Human Ecology. His research is focused on water infrastructure, climate change adaptation and the design of the interface between land and water, including designing with sediments. Contact: 505-980-1761, bmilligan@ucdavis.edu

Lakes and reservoirs

Geoffrey Schladow is director of the Tahoe Environmental Research Center and a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He can discuss how climate change is impacting the Lake Tahoe Basin’s ecosystem and efforts to understand and mitigate those changes. Contact: 530-902-2272, gschladow@ucdavis.edu

Alexander Forrest is an assistant professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He uses autonomous, underwater vehicles to better understand processes influencing Lake Tahoe and other freshwater and marine systems. He also uses the vehicles to learn more about the Arctic and about how and when ice shelves collapse in Antarctica. Contact: alforrest@ucdavis.edu

Steven Sadro, a limnologist and assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, can discuss how climate change is affecting lakes in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. Contact: 530-752-6301, ssadro@ucdavis.edu