We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers.
Carl Sagan, Cosmos
Emma Yockman is a first year PhD student at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is primarily interested in estuarine ecology, restoration, and ethics in science.
She is a recent graduate from the University of Maryland, where she received her B.S. in Biology. She hopes to pursue a career in federal or state government as a Coastal Ecologist. All photos on the site are by Emma unless otherwise specified!
UCSC x ESNERR
I have recently started in the graduate program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. I am advised by Ingrid Parker and Kerstin Wasson. While here, I’m hoping to center my thesis around plant community ecology, exploring potential facilitative effects in estuarine habitats.
I’ve started my first field experiment at the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve (ESNERR), at the Hester Marsh Restoration Site. I’m looking forward to sharing more about the work I will do there! More information about NOAA’s NERR system can be found here.
Photo by Kerstin Wasson.
Study Species Spotlight: Pickleweed
Latin name: Salicornia pacifica (sometimes Sarcocornia pacifica)
Common names: pickleweed, glasswort, Pacific swampfire, sea asparagus
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Amaranthaceae
Reproduction: Hermaphroditic, flowers around July-November; seedlings typically seen germinating in Elkhorn Slough around March-May
It is the dominant species of the lower salt marsh. Has succulent tissue that eventually becomes “woody” as new tissue is added.
Fun fact: it is edible and tastes similar to pickles! Indigenous groups like the Amah Mutsun would cook and eat it as a meal. In recent years, pickleweed has been explored as a potential ‘new’ food source (since it doesn’t require freshwater) in the agricultural sectors of CA, Mexico, Korea, and Saudi Arabia.
Try cooking it with this recipe!
