Calvin Munson
Calvin is a fourth year Ph.D. student (joined Fall 2020) advised by Dr. Mark Carr in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department. Calvin studies the community ecology of kelp forest ecosystems in Central California with a focus on their recovery and population dynamics. He has most recently conducted kelp cultluring laboratory and mesocosm experiments to test how the early life stages of giant kelp respond to intraspecific competition and grazing by sea urchins. Through the NSF Kelp RISES project and in collaboration with Institute of Marine Sciences research social scientist Dr. Carrie Pomeroy, Calvin has taken a social-ecological systems approach to kelp forests and has conducted interviews of kelp-connected community members to understand perspectives on kelp forest loss, recovery, and restoration in the Monterey area.
Calvin also has a passion for data science and regularly teaches workshops on how to effectively use the R statistical software for data analysis and visualization. His previous research experience is in subtidal ecology in the Galápagos islands and seagrass ecology in the Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean.
Email: cmunson@ucsc.edu
Twitter: @calvinmuns