Welcome to the University of California, San Diego.

Photo credit: UCSD Biology Department

As you walk around the campus of UC San Diego, you will immediately notice that this is not a campus of merely concrete structures and paved sidewalks with sprawling lawns-- UCSD is a campus covered with a variety of trees, shrubs, flowers, grasses, and the occasional monumental art piece. UCSD Campus Tours will often walk you through different buildings, sculptures, and commercial areas of interest on a guided walk of our vast campus, but when was the last time that someone pointed out the history and nature of something so simple yet iconic on our campus as a eucalyptus tree?

Nature has become just another part of the background, especially as far as plants are concerned-- they're silent and don't move much at all. We go our daily lives traipsing from place to place without consideration of the greenery that sprouts around us, or the minuscule insects that buzz around our heads. We comment on the weather and it's oddities (as most Tritons will attest to, our San Diego weather as of late has been far from consistent), but don't ruminate on the possible effects that the weather is having on the other living things that can't join in on our conversations.

This blog seeks to offer a fun and educational supplement as you walk around campus. Both the native and introduced flora and fauna found at UCSD are diverse. If you seek to learn more about the natural world right outside our libraries and lecture halls, look no further. We hope that you will join us each week as we explore and adventure through our campus' natural treasures. Our goal is to inspire an appreciation of what both man and nature have placed in our backyards and what amazing designs decades to centuries have brought around in the biodiversity of our campus grounds.

- Annie Nguyen
Biology Undergraduate
Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution

- Nicole Beeler
Environmental Systems Undergraduate
Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution