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Archive for category: Main Story – Homepage

You are here: Home / Featured Stories / Main Story - Homepage
Graphic depiction of Quantum Computing. Image by Stephan SullivanStephan Sullivan

UCLA-led team develops new approach for building quantum computers

August 8, 2022/in College News, Featured Stories, Main Story - Homepage /by Lucy Berbeo
The building blocks of chemistry offer the potential to dramatically scale up quantum processing
An artist’s representation shows the researchers’ quantum functional groups (brightly colored spheres) connecting with larger molecules.

An artist’s representation shows the researchers’ quantum functional groups (brightly colored spheres) connecting with larger molecules. Image by Stephan Sullivan


Wayne Lewis | August 2, 2022

Key takeaways:

   • Stronger, faster. Quantum computers promise far greater speed and processing power than today’s most powerful supercomputers.​​​​
   • The quantum quandary. Because these next-generation computers rely on the fragile interaction of atomic and subatomic particles, scaling up their processing power has proved a challenge.​​​​​
   • A chemistry solution. Researchers have created a new molecule that has the potential to protect quantum interaction at greater scales without the need for traditional electrical engineering tools and machinery.

Quantum computing, though still in its early days, has the potential to dramatically increase processing power by harnessing the strange behavior of particles at the smallest scales. Some research groups have already reported performing calculations that would take a traditional supercomputer thousands of years. In the long term, quantum computers could provide unbreakable encryption and simulations of nature beyond today’s capabilities.

A UCLA-led interdisciplinary research team including collaborators at Harvard University has now developed a fundamentally new strategy for building these computers. While the current state of the art employs circuits, semiconductors and other tools of electrical engineering, the team has produced a game plan based in chemists’ ability to custom-design atomic building blocks that control the properties of larger molecular structures when they’re put together.

The findings, published last week in Nature Chemistry, could ultimately lead to a leap in quantum processing power.

“The idea is, instead of building a quantum computer, to let chemistry build it for us,” said Eric Hudson, UCLA’s David S. Saxon Presidential Professor of Physics and corresponding author of the study. “All of us are still learning the rules for this type of quantum technology, so this work is very sci-fi right now.”

Image of Eric Hudson in his UCLA office. | Stuart Wolpert/UCLA

Image of Eric Hudson in his UCLA office. | Stuart Wolpert/UCLA


The basic units of information in traditional computing are bits, which are each limited to one of only two values. In contrast, a group of quantum bits — or qubits — can have a vastly wider range of values, exponentially increasing a computer’s processing power. More than 1,000 normal bits are required to represent just 10 qubits, while 20 qubits require more than 1 million bits.

That characteristic, at the heart of quantum computing’s transformational potential, depends on the counterintuitive rules that apply when atoms interact. For instance, when two particles interact, they can become linked, or entangled, so that measuring the properties of one determines the properties of the other. Entangling qubits is a requirement of quantum computing.

However, this entanglement is fragile. When qubits encounter subtle variations in their environments, they lose their “quantumness,” which is needed to implement quantum algorithms. This limits the most powerful quantum computers to fewer than 100 qubits, and keeping these qubits in a quantum state requires large pieces of machinery.

To apply quantum computing practically, engineers must scale up that processing power. Hudson and his colleagues believe they have made a first step with the study, where theory guided the team to tailor-make molecules that protect quantum behavior.

The scientists developed small molecules that include calcium and oxygen atoms and act as qubits. These calcium-oxygen structures form what chemists call a functional group, meaning that it can be plugged into almost any other molecule while also conferring its own properties to that molecule.

The team showed that their functional groups maintained their desired structure even when attached to much larger molecules. Their qubits can also stand up to laser cooling, a key requirement for quantum computing.

“If we can bond a quantum functional group to a surface or some long molecule, we might be able to control more qubits,” Hudson said. “It should also be cheaper to scale up, because an atom is one of the cheapest things in the universe. You can make as many as you want.”

In addition to its potential for next-generation computing, the quantum functional group could be a boon for basic discovery in chemistry and the life sciences, for instance by helping scientists uncover more about the structure and function of various molecules and chemicals in the human body.

“Qubits can also be exquisitely sensitive tools for measurement,” said study co-author Justin Caram, a UCLA assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry. “If we could protect them so they can survive in complex environments such as biological systems, we would be armed with so much new information about our world.”

Hudson said that the development of a chemically based quantum computer could realistically take decades and is not certain to succeed. Future steps include anchoring qubits to larger molecules, coaxing tethered qubits to interact as processors without unwanted signaling, and entangling them so that they work as a system.

The project was seeded by a Department of Energy grant that gave the physicists and chemists the chance to cut through discipline-specific jargon and speak in a common scientific language. Caram also credits UCLA’s atmosphere of easy collaboration.

“This is one of the most intellectually fulfilling projects I’ve ever worked on,” he said. “Eric and I first met having lunch at the Faculty Center. This was born out of fun conversations and being open to talking to new people.”

UCLA postdoctoral researcher Guo-Zhu Zhu is the study’s first author. Other UCLA co-authors are doctoral students Claire Dickerson and Guanming Lao and faculty members Anastassia Alexandrova and Wesley Campbell.

The study was also supported by the National Science Foundation, the Army Research Office and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

This article originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom. For more news and updates from the UCLA College, visit college.ucla.edu/news.

https://www.college.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/QuantumComputing-hero.png 629 1126 Lucy Berbeo https://www.college.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Uxd_Blk_College-e1557344896161.png Lucy Berbeo2022-08-08 10:34:442022-08-08 17:12:34UCLA-led team develops new approach for building quantum computers
Image of colorful fruits and vegetables with the UCLA College logo spelled out in letters made of blue-and-white cookies

UCLA College Magazine 2022 Edition

July 7, 2022/in Featured Stories, Main Story - Homepage /by Lucy Berbeo
https://www.college.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/MagazineHP-1700-e1657574852496.png 375 1000 Lucy Berbeo https://www.college.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Uxd_Blk_College-e1557344896161.png Lucy Berbeo2022-07-07 12:32:532022-07-11 14:27:40UCLA College Magazine 2022 Edition
A scan from 1610's "Certaine errors in navigation, detected and corrected"

UCLA’s Clark Library receives centuries-old rare books from longtime donor

June 27, 2022/in College News, Featured Stories, Main Story - Homepage, Our Stories Page /by Lucy Berbeo
A scan from 1610's "Certaine errors in navigation, detected and corrected"

A scan from “Certaine errors in navigation, detected and corrected” by Edward Wright (1558?–1615), a new addition to the Paul Chrzanowski Collection. | UCLA’s William Andrews Clark Memorial Library


Margaret MacDonald | June 27, 2022

A new donation of 40 historical texts from Paul Chrzanowski further bolsters an already remarkable collection of early English texts at UCLA’s William Andrews Clark Memorial Library.

The newly added items — including a 17th-century parchment with the seal of Queen Elizabeth I and a handwritten manuscript describing precious metals and gems — have been prepared for use by scholars as part of the library’s Paul Chrzanowski Collection.

“This donation reflects the broader interests and learning needs of English readers at the time,” Chrzanowski said.

A scan from “Certaine errors in navigation, detected and corrected” by Edward Wright (1558?–1615), an addition to the Paul Chrzanowski Collection at UCLA’s William Andrews Clark Memorial Library.

A scan of the cover of “Certaine errors in navigation.” | UCLA’s William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

A physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, Chrzanowski began donating rare books from his collection to the Clark Library in 2009; he made additional donations in 2014 and 2018.

As a collector, his main focus is texts that Shakespeare likely read or could have read. Some of the donated items have been identified as source material Shakespeare used to write his plays; others are equally important due to their role in the development of English language, literature and history, including the earliest book in the collection, 1479’s “Cordiale quattuor novissimorum,” printed by William Caxton and one of only 12 known copies.

“The Chrzanowski Collection contains a remarkable diversity of material that supports a broad range of research topics, from animal care to politics in early modern England,” said Anna Chen, the Clark Library’s head librarian. “The quality and depth of the collection make the materials invaluable for teaching and research. The collection is consulted by a wide range of users, including high school students and research fellows, and we are thrilled by the uses that this new trove of material will make possible.”

Chrzanowski’s most recent gift includes the only known surviving printed copy of “Soliloquies” by 17th-century author Edward Topsell, joining a handwritten manuscript copy of the work already held by the Clark; and 1610’s “Certain Errors in Navigation” by Edward Wright, an important early modern contribution to the field that includes one of the first maps of Virginia.

“Paul Chrzanowski’s generous gift, which builds on his already phenomenal collection, further elevates the Clark’s role as a steward of rare, historical print works for the benefit of future generations of scholars and members of the public alike,” said Bronwen Wilson, director of the UCLA Center for 17th- and 18th-Century Studies and of the Clark Library. “This is truly an exciting moment.”

Image of Plates from “La clef des champs with additional woodcuts of insects, reptiles, and amphibians,” from approximately 1586 by Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues (1533?–1588).

Plates from “La clef des champs with additional woodcuts of insects, reptiles, and amphibians,” from approximately 1586 by Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues (1533?–1588). | UCLA’s William Andrews Clark Memorial Library


The new donation, appraised at a value of more than $600,000, brings the total value of Chrzanowski’s in-kind donations to more than $2.9 million. But its value as a scholarly resource is immeasurable; it would be nearly impossible to build a comparable Shakespearean library today.

“We are grateful for Paul Chrzanowski’s additional donation of so many wonderful and rare books,” said David Schaberg, senior dean of the UCLA College and dean of humanities. “Thanks to his generosity, the Clark has become an even more impressive resource for scholars of 17th- and 18th-century studies.”

This article originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom. For more of Our Stories at the College, click here.

https://www.college.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Chrzanowski-363.jpg 237 363 Lucy Berbeo https://www.college.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Uxd_Blk_College-e1557344896161.png Lucy Berbeo2022-06-27 11:57:182022-07-31 20:25:22UCLA’s Clark Library receives centuries-old rare books from longtime donor
Image of students at UCLA commencement 2022 in Pauley Pavilion

UCLA class of 2022 celebrates the unique joy of togetherness

June 13, 2022/in College News, Featured Stories, Main Story - Homepage, Students /by Lucy Berbeo
Alumna Katelyn Ohashi delivered the keynote address at the first full-scale, in-person commencements at Pauley Pavilion since the pandemic
Image of UCLA students at graduation

This is more like it. After a pandemic-forced two years of virtual commencement ceremonies, in 2022 students and their loved ones were able to celebrate in person again. Image credit: David Esquivel/UCLA


Alison Hewitt and Elizabeth Kivowitz | June 10, 2022

Campus buzzed with graduation celebrations today fueled by crowds not seen since 2019. The return to an in-person commencement at UCLA also marks the first time the UCLA College’s undergraduate graduation was spread across three ceremonies to make room for one of UCLA’s largest graduating classes ever.

Outside Pauley Pavilion, thousands of parents and guests mingled outdoors carrying teddy bears, flowers and other gifts, as confused food-delivery robots struggled to navigate the crowd. Students in graduation gowns, leis and decorated mortarboards hugged their friends and family before dashing away to line up for the processional.


Among the dozens of graduations on campus today, the crowd outside Pauley Pavilion was the largest, with a total of about 6,100 graduates and 26,400 guests expected at the three ceremonies.

The graduates come from all over, and range in age from 18 to 79. More than 35% come from low-income families, and 36% came to UCLA as transfer students. Approximately one-third are the first generation in their families to graduate from a four-year university.

“I’ve been working toward this my whole life,” said Veronica Lavín Solano, who earned her bachelor’s in English. The first-generation student’s sash featured the flag of Mexico, where her parents immigrated from. “I’m so glad my parents get to be here in person. They are so proud of me … UCLA was my dream school.”

Image of Katelyn Ohashi speaking at UCLA College’s 2022 commencement in Pauley Pavilion.

Katelyn Ohashi speaking at UCLA College’s 2022 commencement in Pauley Pavilion. Image credit: David Esquivel/UCLA


Psychology major William Molina’s family described their son’s elation at graduating in person, after the pandemic turned the transfer student’s first year at UCLA into a remote experience.

“I’m so proud and excited to see him graduate,” said his father Nelson Molina, an immigrant from El Salvador who said he spent his life working hard so his kids could succeed.

Over the course of the week, about 1,300 graduates from the classes of 2020 and 2021 will also attend in-person celebrations to make up for the remote graduations during the pandemic. Other ceremonies across campus featured keynotes addresses by presenters including U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, actor, activist and alumnus George Takei, Academy-Award winning actor Troy Kotsur, Indigenous artist and alumna Mercedes Dorame and U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu. Award-winning gymnast, activist and UCLA alumna Katelyn Ohashi spoke at all three of the UCLA College ceremonies in Pauley Pavilion.

Image of students wearing decorated graduation caps

David Esquivel/UCLA


Inside Pauley, the required face masks concealed smiles but nothing could hide the crowd’s enthusiasm.

“After two years, amazingly, of virtual and hybrid commencement events, it’s a joy to be back in Pauley Pavilion for today’s ceremony,” said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. “A tradition like this one bonds you to generations of UCLA students who have come before.”

He acknowledged the trials of recent years — not just the pandemic, but racial injustice, climate change, a polarizing presidential election, horrific mass shootings and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“These experiences have challenged you, but they’ve shaped you,” Block said. “They gave you greater respect for science and truth, and a stronger recognition of the dangers of misinformation.”

Block had to pause as students cheered their acknowledgement of the threat of disinformation.

“Even as they stirred up anguish, all these events etched on you a compassion and empathy,” he continued, “as well as a commitment to seeking justice and contributing to the greater good.”

Image of Chancellor Gene Block and keynote speaker Katelyn Ohashi, alumna, gymnast and activist.

Chancellor Gene Block and keynote speaker Katelyn Ohashi, alumna, gymnast and activist. Image credit: David Esquivel/UCLA


Ohashi, an elite gymnast who went viral while at UCLA with her perfect-10 routine, has used her platform to speak out on topics like mental health, body-shaming, sexual assault and cyberbullying. One of the UCLA College’s youngest alumni speakers ever, Ohashi graduated in 2019, at the last in-person commencement before the pandemic. She encouraged the class of 2022 to overcome fear and hesitation and embrace opportunity, and recounted her days at UCLA working with the student-run Bruin Shelter to support housing-insecure students.

“When [Bruin Shelter] first started and began looking for housing, they knocked on 100 church doors, where they heard 100 ‘no’s.’ It wasn’t until their 101st door they knocked on that they finally received their ‘yes,’” Ohashi said. “Most missed opportunities don’t come from not taking them, but from not seeking them… Most of the time, life doesn’t come knocking on your door. Instead, don’t hesitate to knock on doors and if you don’t hear a ‘yes’ your first time, it doesn’t mean there won’t be one. Now is the time to live life fully and try all the things you want.”

Image of students at the UCLA College Commencement.

Students at the UCLA College Commencement. Image credit: David Esquivel/UCLA


Twenty-year-old graduating senior Stephanie Widjaja, who left high school for community college two years early to get closer to her dream of transferring to UCLA and becoming a pediatrician, reminded her classmates that their path to success doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s.

“I stumbled my way through community college, thinking that UCLA was an unobtainable destination. I was expected to achieve greater things by others, but I could not fully believe in it myself. It was not until I opened up my UCLA acceptance letter and sat in my chair dumbstruck for a good five minutes that I realized dreams do come true, even if the path is non-linear and full of tears,” Widjaja said. “Congratulations Class of 2022! You have finally made it! Being a Bruin and making it out of these unprecedented times shows that you have a resilience like no other.”

David Esquivel/UCLA


Widjaja led her classmates as they all shifted their tassels from right to left after Block formally conferred their degrees. As some students captured the tassel-turn with selfie videos, the room roared with cheers and applause from the thousands of parents, family and friends attending in person.

As the ceremony drew to a close, a few dozen mortarboards sailed festively into the air and the alma mater boomed over the sound system. The thunderous applause, group selfies, hugs with fellow graduates and all the other little things missing from remote celebrations came roaring back.

This article originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom. For more news and updates from the UCLA College, visit college.ucla.edu/news.

 

https://www.college.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Commencement2022-CrowdandUCLAsign-1.jpg 950 1700 Lucy Berbeo https://www.college.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Uxd_Blk_College-e1557344896161.png Lucy Berbeo2022-06-13 09:17:162022-06-13 09:19:36UCLA class of 2022 celebrates the unique joy of togetherness

UCLA-led research shows majorities of both political parties support legal abortion

June 10, 2022/in College News, Featured Stories, Main Story - Homepage /by Lucy Berbeo
Two national surveys that spanned demographic groups showed opposition to complete abortion bans
Image of a person holding a sign with text that says ABORTION IS HEALTH CARE

Despite research showing that a majority of Americans support legalized abortion, the Supreme Court is expected to overturn or limit Roe v. Wade in June 2022. Image credit: Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash


Jessica Wolf | June 8, 2022

Regardless of race, ethnicity and even political party preference, two separate UCLA-led surveys reveal that majorities of people in each group support access to legal abortion in the United States.

Recent large-scale surveys of voters and non-voters by UCLA political scientists Lorrie Frasure, Matt Barreto, Lynn Vavreck and Chris Tausanovitch took a pulse on a variety of policy issues, including abortion. These separate findings support previous research and literature that shows broad support for legal abortion.

Data from The Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project, led by Vavreck and Tausanovitch show broad support for abortion across political party lines. Nationscape was a weekly survey fielded from July 2019 through January 2021, reaching nearly 500,000 voters and non-voters representative of the U.S. adult population.

Most Democrats and Republicans — as well as independents — said they do not think abortion should be outlawed completely.

Chart showing data on: Should abortion be outlawed UCLA Chart of Nationscape data showing that 13.6% of Democrats agree that abortion should be outlawed, 71.9% disagree and 14.5% are unsure. For Republicans: 32.8% agree it should be outlawed, 49.4% disagree and 17.8% are unsure. For independents: 17.2% agree it should be outlawed, 59.2% disagree and 23.6% are unsure.


And, according to Nationscape data, most also agreed that abortion should not be limited only to instances of rape, incest or threat to the life of the mother.

Chart showing data on: Should abortion remain accessible in all cases? UCLA Graph of Nationscape data showing that among Democrats 70.5% agree that abortion should be legal beyond cases of rape, incest or threat to the life of the mother, 16.2% disagre and 13.2% are not sure. Among Republicans, 43% agree abortion should be legal beyond cases of rape, incest or threat to the life of the mother, 42% disagree and 15% are unsure. Among indepdents, 53% agree abortion should be legal beyond cases of rape, incest or threat to the life of the mother, 24.6% disagree and 22.4% are unsure.


Despite the two major political parties’ platforms generally taking opposing positions on abortion — Democrats support, Republicans oppose — there are people aligned with the Republican party who support legal abortion and people aligned with the Democratic party who oppose abortion. But for these cross-positioned voters, it’s important to note that abortion is not their biggest priority, Vavreck said.

Nationscape researchers know this because of a unique approach they employed to test what matters most to the electorate, essentially forcing survey respondents to make choices based on groupings of hot-button topics. The survey included 44 different policy statements and 8 hypothetical attributes of political candidates. A set of these statements were randomized into two groups of options. Survey respondents were asked to choose which group most aligned with their priorities.

For example, a Democrat who opposes legal abortion might be faced with two groupings of policy statements — one that included limiting or ending abortion. But, if the other group of policy statements held items that were more important to that person, like not deporting undocumented immigrants, they would select that option. The same held true the other way for Republicans who support legal abortion. If the other bucket of topics included things they cared more about than abortion, that was their choice.

“This happens on other issues beside abortion too, and what this tells us is that these voters and potential voters are not cross-pressured within their party. They’re not torn. They just have other priorities — they are cross-positioned, but not cross-pressured,” Vavreck said. “These surveys demonstrate that vast majorities support keeping abortion legal but that doesn’t necessarily mean that this issue is going to be pivotal to their vote choice.”

The fourth and largest installment of the Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey, or CMPS, led by Frasure and Barreto, alongside Janelle Wong from University of Maryland, College Park, and Edward Vargas from Arizona State University, asked several questions about abortion, reporting results based on the race of respondents.

This survey is conducted after every presidential election, and its questions are drafted by a broad consortium of race and ethnicity politics scholars from across the United States. In 2020, the CMPS was offered in 10 languages to nearly 15,000 respondents.

CMPS data, by way of several questions, show broad support for abortion across four self-reported racial groups — Asian, Black, Latino and white.

Overall, majorities from all groups reported they either support legal abortion or are neutral on the issue, with broad margins of support across all racial and ethnic groups.

Chart showing data on: Support for abortion by race/ethicity UCLA According to data from the Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey tracking support for abotion by race/ethnicity: 59% of Asians support abortion rights, 26% neither support or oppose and 14% oppose. 59% of Black people support abortion rights, 25% neither support or oppose and 16% oppose. 53% of Latinos support abortion rights, 24% neither support or oppose and 23% oppose. 50% of whites support abortion rights, 21% neither support or oppose and 29% oppose.


“Although the CMPS data was collected before news of the Supreme Court leak, it nonetheless reaffirms what decades of public opinion research has found —across every racial and ethnic group, Americans support safe and legal access to abortion,” said Barreto, who added that there are very low rates of opposition to abortion rights for women.

“The CMPS study makes clear that among Black, Latino, Asian and White Americans alike, there remains strong support for maintaining the protections of Roe v. Wade,” Barreto said.

When asked if limiting abortion was a specific priority for their racial community, most respondents said that it was a low priority.

Chart showing data on: Should access to abortion be restricted? UCLA This graph of data from the Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey shows what percentage of different racial/ethnic groups say restricting access to abortion should be a high or low priority. Among Asians: 70% said restriction abortion access should be low priority, while 30% said it should be a high priority. Among Black people: 61% said restriction abortion access should be low priority, while 39% said it should be a high priority. Among Latinos: 57% said restriction abortion access should be low priority, while 43% said it should be a high priority. Among whites: 62% said restriction abortion access should be low priority, while 38% said it should be a high priority.


This article originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom. For more news and updates from the UCLA College, visit college.ucla.edu/news.

https://www.college.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Abortionishealthcaresign-2.jpg 950 1700 Lucy Berbeo https://www.college.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Uxd_Blk_College-e1557344896161.png Lucy Berbeo2022-06-10 17:49:402022-06-10 17:49:40UCLA-led research shows majorities of both political parties support legal abortion
Image of two vaquitas in the Gulf of CaliforniaPaula Olson/NOAA

Only 10 vaquita porpoises survive, but species may not be doomed

May 10, 2022/in College News, Faculty & Research, Featured Stories, Main Story - Homepage /by Lucy Berbeo
If they can escape death in poachers’ nets, the endangered marine mammal is well poised to rebound despite inbreeding
Image of two vaquitas in the Gulf of California

Paula Olson/NOAA


By Stuart Wolpert | May 5, 2022

The vaquita porpoise, the world’s smallest marine mammal, is on the brink of extinction, with 10 or fewer still living in Mexico’s Gulf of California, their sole habitat. But a genetic analysis by a team of UCLA biologists and colleagues has found that the critically endangered species remains relatively healthy and can potentially survive — if illegal “gillnet” fishing ceases promptly.

“Interestingly, we found the vaquita is not doomed by genetic factors, like harmful mutations, that tend to affect many other species whose gene pool has diminished to a similar point,” said Christopher Kyriazis, a UCLA doctoral student in ecology and evolutionary biology and a co–lead author of the research. “Outlawed fishing remains their biggest threat.”

The small porpoises, which range from 4 to 5 feet in length, often become entangled and die in the large mesh gillnets used by poachers hunting the totoaba, an endangered fish highly valued in some countries for its perceived medicinal properties. While Mexico has outlawed totoaba fishing and made the use of these nets in the vaquitas’ habitat illegal, many say the bans are not always enforced.

The researchers analyzed the genomes of 20 vaquitas that lived between 1985 and 2017 and conducted computational simulations to predict the species’ extinction risk over the next 50 years. They concluded that if gillnet fishing ends immediately, the vaquita has a very high chance of recovery, even with inbreeding. If, however, the practice continues, even moderately, the prospects of recovery are less optimistic.

The research is published May 6 in the journal Science.

“Relative to other species, the vaquita has a higher chance of rebounding from an extreme population crash without suffering severe genetic consequences from inbreeding,” said co–lead author Jacqueline Robinson, a postdoctoral scholar at UC San Francisco who earned her

doctorate in biology at UCLA. “Genetic diversity in vaquitas is not so low that it constitutes a threat to their health and persistence. It simply reflects their natural rarity.”

Genetic diversity is a measure of the differences that exist across the genome among individuals in a population. Large populations tend to have many differences, while naturally smaller or decimated ones have fewer, resulting in individuals that are more genetically similar. That similarity can often result in a greater incidence of harmful mutations that endanger the population since individuals are more likely to inherit the same muted gene from both parents, said senior author Kirk Lohmueller, UCLA associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and of human genetics.

“A prevailing view in conservation biology and population genetics is that small populations can accumulate deleterious mutations,” Lohmueller said. “However, our finding that the vaquita likely has fewer strongly deleterious mutations hiding in the population means that they are better poised to survive future inbreeding, which bodes well for their overall recovery.”

Image of gillnets in the ocean

Gillnets, like the one pictured here, are used by fishermen hunting the totoaba, another endangered species. Mexico’s government banned the use of the nets in the northern Gulf of California in 2017, but poachers continue the practice illegally. Image credit: iStock.com/Damocean


So what protects the vaquitas from the genetic perils of inbreeding? Much of it has to do with the fact that they have always been a small population in a very small habitat in the northern tip of the gulf, the researchers said. While their historic numbers are unknown, the first comprehensive survey in 1997 counted roughly 570 porpoises — a number that has declined steadily over the last 25 years but which was not large to begin with.

Image of Christopher Kyriazis, a UCLA doctoral student in ecology and evolutionary biology

Christopher Kyriazis, a UCLA doctoral student in ecology and evolutionary biology. (Image Courtesy of Christopher Kyriazis)

“They’re essentially the marine equivalent of an island species,” said Robinson, who noted that the species has survived for tens of thousands of years with low genetic diversity. “The vaquitas’ naturally low abundance has allowed them to gradually purge highly deleterious recessive gene variants that might negatively affect their health under inbreeding.”

In fact, Robinson said, of the 12 marine mammal species — including vaquitas — the researchers genetically analyzed, vaquitas had the lowest number of potentially harmful mutations.

While the interplay among small population size, inbreeding and harmful genetic variations is complex, the approach used by the team in this study can help shed light on these dynamics.

“With genomic datasets, we now have the ability to address this complexity,” Robinson said. “Species can vary in their levels of harmful genetic variation, and they will not all be affected exactly the same way by reduced population size or inbreeding. There are now many examples of species recovering from extreme declines.”

“We hope our analysis is useful not only in demonstrating the potential for the vaquita to recover,” Kyriazis said, “but also in highlighting a novel genomics-based simulation approach for endangered species.”

Image of Jacqueline Robinson, a postdoctoral scholar at UC San Francisco, earned her doctorate in biology at UCLA

Jacqueline Robinson, a postdoctoral scholar at UC San Francisco, earned her doctorate in biology at UCLA. (Image courtesy of Jacqueline Robinson)

Encouragingly, the surviving vaquitas in the northern Gulf of California are actively reproducing and appear healthy. But poachers’ gillnets continue to pose an existential threat to the species, and unless further measures are taken to protect the porpoises, there is a distinct possibility they may go extinct. The loss would be a great tragedy, said the study’s co–senior author, UCLA’s Robert Wayne.

“The vaquita is symbolic of the unique diversity found in the Gulf of California, which was described by John Steinbeck in his wonderful 1951 book ‘The Log From the Sea of Cortez,’” said Wayne, a distinguished professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and a Howard Hughes Medical institute professor. “It represents a unique evolutionary lineage — there is no similar species anywhere in the world — and its loss would rob the ecosystem of an important predator adapted to this unique ecosystem.”

Funding sources for the research included the National Institutes of Health, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology.

Co-authors included Phillip Morin of the NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center; vaquita researchers Barbara Taylor of the NOAA and Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho; Sergio Nigenda Morales of the Advanced Genomics Unit in Irapuato, Guanajuato, part of Mexico’s National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity; and Annabel Beichman of the University of Washington. Morales and Beichman earned their doctorates at UCLA studying under Wayne and Lohmueller.

This article originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom. For more news and updates from the UCLA College, visit college.ucla.edu/news.

https://www.college.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Vaquita-1700-e1652208543886.png 950 1750 Lucy Berbeo https://www.college.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Uxd_Blk_College-e1557344896161.png Lucy Berbeo2022-05-10 10:41:032022-05-10 11:49:26Only 10 vaquita porpoises survive, but species may not be doomed

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