Research by Humboldt State University Anthropology Professor Todd Braje recently was featured in an "On Earth Magazine story":http://www.onearth.org/article/riddle-of-the-shells?page=1.
Braje has spent the last several years investigating the ecological history of red abalone on the Northern Channel Islands beginning 12,000 years ago until the present.
Processing samples in the new archaeology research laboratories on the first floor of the Behavior Sciences Building, Braje and undergraduate HSU archaeology students are working to compare the size and abundance of abalone shells in ancient shell middens (trash piles) on San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz islands.
Comparing these data with twentieth-century historic catch records, they are working to provide long-term baselines that may help to better manage, restore, and protect depleted fisheries around the world.