Albert Ruhí

Albert Ruhí is Associate Professor of Freshwater Ecology and Conservation at UC Berkeley, where he holds the W.M. Hoskins Chair in Chemical and Molecular Entomology, and co-leads Berkeley Freshwater. His work examines how drought and flow regimes affect freshwater organisms and the food webs they support; from stream insects and fish to the riparian predators that feed on them.

Ruhí was born and educated in Catalonia, and earned his Ph.D. in Ecology at the University of Girona. He held postdoctoral positions at Arizona State University and the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) before joining UC Berkeley in 2018. His honors include an NSF CAREER Award, a Hellman Fellowship, a California Sea Grant New Faculty Award, and a Miller Research Professorship (2025-26).

Ruhí currently directs the Californian Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU), and is Head Graduate Advisor in ESPM. He recently served on the National Academies committee reviewing long-term operations of California’s Central Valley Project and State Water Project. He teaches freshwater ecology, field ecology, and quantitative methods (particularly time series analyses) for ecological data.

Research Description

The Ruhí Lab seeks to advance conservation of river and wetland ecosystems in the face of climatic droughts and dams. We combine computational approaches on hydrological and ecological data, field experiments, and chemical tracers to understand and anticipate changes in biodiversity and in aquatic ecosystem processes. Our focal geography spans California (San Francisco Estuary, Klamath, Sierra Nevada, Pinnacles National Park), as well as drought-prone regions globally (e.g., American Southwest, Mediterranean basin). A recent focus of the lab’s program is on the connections between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, or cross-ecosystem linkages. Specifically, the transfer of critical omega-3 fatty acids from river algae to aquatic insects to riparian predators, and how warming and drought is disrupting them. The Ruhí Lab partners with State and Federal agencies, including the State Water Resources Control Board and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, as well as with Tribal partners, to help translate science into conservation decisions.

Albert Ruhí Google Scholar

Education

Ph.D., Ecology, University of Girona, Girona, Spain, 2012

M.Sc. (DEA), Fundamental and Applied Ecology, University of Girona, Girona, Spain, 2008

B.Sc., Biology, University of Girona, Girona, Spain, 2006

Selected Publications

• Haristoy, E., Evangelista, C., Buoro, M., Carlson, S.M., Elosegi, A., Tentelier, C. & A. Ruhí (2026). Widespread underestimation of drought impacts on river ecosystems due to weak experimental designs. Global Change Biology, 32:e70993.

• Fournier, R.J., Colombano, D.D., Latour, R.J., Carlson, S.M. & A. Ruhí (2024). Long-term data reveal widespread phenological change across major US estuarine food webs. Ecology Letters, 27(12):e14441.

• Leathers, K., Herbst, D., de Mendoza, G., Doerschlag, G. & A. Ruhí (2024). Climate change is poised to alter mountain stream ecosystem processes via organismal phenological shifts. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 121(14):e2310513121.

• Tu, T., Comte, L. & A. Ruhí (2023). The color of environmental noise in river networks. Nature Communications, 14:1728.

• Ruhí, A., Hwang, J., Devineni, N., Mukhopadhyay, S., Kumar, H., Comte, L., Worland, S. &  A. Sankarasubramanian (2022). How does flow alteration propagate across a large, highly-regulated basin? Dam attributes, network context, and implications for biodiversity. Earth’s Future, 10(6): e2021EF002490.

• Colombano, D., Carlson, S.M., Hobbs, J. & A. Ruhí (2022). Four decades of climatic fluctuations and fish recruitment stability across a marine-freshwater gradient. Global Change Biology, 28(17): 5104-5120.

• Palmer, M. & A. Ruhí (2019). Linkages between flow regime, biota, and ecosystem processes: implications for river restoration. Science, 365(6459):eaaw2087.

• Ruhí, A., Messager, M. & J.D. Olden (2018). Tracking the pulse of the Earth’s fresh waters. Nature Sustainability, 1(4):198-203.

• Ruhí, A., Dong, X., Holt, C., Batzer, D.P. & J.L. Sabo (2018). Detrimental effects of a novel flow regime on the functional trajectory of an aquatic invertebrate metacommunity. Global Change Biology, 24(8):3749-3765.

• Sabo, J.L., Ruhí, A., Elliot, V., Arias, M., Holtgrieve, G. & N. So (2017). Designing river flows to improve food security futures in the Lower Mekong Basin. Science, 358(6368):eaao1053.

• Ruhí, A., Olden, J. & J.L. Sabo (2016). Declining streamflow induces collapse and replacement of native fish in the American Southwest. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 14(9):1-8.

Honors and Awards

• W.M. Hoskins Chair in Chemical and Molecular Entomology, UC Berkeley (2026-)

• Keck Bridge Funding Scholar (2026-27)

• Miller Research Professor, Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science (2025-26)

• Winkler Scholar, UC Berkeley (2023)

• NSF CAREER Award (2021)

• Extraordinary Teaching in Extraordinary Times Award, UC Berkeley (2021)

• California Sea Grant New Faculty Award (2021)

• Hellman Foundation Fellow (2020)

• Extraordinary Doctoral Degree Award, University of Girona (2013)