For the first time, an ecologist has shown that genetic variety within one species can affect the survival of other creatures in a larger food web. The discovery has profound implications for crop production and environmental restoration, researchers say.
Pet a pine cone at Biodiversity Museum Day March 6
Visit a pine cone petting zoo and craft a pressed-flower bookmark during UC Davis’ 11th annual Biodiversity Museum Day. Children and the young-at-heart will enjoy hands-on activities that bring science to life from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, March 6, at the UC Davis Conference Center, across from the Robert Mondavi Center.
A study led by the University of Southampton, in collaboration with Gail Taylor, Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found that expanding green energy production sites in the future won’t necessarily be a threat to protected areas of land.
This article was originally published by University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Giving 1,200-pound cows access to one of California's most fragile and biologically rich ecosystems seems a strange way to protect its threatened and endangered species.
Converting arable land or managed grassland to non-food bioenergy production creates uptick in biodiversity, according to a new study led by Caspar Donnison in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California, Davis. Caspar Donnison, a postdoctoral researcher in the Taylor Lab, serves as the lead author
Truman Young, Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis, co-authored an article showing that megaherbivores (elephants) mitigate the negative effects of cattle on tropical African savanna rangelands, where wild herbivore populations are declining. He is project director of the Kenya Long-term Exclosure Experiment (KLEE), the most productive field experiment in Africa, and the site of this research.
Sierra Nevada forests are losing plant diversity due to high-severity fires, according to a study from the University of California, Davis. These fires are turning patches of forest into shrub fields — indefinitely, in some cases.
Strip seeding California grasslands to restore native perennial grasses that have been lost by exotic species is being tried as a less-expensive restoration method to improve ecosystem services. Emilio Laca, Department of Plant Sciences, is featured in this video, along with California agency partners and grassland owners.