Strawberries – luscious, beautiful and fragrant – figure in spring and summer traditions around the world. At UC Davis, the Strawberry Breeding Program is an important source for varieties that meet the needs of growers with different weather and soils, grown amid changing conditions of climate, water and market.
Invasive plants can stay dormant for decades or even centuries after they have been introduced into an environment before rapidly expanding and wreaking ecological havoc, according to a new study led by the University of California, Davis.
Graduate student Paige Kouba discussed her research with California legislators as part of a program to train scientists to better communicate with policy-makers. Kouba met with Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar Curry (D-Winters) and other legislative leaders at the state Capitol recently. Her goal is to inform science policy coming out of Sacramento.
Northwest of Los Angeles, springtime brings native wildflowers to bloom in the Santa Monica Mountains. These beauties provide food for insects, maintain healthy soil and filter water seeping into the ground – in addition to offering breathtaking displays of color.
Grey Monroe has received a CAREER Award for the Faculty Early Career Development Program from the National Science Foundation. Monroe is an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences. Monroe’s award expands on his recent work making breakthroughs in our understanding of genetic mutation in plants (published in Nature). This grant provides more than $1 million over the next five years.
Rangelands scientist Leslie Roche is helping ranchers and rangeland managers meet those challenges. Her work has gotten a boost: She recently was named the Russell L. Rustici Endowed Specialist in Cooperative Extension in Rangeland Watershed Science.
Researchers have sequenced the whitebark pine genome, presenting new opportunities to help the threatened, high-altitude tree endure environmental challenges.
California wheat farmers could maintain their yields and improve soil health by growing annual wheat without tilling the soil year after year. This strategy could encourage farmers to adopt a sustainable practice commonly called conservation tillage, no-till or minimum-till cultivation.
Joshua trees burning in the Mojave Desert are the victims of changing patterns of wildfire, fueled by the spread of grasses that are not native to the region, restoration ecologist Justin Valliere told media in recent interviews.
How long can trees tolerate drought before the forest dies?
Researchers from UC Davis can now predict which forests could survive despite future drought. Their new method links precipitation to tree growth, and it can help people decide where to put their resources as climate change affects patterns of snow and rainfall that impact the health of forests.
