Leslie Roche and colleagues tell how new ranchers confront drought. Climate adaptation is important in agricultural systems, but new ranchers aren’t able to benefit from information passed down from multi-generational ranching families. First-generation ranchers are often young, female, and diverse, with different goals and needs.
A new NAS report finds innovative approaches for dust control are needed at Owens Lake, California, to improve air quality, reduce water use, and preserve habitats. Professor Valerie Eviner, Plant Sciences, UC Davis, serves on the Owens Lake Scientific Advisory Panel (OLSAP) to assess how to manage Owens Lake.
Forest ecologist Malcolm North, with USDA and UC Davis Plant Sciences, helps put Australia’s wildfires into a California context, and what can be learned.
Flexible harvest options may allow growers to plant small grains in the winter, rather than fallow ground, out of concern that there will not be adequate water or strong markets to justify the crop. Research by Plant Sciences faculty member Mark Lundy.
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.
Brassica plants, such as broccoli, produce metabolites that benefit humans (flavor, anti-cancer defenses), benefit the plant (attacking insects) and, in new research, defend against drought. Dan Kliebenstein’s lab examines drought tolerance in Arabidopsis.
Bioenergy crops are central to climate mitigation strategies. Bioenergy is a developing renewable resource, but it can impact land for food, and ecosystem services. Gail Taylor, Plant Sciences, received $2.52 million from the Department of Energy to develop bioenergy poplar trees for low-quality, marginal land.
New article – Rainfall Drives Variation in Rates of Change in Intrinsic Water Use Efficiency of Tropical Forests – water use efficiency (WUE) was inferred in tropical forest tree rings around the world for most of the 20th century, finding that WUE increased in response to rising CO2.
An article in California Agriculture addresses how critical research is underway to understand the consequences of the massive wave of tree mortality in the Sierra Nevada. Urgent dialogue has started among UC scientists, forest managers, and public agencies to manage the consequences of the unprecedented tree die-off and increase the resiliency of forests to future droughts.
Breeding crops has been practiced for millennia — new technology has greatly enhanced the ability of plant breeders to feed the world’s growing population, while spearheading a new era of agriculture in harmony with nature and people. Sustainability, Disease resistance, and Labor efficiency are pressing issues in plant breeding.
