Environment

Across an expanse of open grassland in Sacramento County, an eight-foot, stream cut bank holds dozens of mud-domed bird nests, where tiny heads peeked out before a colony of cliff swallows took flight. Cliff swallows are small migratory birds that arrive in the Central Valley each spring to breed, and while they now commonly nest on bridges and freeway overpasses, finding their nests built in a natural setting is a striking and special sight, particularly in California’s Central Valley.

California has one of the highest rates of wildfire-driven deforestation in the world, and the trend has accelerated over the past three decades, according to a study from the University of California, Davis. 

California’s Bay Area may be a culinary hot spot for people, but food options for fish in the San Francisco Estuary have been limited and declining in recent decades.

A study from the University of California, Davis, shows there is a part of the estuary that is teeming with fish food — the managed wetlands of Suisun Marsh.

What can the world’s longest living individual teach us about longevity? A team of scientists coordinated by the University of California, Davis, sequenced the Great Basin bristlecone pine genome, which could help unlock the secrets of this tree’s exceptionally long life and provide insights for other species.

In a time of increasing water scarcity and regulatory complexity, enhancing irrigation efficiency and improving on-farm water management practices are critical for California agriculture. Microirrigation – using highly efficient, low-flow and low-pressure systems that deliver water and nutrients close to plants’ roots – is one key solution.

For two and a half centuries, the United States has been founded upon our capacity to feed communities, both at home and throughout the world. Through the forethought of federal legislators and Abraham Lincoln, we now have a complex and interconnected cooperative system for growing, cultivating, harvesting, processing and delivering the food we all rely on. 

Researchers from the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the University of California, Davis, are helping beekeepers protect their colonies from destructive varroa mites. In a new study, the researchers investigate the effectiveness of combining a widely used mite-killing pesticide with an agent that inhibits the mites’ ability to tolerate the pesticide. 

When the time is right, a good love song can make all the difference. 

A study from the University of California, Davis, found that temperature affects the sound and quality of male frogs’ mating calls. In the colder, early weeks of spring, their songs start off sluggishly. In warmer weather, their songs pick up the pace, and female frogs take note.

Better songs not only make the males more attractive mates, but they also suggest to females that environmental conditions are suitable for reproduction.

California’s wildfire seasons are becoming more intense, and the state’s public bank of seeds to help replant and reforest lands after blazes is understocked by thousands of pounds. 

A new research project out of University of California, Davis, aims to help solve that problem by using decades of data from historical cone collection records to model when cones in coniferous trees from wild stands will ripen. 

For 50 years, the landscape architecture program at UC Davis has helped communities imagine better streets, bike paths, gardens, parks and public spaces. One course takes that imagination a step further, letting students design and build structures that have brought a fun energy to campus. Now, their latest project will soon find a home in the City of Davis.