Sometimes it’s easy to spot the iconic Monarch butterfly perched on a thick leaf of a milkweed plant. But there are other species of wildlife living in our backyard that aren’t as easy to find.

As the climate changes, many species are expected to adjust where and how they live. Some are expected to seek cooler elevations as it warms, but what happens to species already at the top of a mountain? A study of squirrels living in California’s high-elevation Sierra Nevada indicates that climate is only one factor to consider when trying to predict where an animal will make its home in a changing world.  

The cooling shade of UC Davis’ mature, leafy trees impressed Nurjannah Wiryadimejo enough to help the now-graduating senior choose to become an Aggie.

“When I first came to Davis, what struck me was how beautiful the cork oaks are. I’d never seen such beautiful tree-lined streets like the ones by the Memorial Union,” she said. 

“But now I’ve realized that a lot of the trees on campus aren’t well suited for the future climate, when there will be more heat and extreme weather events,” said the environmental science and management major. 

With California enduring record-breaking rain and snow and Gov. Gavin Newsom recently easing restrictions on groundwater recharge, interest in “managed aquifer recharge” has never been higher. This process – by which floodwater is routed to sites such as farm fields so that it percolates into the aquifer – holds great promise as a tool to replenish depleted groundwater stores across the state.

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When UC Davis student Madison “Madi” Burns joined the Davis Rewilding Society during her freshman year, it helped bring her future into focus. The second-year landscape architecture major said she has developed a much better understanding of the importance of native plants from her involvement with the student-run organization.

Fungal pathogens that cause die-back in grape, avocado, citrus, nut and other crops has found a new host and is infecting conifer trees causing Pine Ghost Canker in urban forest areas of Southern California.

The canker can be deadly to trees.

From jaguars and ocelots to anteaters and capybara, most land-based mammals living in the Brazilian Amazon are threatened by climate change and the projected savannization of the region. That’s according to a study published in the journal Animal Conservation by the University of California, Davis.

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I was a plant girl. As an undergraduate student at UC Davis, I’ve spent my summers restoring wetlands with native plants, summiting peaks to study alpine cushion plants, and dissecting seeds in labs. Animals were never in the picture, and birds were no exception. So when I kept seeing “Bird ID skills needed” on botany position advertisements, I knew my plant-only class days were over.  

University of California, Davis, researchers have launched a new online database that can help community members, policymakers and advocates view and compare local governments’ vision for the future with the California General Plan Database Mapping Tool.

As Los Angeles prepares to celebrate the life of beloved mountain lion P-22 this weekend,  mountain lion mortality maps from the University of California, Davis, show that many cougars suffer similar fates along California’s roads and highways.