Rocks could hold key to carbon storage and improved global climate projections

For centuries, the prevailing science has indicated that all of the nitrogen on Earth available to plants comes from the atmosphere. But a study from the University of California, Davis, indicates that more than a quarter comes from Earth’s bedrock.

Study a warning signal for popular game fish

Walleye, an iconic native fish species in Wisconsin, the upper Midwest and Canada, are in decline in northern Wisconsin lakes, according to a study published this week in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Species.

Current levels of greenhouse gas emissions are putting nearly half of California’s natural vegetation at risk from climate stress, with transformative implications for the state’s landscape and the people and animals that depend on it, according to a study led by the University of California, Davis.

Human-caused global warming is accepted by leading scientific organizations around the world, but public opinion about humanity’s role fails to keep pace with these consensus views. Internet blogs contribute to this gap by casting doubt on iconic climate science topics, such as polar bears and sea ice extent, setting them up as “keystone dominoes” to topple scientific understanding.

The “social cost of carbon” — an influential figure used by policymakers to weigh the value of efforts that reduce greenhouse gas emissions — is outdated and underestimated. Updated estimates focused on the agricultural sector alone more than double the social cost of carbon, according to analysis from the University of California, Davis, and Purdue University.

UC Davis faculty are part of a multidisciplinary design team chosen to develop solutions to strengthen the San Francisco’s Bay Area’s resilience to the impact of climate change, such as sea-level rise, severe storms and flooding.

Fish have been migrating to cooler water over the last several decades as the ocean warms. But in Antarctica, the coldest place on the planet, polar species have nowhere to go.

Preliminary research by a UC Davis animal scientist shows that some polar fish have been able to acclimate to warm water or to higher levels of carbon dioxide, but not to both.

Bristlecone Pine Trees in Great Basin Are Losing Game of Leapfrog With Limber Pine

Bristlecone pine and limber pine trees in the Great Basin region are like two very gnarled, old men in a slow-motion race up the mountaintop, and climate change is the starting gun, according to a study from the University of California, Davis.

Annual report looks at Tahoe’s trends and challenges

The UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center has released its annual Tahoe: State of the Lake Report, assessing a year marked by the hottest temperatures on record followed by a winter of unprecedented levels of rain and snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains, where Lake Tahoe resides.

Healthy soil could change everything

When we think of climate change solutions, what typically comes to mind is the transportation we use, the lights in our home, the buildings we power and the food we eat. Rarely do we think about the ground beneath our feet.

Kate Scow thinks a lot about the ground, or, more precisely, the soil. She’s been digging into the science of how healthy soils can not only create productive farmlands, but also store carbon in the ground, where it belongs, rather than in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.