The University of California, Davis, Office of Research is pleased to announce the appointment of Stephanie Hampton as the director of the Tahoe Environmental Research Center (TERC) and professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy.
From coastal redwoods and Joshua trees to golden poppies and sagebrush, California is a global botanical hotspot. It’s also a place confronted with extreme heat, wildfires and crumbling coastlines. The state’s natural beauty and history of pioneering conservation efforts make it a test bed for protecting biodiversity in the face of current and future climate change, argues a study led by the University of California, Davis.
The UC Davis Graduate Program of Environmental Policy and Management, or EPM, prepares students through its comprehensive Policy Clinic to help students feel career-ready by gaining practical experience, building a professional network and developing key skills.
Policy Clinic is an important part of the EPM curriculum, providing students with hands-on experience in addressing current environmental policy issues or natural resource management needs.
Where there’s smoke, there’s not necessarily fire.
Wildfire smoke, sometimes drifting from hundreds of miles away, touched nearly every lake in North America for at least one day per year from 2019 to 2021, according to a study from the University of California, Davis.
As much as 70% of California was covered by wildfire smoke during parts of 2020 and 2021, according to a study from the University of California, Davis. The study, published today in the journal Communications: Earth & Environment, combined lake-based sensors with satellite imagery to find that maximum smoke cover has increased by about 116,000 square miles since 2006.
After memorable encounters with the president and collaborating with some of the world’s top economic experts, Frances C. Moore, an associate professor with the Department of Environmental Science and Policy (ESP), is shedding light on the relationship between research and real-world decision-making.
As climate change redistributes terrestrial ecosystems across the globe, the world’s natural capital is expected to decrease, causing a 9% loss of ecosystem services by 2100. That’s according to a study of natural capital published today in the journal Nature led by scientists at the University of California, Davis, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.
Prescribed fire, which mimics natural fire regimes, can help improve forest health and reduce the likelihood of catastrophic wildfire. But this management tool is underused in the fire-prone U.S. West and Baja California, Mexico, due to several barriers.
A paper from the University of California, Davis, pinpoints those obstacles and suggests four key strategies that policymakers and land managers can take to get more “good fire” on the ground in North America’s fire-adapted ecosystems. The paper also provides examples of how people are surmounting some of these obstacles.
Mary Jade Farruggia, a Ph.D. candidate with the Graduate Group in Ecology, is this year’s recipient of the Neal Van Alfen and James MacDonald Graduate Student Award for her outstanding academic performance and dedication to service and leadership.
This $7,500 award was established to honor the contributions of former dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Dean Van Alfen, and former executive associate, Dean MacDonald.
Bernardo “Bernie” Bastien-Olvera, a recent Ph.D. graduate from the Geography Graduate Group at UC Davis, is this year’s recipient of the Kinsella Memorial Prize for his doctoral research on the effects of climate-driven impacts on global ecosystems and the influence on human well-being.
