Wading through flooded rice fields, a team of UC Davis students and researchers release thousands of shimmering fish into the water. These small golden shiners hold the promise of significant contributions to the dual challenges of climate change mitigation and sustainable food production.
After nearly a century of people building dams on most of the world’s major rivers, artificial reservoirs now represent an immense freshwater footprint across the landscape. Yet, these reservoirs are understudied and overlooked for their fisheries production and management potential, indicates a study from the University of California, Davis.
In a small laboratory brimming with specialized tools, sophomore Jay Chen delicately handles a western meadowlark, its sunny yellow feathers create a peaceful warmth to the task at hand. Chen is preparing the bird specimen for its place at the UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, or MWFB.
The cool of the forest is a welcome escape on a hot day. This is especially true for mammals in North America’s hottest regions, according to a study from the University of California, Davis. The study indicates that, as the climate warms, preserving forest cover will be increasingly important for wildlife conservation.
Bird populations are in rapid decline across North America. While climate change is just one of the many factors influencing North American birds, its effects are significant and can interact with other stressors, such as habitat loss. A team of University of California, Davis, researchers found that the effects of extreme temperatures on avian reproduction can vary depending on the type of environment that birds call home.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries biologists are pursuing urgent measures this fall to save some of the last remaining Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon after the numbers returning from the ocean this year fell sharply toward extinction.
When Paulina González-Gómez was caught admiring baby birds chirping outside her classroom window, her third-grade teacher cautioned she wouldn’t make a living watching birds. Undeterred, she is now forging a career studying how changes in the environment influence the behavior, physiological traits and life cycles of birds.
With an extendable pole fitted with a small camera, Alison Ke could get a clear view of the inside of a nest box, including one time when a small, green Pacific parrotlet laid eggs. Ke, who earned a Ph.D. in ecology from UC Davis, led a research project to find out how converting rainforest to farmland affects the habitat of birds who rely on tree holes, or cavities, for nesting.
A group of researchers, which includes research affiliate Dr. John Trochet with the UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, has been working for the past 10 years to collect evidence that the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker is still in existence.
