By Sarah Nightingale, UC Riverside UC Riverside alumnus and friend Arthur D. (Art) Riggs, a pioneering researcher and expert in diabetes who helped launch the biotechnology industry, died March 23, 2022. He was 82. A world-renowned geneticist at City of Hope in Duarte, Calif., for 53 years, Riggs’ discoveries have impacted the lives of diabetes, […]
Blog Post
SHIFT campaign links plant biodiversity and health with NASA’s remote sensing technology
By Kathleen Wong, UC Natural Reserve System NASA is ground-truthing data generated by its next-generation earth imaging technology with a major research campaign hosted at three Central California NRS reserves. The SHIFT (Surface Biology and Geology High Frequency Time Series) project marries high-definition remote sensing efforts with actual samples of land plants, plankton, and kelp […]
NRS establishes research compact with Chilean university reserves
By Kathleen Wong, UC Natural Reserve System The UC Natural Reserve System is expanding its international connections by establishing an agreement with the regional centers and field stations (RCER) of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC Chile). The agreement, the first between the NRS and another system of field stations, paves the way for exchange […]
Beach hoppers feed island foxes
By Sonia Fernandez, UC Santa Barbara Island foxes are masters of survival. Having lived and evolved on the windswept, rugged and relatively remote Channel Islands off the coast of California for thousands of years, the cat-sized canids have quite a few tricks up their sleeves. Their small size, for one, is an adaptation to their […]
2022 Field Science Fellows
By Kathleen Wong, UC Natural Reserve System When wildfires rage, fire retardants can slow or stop the spread of flames. These chemical mixes are often sprayed over large swaths of land, coating entire hillsides in stripes of yellow or red. In recent years, millions of gallons of fire retardants have been dropped in a single […]
Retired Riverside faculty fund Advancing Inclusivity Internship
By Kathleen Wong, UC Natural Reserve System Thanks to a gift from retired UC Riverside faculty, the UC Riverside Natural Reserve System is offering an internship for undergraduates to participate in summer field research at one or more of the campus’s natural reserves. The Advancing Inclusivity Internship will provide diverse students from Southern California universities […]
Following rain, desert microbes exhale potent greenhouse gas
By Jules Bernstein, UC Riverside New research at two UC Natural Reserves shows how, after it rains, microbes in desert soil convert one form of pollution into another—laughing gas. No laughing matter, nitrous oxide or N2O is the third most potent greenhouse gas. Scientists conducting the research were surprised to measure N2O production in the […]
A tale of two fishes
By Kathleen Wong, UC Natural Reserve System Deciphering how species interact with other organisms and their environment is the bread and butter of ecologists. For rare or threatened species, understanding which factors enable populations to boom or bust isn’t just academic; the answers can mean the difference between sound population management and species extinction. These […]