For decades, ecologists have toiled to nail down principles explaining why some habitats have many more plant and animal species than others. Much of this debate is focused on the idea that the number of species is determined by the productivity of the habitat. Shouldn’t a patch of prairie contain a different number of species […]
Blog Post
Bracing for a Heat Wave
California is getting hot under the collar. Average temperatures in the Golden State have been on the rise for 90 years. Nighttime heat waves have become more prevalent and more severe since 1990. These trends are likely to intensify, say scientists. Up to nine record-breaking heat waves are expected to hit the western United States […]
The Fog Factor
It’s summer in San Francisco, and a tide of white has washed ashore from the Pacific. The windmills at Ocean Beach were the first to go under; then the glass walls of the Financial District lost their glint. Across the bay, residents as far away as the Berkeley hills are bracing for a four-day immersion. […]
2012 Mildred E. Mathias Student Research Grant Awards
Calling all University of California graduate students! The UC Natural Reserve System’s Mildred E. Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant Program is now accepting applications for 2011-2012 awards. The program provides support for work at any of the 37 sites in the UC Natural Reserve system. All graduate students currently enrolled at any general campus in […]
Sedgwick Reserve Telescope Spots ‘Once in a Generation’ Supernova
A supernova discovered Wednesday is closer to Earth –– approximately 21 million light years away –– than any other of its kind in a generation. Astronomers believe they caught the supernova within hours of its explosion using a telescope at the NRS’s Sedgwick Reserve near Santa Barbara. Identifying a supernova explosion immediately after the event […]
Radar Detects Early Tsunami Signs
A high-frequency radar array detected the March 11 tsunami that devastated Japan as it swept toward shore. The detection raises hopes for the development of a new early warning system, a Bodega Marine Laboratory oceanographer said. It was the first time a tsunami has been observed on radar, said Professor John Largier, an oceanographer at […]
Rapid Evolution a Recipe for Success
New research conducted at the NRS’s Motte Rimrock Reserve shows that evolution – genetic changes in populations over time – can occur so rapidly in organisms that its impact on population numbers and other aspects of biology can be seen within just a few generations. The research, published online Aug. 9 in Ecology Letters, the […]
NRS Spearheads Mediterranean Ecosystems Protection Group
California is prized for its hot, dry summers and mellow, rainy winters. These mild climate conditions exist in only four other regions around the world—South Africa’s western cape, central Chile, southwestern Australia, and the Mediterranean Basin itself—making them magnets for human development. Though covering just 2 percent of all dry land, these areas are home […]