by Mario Aguilera, UC San Diego An unprecedented study integrating data from around the globe has shown that honey bees are the world’s most important single species of pollinator in natural ecosystems and a key contributor to natural ecosystem functions. The first quantitative analysis of its kind, led by biologists at the University of California […]
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Science to safeguard species
UC Natural Reserve System lands are home to dozens of vulnerable animal and plant species. These range from some of the state’s rarest amphibians to endemic plants to icons of the West such as bighorn sheep. Studies conducted at the 39 reserves of the NRS informs how these species are managed, which helps preserve the […]
From buzz pollination to seal bones: the 2017-18 Mathias Grant awards
Does the personality of a ground squirrel affect its foraging style? Which microbes live in harvester ant guts? What drives the production of Daphnia “superfleas” ? University of California graduate students aim to answer these natural mysteries and more with funding from the UC Natural Reserve System’s 2017-18 Mildred E. Mathias Graduate Student Research Grant […]
Tracking water through California ecosystems
OAKLAND, California—The University of California Natural Reserve System has received a $2.179 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to monitor the pulse of water through state ecosystems. The California Heartbeat Initiative-Freshwater (CHI-Freshwater) will link plant responses to environmental conditions such as heat waves, rainstorms, and drought on a landscape scale. The results […]
Stephanie Rosas, UC Santa Cruz
I’m a range management intern. The ranches occupy much of the park space. I’m going out on almost every one and have been able to explore so much while at work. I’m in the process of measuring residual dry matter on the ranches that have leases to graze cattle. It’s a way to monitor […]
Michele Maybee, UC Berkeley
I’m the archaeology intern here at Point Reyes. This summer I’ve probably done over 50 condition assessments of different prehistoric and historic sites in the park. Mainly the park’s mission is preserving the sites. A lot of times we’re monitoring to see how well the site is stabilized. We would like them all […]
Stella Yuan, UC San Diego
I’m the wildlife intern. Going into the internship I thought I’d only be focusing on the research of maybe just one species. But I’ve been dipping my toes in a lot of different projects. They’re doing spotted owl surveys, they have a bat research project going on, and we’ve also done monitoring of western pond […]
Diana Tataru, UC Santa Cruz
I’m working with the range management office here at the park. We work with the ranches. A lot of that is restoration work—making sure that the cattle are in areas where they should be, fencing off riparian areas, and planting riparian native plants. Heavy cattle use can really enhance invasive plant abundance and then […]