Plants accustomed to accessing smaller amounts of moisture stored in underground rock formations are more resilient to drought conditions.
Related Articles: Angelo Coast Range Reserve
Angelo soils yield potential antibiotics
By Robert Sanders, UC Berkeley Soil, the source of our best antibiotics, can be more thoroughly mined for new drugs and other useful chemicals with the help of metagenomics. In a paper appearing June 13 in the journal Nature, UC Berkeley researchers report sequencing the genomes of every microbe in a teaspoon of soil from the […]
Hidden ‘rock moisture’ may be key to tree survival during drought
by Robert Sanders, UC Berkeley An oft-neglected layer of weathered rock underlying the soil on hillslopes could be a significant reservoir for water, providing critical moisture for trees during droughts, according to a new study by scientists from UC Berkeley and the University of Texas at Austin. William Dietrich, a professor of earth and planetary […]
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 […]
Baird award supports research at Berkeley NRS reserves
A new award program has been established to supportresearchby UC Berkeley graduate students at NRS reserves. The Carol Baird Graduate Student Award for Field Research will fund UC Berkeley graduate students conducting field research based in or around Angelo Coast Range Reserve, Blue Oak Ranch Reserve, Hastings Natural History Reservation, Point Reyes Field Station, and Sagehen Creek […]
NRS on Open Road TV
The scenic and scientific glories of the NRS will grace TV airwaves next Sunday, July 24, on an episode of Open Road with Doug McConnell. The longtime Bay Area television host takes viewers on journeys to explore the natural, historical and cultural treasures of the Bay Area and California. The show focuses on parks and open spaces protected […]
The critical zone: where life happens
by Jennifer Huber, Berkeley Engineering Science isn’t generally considered an extreme sport, but you wouldn’t know that by watching researchers in the Eel River Critical Zone Observatory scale hundred-foot-tall trees and wade through rushing rivers. “The job description includes diving, swimming and snorkeling,” says hydrologist Sally Thompson, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, “along […]
2015-16 Mathias Grants awarded
Fourteen University of California graduate students have been awarded 2015-16 Mildred E. Mathias Graduate Student Research Grants from the UC Natural Reserve System. The students, from six different UC campuses, each received up to $3,000 to fund field projects at 24 different NRS reserves. Virtually all of this year’s successful proposals will study ecology, evolution, […]