By Stuart Wolpert, UC Los Angeles University of California scientists are leading a $10 million conservation genomics project to help California officials make ecologically wise decisions as the state continues to confront the effects of climate change. The California Conservation Genomics Project, which is funded by the state, will involve conservation biologists, geneticists, ecologists and climate […]
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Field station planned for UC Merced’s Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve
UC Merced aims to build a field station to facilitate research and instruction on the NRS’s Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve.
Just add water—Sedgwick pond renewed
Many of California’s native species rely on human-built stock ponds for water. Impounding streams or low spots on the landscape, these ponds were built to supply cattle and other livestock. Now, however, they are often critical habitats for endangered amphibians and reptiles, as well as water-loving birds. The pond at the NRS’s Sedgwick Reserve in the […]
Measuring greenhouse gases on the go
By Sarah Nightingale, UC Riverside To pinpoint sources of air pollution across California, two UC Riverside professors are taking to the road. They’ll be traveling in the university’s new Mobile Isotope Laboratory, a Mercedes Benz transport van fitted with a suite of instruments that can measure the flux […]
NRS hosts earthquake warning system sensors
A major effort to warn Californians about impending earthquakes is coming to the NRS. Scientists from UC Berkeley are installing seismometers at four reserves this fall as part of an earthquake early warning (EEW) system for the entire West Coast. Called ShakeAlert, the system will detect the first rumbles of an earthquake, predict its intensity, […]
Online tool maps reserve species records
Every reserve in the UC Natural Reserve System comes with its own small universe of biological information. When scientists and other visitors collect reserve plants and animals to study, they also record the date, the exact location where it was found, and more information. The specimen may then get deposited in a museum, while […]
The Golden Forest
by Julie Cohen, UC Santa Barbara Situated between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the coastal plain to the north and the unique Northern Channel Islands archipelago to the south, the coastal zone of Southern California near Santa Barbara is especially alluring. A new children’s book, The Golden Forest (Muddy Boots, 2017), delves into […]