http://ucanr.org/blogs/Green/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed UC work in natural resources, pest management, climate change and sustainable agriculture. en-us UC ANR http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/ Wed, 16 May 2012 07:56:42 PST Wed, 16 May 2012 07:56:42 PST UC ANR How wood is used after it is cleared from a forest and where that forest is located largely affects the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere, according to a new study by UC Davis. The study, published this week in the advance online edition of the journal Nature Climate Change, provides a deeper understanding of the complex global impacts of deforestation on carbon storage and greenhouse gas emissions. When trees are felled to create solid wood products, such as...
]]> Wed, 16 May 2012 07:56:41 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7500&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kekerlin@ucdavis.edu(Katherine E. Kerlin) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7500 When you drive around Yolo County farmlands, you may see them: a colorful mix of native forbs meant to attract bees and other beneficial insects. What's a forb? A forb is a broad-leaved herb (as opposed to grass) that commonly grows in a field, prairie, or meadow or alongside farmland. What's the best mix of native forbs? Native pollinator specialist Neal Williams, assistant professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, and research associate Kimiora Ward are researching which...
]]> Wed, 02 May 2012 08:15:58 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7395&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7395 Spring brings an abundance of phone calls with often panicked people wondering what to do about masses of bees that have moved into their neighborhoods. The arrival of a swarm of bees isn’t really great cause for alarm. Swarming is a natural means of colony reproduction. That’s how bee populations expand and move into new areas. Honey bees swarm when their hives become congested due to the rapid buildup of bees and stored food as temperatures warm in the spring. Swarms are usually gentle and...
]]> Tue, 01 May 2012 08:56:00 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7387&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed scmueller@ucanr.edu(Shannon C. Mueller) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7387 A pair of leading UC Davis experts will provide a rare glimpse into efforts to protect California biodiversity at a public lecture May 10, 4–6 p.m., in the UC Davis Conference Center. Lisa Thompson, a UC Cooperative Extension specialist and director of the Center for Aquatic Biology and Aquaculture, will discuss how the campus’ specialized aquatic laboratory plays a crucial role in research into endangered and threatened fish such as Delta smelt and green sturgeon. Ted Grosholz, an...
]]> Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:40:31 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7324&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jdstumbos@ucdavis.edu(John Stumbos) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7324 The California Energy Commission has awarded Biodiesel Industries of Ventura a $2 million grant for research and development of biodiesel fuel. A key issue with biofuel production has been the need for inexpensive feedstocks that do not compete with agricultural land use or food production. To develop low-impact feedstock suitable for underutilized land, the company is partnering with Stephen Kaffka, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis. Kaffka...
]]> Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:11:31 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7312&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed pam.kanrice@ucanr.edu(Pamela Kan-Rice) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7312 Due to their low-maintenance, low-input, environmentally friendly features, fineleaf fescue species are becoming increasingly popular choices in urban landscapes. All species of fineleaf fescues are perennial, cool-season grasses. Potential sites for these grasses include: slopes, median strips, golf course roughs, cemeteries, untrafficked areas of parks, and industrial, commercial and home landscapes. The UC publication No-Mow Fineleaf Fescue Grasses for California Urban Landscapes provides...
]]> Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:11:14 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=5764&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed cmwebb@ucdavis.edu(Chris M. Webb) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=5764 Whether you’re trying to garden at home more sustainably (minimizing water use or using pollinators), or whether you want the most up-to-date information on beautiful new plants, new gardening practices, or new hardiness zones, I have assembled some practical information for home gardeners. Arboretum All-Stars The horticultural staff of the UC Davis Arboretum have identified 100 tough, reliable plants for California that are easy to grow, don’t need a lot of water, have few problems with...
]]> Tue, 03 Apr 2012 21:58:08 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7192&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed afilmer@ucdavis.edu(Ann King Filmer) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7192 Poets have romantically suggested that a “weed is no more than a flower in disguise.” But when burning nettle, pigweed and purslane rob water, sunlight and nutrients from vegetables you are growing to make a living, weeds are a despised nemesis. For conventional growers, chemical herbicides have taken the drudgery out of weed control. For organic farmers, weeds continue to be a perennial headache. Many large-scale organic growers have turned to mechanical cultivators to dislodge weeds....
]]> Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:44:53 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7087&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucdavis.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7087 The arrival of spring heralds the return of bats to California’s Central Valley. Every year, hundreds of thousands migrate to this area. Some come from local areas where they hibernate; others species travel over 1,000 miles from their southern overwintering grounds. How bats find their way home is still a mystery, but studies on bat migration suggest they use a combination of factors such as the earth’s magnetic field, stars and landscapes.  Many bat species return to where they were born, and...
]]> Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:35:27 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7074&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed rflong@ucdavis.edu(Rachael Freeman Long) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7074 Drinking water is a commodity often taken for granted in the United States. When we turn on the tap, we assume the water streaming out is at least safe, if not always up to our individual taste. We expect that problems with our drinking water are isolated, temporary and newsworthy. Which may be one reason why a report released yesterday by UC Davis made headlines. According to the report, one in 10 people living in California’s most productive agricultural areas is at risk of exposure to...
]]> Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:12:20 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7029&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed bldawson@ucdavis.edu(Brenda Dawson) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7029 Many funding sources for weed eradication have been reduced or completely eliminated.  According to the California Assembly Budget Committee’s annual Preliminary Review of the Governor’s Proposed 2012-13 State Budget, the California Department of Food and Agriculture will absorb a permanent budget reduction of $12 million in program cuts, in addition to a $19 million budget reduction in 2011-12.  Funding for weed management areas (WMAs) has been reduced to the point that many WMAs have become...
]]> Wed, 07 Mar 2012 09:48:37 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6940&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed rmcripps@ucdavis.edu(Rebecca Miller-Cripps) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6940 UC scientists with the Sierra Nevada Adaptive Management Project (SNAMP) are investigating the uses of Lidar (light detection and ranging) in providing detailed information on how forest habitat is affected by fuels management treatments across a large landscape. Mapping forest structure can illustrate how a forest influences surface hydrology, provides for wildlife and how a forest might burn given certain weather and wind patterns. This research is proving useful in wildlife studies, water...
]]> Wed, 29 Feb 2012 08:28:13 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6830&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kcingram@ucdavis.edu(Kim Ingram) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6830 Sudden oak death (SOD) has been spreading among trees throughout coastal California and Oregon for the last 15 years. In that short time, the disease has infested 10 percent of California’s at-risk habitat and killed over a million tanoak and true oak trees, raising major concerns about the potential impacts of further pathogen spread. The disease is caused by the non-native pathogen Phytophthora ramorum. Research by UC Cooperative Extension staff in Humboldt County shows that infection and...
]]> Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:56:38 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6787&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed pam.kanrice@ucanr.edu(Pamela Kan-Rice) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6787 In a comprehensive study published in the January-March 2012 issue of the University of California’s California Agriculture journal, researchers evaluated the myriad factors that contribute to crop damage from Fusarium wilt, and conclude that an integrated management approach is most effective. “Management of Fusarium wilt requires an integrated approach that includes crop rotation to reduce soil inoculum levels and the use of resistant cultivars during the warmest planting windows,” wrote UC...
]]> Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:40:53 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6782&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jlbyron@ucdavis.edu(Janet Byron) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6782 Tree rings. Ice core records. Cave stalactites. All of these things tell the story of Earth’s history and climate. Now, a UC Davis researcher and others are expanding on that story from the ocean’s point of view. They just returned from scouring the seafloor — digging deep into layer upon layer of mud — to uncover centuries of climate data from beneath the ocean floor. UC Davis geophysicist Gary Acton is one of 34 international scientists that set sail from the Azores Islands on Nov. 17 aboard...
]]> Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:35:13 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6727&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kekerlin@ucdavis.edu(Katherine E. Kerlin) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6727 The closer homes are to open spaces – parks, stream and river corridors, forests and other natural lands – the higher the value of the homes in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. However, if homes are far from such open land, homebuyers tend to place an especially high value on lot size. These were some of the findings of research, which graduate student Monobina Mukherjee at UC Riverside conducted in collaboration with Linda Fernandez, a former associate professor in the UC Riverside...
]]> Wed, 25 Jan 2012 08:04:22 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6660&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucdavis.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6660 Thank you 185 times over!! The wildlife research team from the Sierra Nevada Adaptive Management Project recently put out a request for the donation of single socks. They use them to hold bait for their camera trap studies of the Pacific fisher. The response was overwhelming and the fisher research team would like to thank all of the people who sorted, dropped off or packaged, waited in line and mailed their recycled socks to them. Your commitment and follow through are remarkable! The team...
]]> Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:04:32 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6590&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed amlombardo@ucdavis.edu(Anne Lombardo) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6590 So you want to be a full-time commercial beekeeper and keep 1,000 colonies or more. Perhaps you want to sell honey and beeswax, rent your bees for commercial crop pollination, rear queen bees, or sell bulk bees. The newly published second edition of the Small Farm Handbook, which draws on the knowledge of 32 experts from the University of California, contains a wealth of information. The chapter, "Raising Animals," covers beekeeping as a business. “Costs to start a beekeeping business are...
]]> Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:26:46 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6564&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Keatley Garvey) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6564 Ranchers, environmentalists, researchers, and regulators will meet at UC Davis January 19-20 for the Range Research Symposium and California Rangeland Conservation Coalition Summit to explore new research and share varied interests and their common commitment to preserving California’s rangeland. “We’ll be looking at the latest rangeland science, practices, and collaborations that support the many public benefits we receive from rangelands,” said UC Cooperative Extension Watershed Specialist...
]]> Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:17:43 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6463&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jdstumbos@ucdavis.edu(John Stumbos) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6463 The amount of California farmland being cultivated using conservation tillage techniques is continuing to expand, according to a survey by California’s Conservation Agriculture Systems Institute (CASI). The survey tallies silage and grain corn; small grains for hay, silage and grain; tomatoes, cotton, dry beans, and melons managed as no-till, strip-till, ridge-till and mulch-till – which leave at least 30 percent of residue from the previous crops on the soil surface – in the nine-county...
]]> Wed, 21 Dec 2011 07:49:59 PST http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6447&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed jewarnert@ucdavis.edu(Jeannette E. Warnert) http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=6447