Research
Oak killing mold spreads in East Bay
The funguslike pathogen that causes sudden oak death is showing up more frequently at lower elevations in the Oakland hills. But the disease remains patchy and has not spread as aggressively.
Bay Area Sudden Oak Cases Jump, Survey Says
The Forest Pathology and Mycology Laboratory at UC Berkeley used 10,000 tree and plant samples collected by 500 citizens between April and June this year and found that sudden oak death is spreading rapidly throughout the Bay Area.
The science of wildland fires
The Stephens Lab and the Moritz Lab understand the importance of fire in many ecosystems and study the science of fire from a holistic perspective.
The evolution of the orchid and the orchid bee
A new study in Science led by Santiago Ramirez , post-doctoral researcher in theTsutsui Lab, has found that the orchid bee evolved at least 12 millions years earlier than the orchid.
Bees outpace orchids in evolution
Orchid bees aren’t so dependent on orchids after all, according to a new study that challenges the prevailing view of how plants and their insect pollinators evolve together.
New paper co-authored by Damian Elias describes how hummingbird feathers 'sing' during courtship
Professor Damian Elias identifies the cause of sounds made by some hummingbird species during courtship.
The rare and endangered Siberian White Crane
Professor Peng Gong and PhD student Iryna Dronova are applying remote sensing, GIS, and field surveys to study the seasonal variation in plant functional types that not only provide critical habitat but are key players in Poyang lake’s biogeochemical cycles.
Science-based ranch management
PhD student Sheri Spiegal and the Range Ecology Lab, under the leadership of Professor James Bartolome, are measuring vegetation change across space and time in Tejon Ranch’s grasslands and isolating environmental factors driving the change.
Gene sleuths trace tree-killing pathogen back to California
UC Berkeley and the Italian National Research Council showed that the pathogen responsible for cypress canker disease, has lived and thrived in California for a long time.
Scavenger behavior and disease dynamics
Getz lab member Steve Bellan is looking at how the behavior of scavengers, like the black-backed jackals, contributes to the dynamics of infectious diseases.
Anthrax outbreaks in nature
Steve Bellan, a Ph.D. student in the Getz Lab, uses a combination of dynamic modeling and field work to gain insight into how host movement and social behavior contribute to the epidemiologic dynamics of infectious diseases.
There's something in the California air
UC scientists built and worked in towers as part of the largest single atmospheric research effort in the state. The data they've collected will guide policymakers dealing with air pollution.
At the interplay between landscape and life
Graduate student Sarah Reed of the Amundson Lab, studies the exchanges and feedbacks between terra firma and the organisms that move and live within it.
Environmental impacts of oil spills
Graduate student Thomas Azwell's research focuses on a better understanding of the environmental impacts of oil spills and innovating better technologies for oil spill response, remediation and restoration.
Research focuses on the influence of a highly invasive tree on frugivore foraging
Graduate student Erica Spotswood's research investigates how the introduction of non-native frugivores and fruit-bearing plants on oceanic islands has altered seed dispersal relationships between birds and plants.
Study done in the Sierra Nevada has implications for how foresters manage tree density
The Blodgett Forest Research Station in the Sierra Nevada mountains is part of a study designed to find out how trees respond to different levels of competition for resources (light, water, and nutrients).
A grandmother in Inner Mongolia talks about life as a herder
Professor Li Wenjun of Peking University and Professor Lynn Huntsinger of ESPM have collaborated on studies of the impacts of policies that seek to reduce sand storms and improve the lives of herders in Inner Mongolia.
The neural origins of shell structure and pattern in aquatic mollusks
ESPM professor George Oster and colleagues presented a model to explain how the diversity of shell shapes and patterns amongst the marine mollusks arise from the neural net in their mantle—the secretory organ that constructs and paints the shell.
The driest place on earth
ESPM scientist Ronald Amundson and his colleagues are using field research and chemical techniques to determine how old the desert is, how the landscape has evolved during millions of years of near-lifelessness, and how microbial life has adapted to these harsh conditions.
Ecosystems take hard hit from loss of top predators
A paper reviewing the impact of the loss of large predators and herbivores high in the food chain confirms that their decline has had cascading effects in marine, terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems throughout the world.