Research
Pamela, activist and leader who tirelessly works to improve her community’s health in rural Kenya
Pamela’s background as a community health worker has been useful for graduate student Katie Fiorella, whose research focuses on the link between wildlife harvest and health outcomes.
Graduate student Thomas Azwell's research spurred by Gulf oil spill
Graduate student Thomas Azwell is deeply influenced by the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and is helping to restore the Gulf’s blackened marshes with a project that could also aid threatened ecosystems nationwide, including in Northern California.
The Salton Sea: an ecological disaster
Once one of the most productive ecosystems in North America, hosting 100 million fish, the Salton Sea is now impaired and Selenium (Se) is one of the constituents that threaten its health.
Diversified Farming Systems: finding solutions to pressing agriculture-related issues
The Berkeley Center for Diversified Farming Systems, which includes many of our department's faculty and students, brings together interdisciplinary researchers, writers, and practitioners to find solutions to launch the next generation of agricultural leaders.
Can 'Carbon Ranching' Offset Emissions In California?
Professors Whendee Silver and Dennis Baldocchi speak with NPR correspondent Christopher Joyce about 'carbon ranching'.
Scientists Propose Thinning Sierra Forests to Enhance Water Runoff
Runoff from the Sierra Nevada, a critical source of California’s water supply, could be enhanced by thinning forests, according to a report from University of California, Merced, UC Berkeley and Environmental Defense.
Taking bushmeat off the menu could increase child anemia
Hundreds of millions of people worldwide consume bushmeat a key source of bio-available iron, particularly for those living in rural communities. But when the menu includes endangered species, human nutritional needs must contend with efforts to manage wildlife resources.
Study: Without Action, SF Bay Tidal Marshes Will Disappear
An alarming 93 percent of San Francisco Bay’s tidal marsh could be lost in the next 50 to 100 years with 5.4 feet (1.65 meters) of sea-level rise and low sediment availability, according to a new study led by PRBO Conservation Science (PRBO).
Feeding the world: It's all about starting small
The Berkeley Center for Diversified Farming Systems brings together researchers, writers, and practictioners to focus on feeding the world's growing population, while addressing poverty and lack of access to land.
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.