Habitat Content

Black Phoebe Project Aims to Protect Bird Species from Urban Sprawl

Amy M Quinton — August 19, 2024 - 12:26am

A tiny songbird called the black phoebe is trying to adapt to city life – and it’s not an easy job. They didn’t naturally evolve in the city, and they face different threats than they might in their natural habitat. Black phoebes may encounter tougher predators, more chemical pollution and hotter temperatures in the city.

Natural Habitat Around Farms a Win for Strawberry Growers, Birds and Consumers

Katherine E Kerlin — March 11, 2020 - 11:08am

Conserving natural habitat around strawberry fields can help protect growers’ yields, their bottom line and the environment with no detectable threat to food safety, indicates a study led by the University of California, Davis.

Natural Habitat Can Help Farmers Control Pests, But Not Always a Win-Win

Katherine E Kerlin — July 30, 2018 - 11:54am

Songbirds and coffee farms in Central America. Ladybugs and soybean fields in the Midwest. These are well-known, win-win stories of how conserving natural habitat can benefit farmers.

But an international team of authors led by the University of California, Davis, found that natural habitat surrounding farm fields is not always an effective pest-control tool for farmers worldwide. Their analysis is published the week of July 30 in the journal PNAS.

Species May Appear Deceptively Resilient to Climate Change

Katherine E Kerlin — November 22, 2017 - 11:15am

Nature itself can be the best defense against climate change for many species — at least in the short term — according to a study published today (Nov. 22) in the journal Ecology Letters from the University of California, Davis.

5 Critical Concepts for Sustainable Solar Energy

Katherine E Kerlin — September 01, 2017 - 11:45am

To both advance solar energy and conservation goals over fossil-fuel use, a study led by University of California, Davis, ecologists helps clarify the benefits, trade-offs and interactions between renewable energy systems and the environment.

Climate Change and Habitat Conversion Combine to Homogenize Nature

Katherine E Kerlin — August 18, 2017 - 3:51pm

Climate change and habitat conversion to agriculture are working together to homogenize nature, indicates a study in the journal Global Change Biology led by the University of California, Davis.

In other words, the more things change, the more they are the same.

While the individual impacts of climate change and habitat conversion on wildlife are well-recognized, little is known about how species respond to both stressors at once.

Endangered Amargosa Voles Need More Than a Rainy Day

Katherine E Kerlin — June 05, 2017 - 1:57pm

Despite the welcome rains in California this year, the fate of endangered Amargosa voles that depend on rare marshes in the Mojave Desert remains dire, with only about 500 animals remaining in the wild and most of their habitat degraded or dying. Yet techniques to modify vole habitat could create sustainable patches for them to live.

Wild bees decline where crop pollination most needed, study finds

IET WebDev — December 21, 2015 - 12:00am

Wild bee populations have declined significantly since 2008 in Central California and some other key areas of the United States, according to a newly published study co-authored by �°��ϲ��Ļ��Ϣ Davis researchers.

The new study suggests that wild bee populations likely declined in areas comprising 23 percent of the nation between 2008 and 2013, a decline associated with conversion of natural wild bee habitat into intensive agriculture.