Researcher Wendy Baxter was featured in this Forbes article on the effects of California's drought on giant sequoias. Baxter, who is in ESPM professor Todd Dawson's lab, climbs these trees -- some of which are almost 300 feet tall -- to collect samples for this collaborative research project. She shares her research into how climate change affects these trees in the accompanying bioGraphic video.
Atlantic CityLab | February 24, 2017
ESPM professor George Roderick is featured in this CityLab article on San Francisco's populations of fruit flies. Roderick, who is the curator of invasive species at the Essig Museum, noted that "they likely do well here because of our relatively mild climate and abundance of fruit in markets, stores, restaurants, kitchens, but also outside in yards and gardens.”
Daily Californian | February 22, 2017
ESPM undergrad Grace Treffinger commented in this Daily Californian article on the capital improvement projects across campus. Treffinger, who recently became involved with the effort to preserve the Oxford Tract, said that although the Oxford Tract development is expected to house the most students of all the sites the university has proposed for dorms, she felt that other potential sites had not been adequately considered.
NBC Bay Area | February 17, 2017
ESPM visiting scholar and alum Seth Shonkoff (Ph.D. '12) comments in this NBC Bay Area article on the use of produced water (byproduct of oil extraction) in agriculture fields. “From a food safety perspective, the thing we’re most concerned about,” says Shonkoff, “is whether these chemicals are going to migrate from the water into the plant, and particularly into the edible portion of the plant.”
Phys.org | February 16, 2017
ESPM professor Neil Tsutsui is highlighted in this Phys.org article on honey bee origins, research that could be useful in breeding bees resistant to disease or pesticides. The study combined two large existing databases to provide the most comprehensive sampling yet of honey bees in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
Daily Californian | February 15, 2017
ESPM visiting scholar and National Park Service Principal Climate Change Scientist Patrick Gonzalez is highlighted in the Daily Californian for his work on a recently published research on the applications of paleontology in climate biology, which will help direct the NPS's conservation efforts. “We are developing plans for managing the National Parks under climate change,” Gonzalez noted. “To do that we need more information on the sensitivity of plants and wildlife and other resources to climate change.”
The Guardian | February 14, 2017
ESPM visiting scholar and NPS Principal Climate Change Scientist Patrick Gonzalez is featured in this Guardian article on the future of the National Park system. Gonzalez noted that the NPS is tackling the issue of climate change in part by adapting its management of the parks to cope with how things might look under climate change rather than trying to maintain them as pictures of the past.
Daily Californian | February 12, 2017
CNR alum Joseph Hurlimann (B.S. '61, M.S. '64, Ph.D. '74) was remembered in this Daily Californian obituary. Hurlimann, who was part of the first class to graduate from CNR, worked as a lab technician under Robert Raabe, a former campus plant pathology professor, for almost 20 years. PMB professor Steve Lindow noted Hurlimann was "the heart and soul of (Raabe's) plant disease control lab."
News Deeply/Water Deeply | February 03, 2017
ESPM professor Todd Dawson is featured in this Water Deeply article on oak tree landscapes in Central California.
MIT Technology Review | January 31, 2017
ERG professor Dan Kammen commented in this MIT Technology Review article on reports that the Trump administration intends to shut down or slash resources for select Department of Energy programs. As the administration has a focus on job creation and careers in solar and wind are among the fast-growing job sectors in the US economy, Kammen noted that common sense shows that "if you can leave ideology behind, which I don't think this administration seems able to do, we know these things create jobs."