California condors accidentally eat fragments of lead ammunition in carcasses and gutpiles.

The battle over lead bullets is heating up in the US as those for and against their use both aim to settle the matter with pre-emptive strikes. On one side, 100 environmental groups petitioned the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in March 2012 to regulate the lead in recreational ammunition as a toxic substance. On the other side, a bill to prevent the EPA from doing so recently passed the US House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources… (more)

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2012

What’s your number?

A recent survey shows that about half of all non-commercial drivers in California change their vehicles’ motor oil far too often, thereby wasting resources and increasing pollution. “Most people don’t even think about it”, says Mark Oldfield, spokesman for the state’s Department of Resources Recycling and Recover… (more)

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2012

Rice fields provide a welcome for shorebirds

With most of California’s natural wetlands gone, millions of migrating waterbirds now depend on the state’s vast rice fields. This fall, 70 rice farmers in the northern Central Valley began making their land more bird-friendly, thanks to a $2.68-million US Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA NRCS) pilot project. “Rice fields already provide excellent wildlife habitat, and a little more effort by growers will make a lot more habitat”, says Alan Forkey… (more)

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2011

International trade in Monterey cypresses caused a pandemic

Massive die-offs of Italian cypresses from Portugal to Greece have been linked to California’s Monterey cypresses, solving a long-standing puzzle in the world of plant pathology and surprising the researchers. “When I was a student, this was one of the big mysteries”, says UC Berkeley’s Matteo Garbelotto... (more)

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2011

Noxious invasives like this European beachgrass could spread along the California coast

As global temperatures rise, the exotic grasses that currently dominate California’s hot interior are likely to expand into its cooler ecosystems, according to a new study. “Warming temperatures should favor exotics everywhere, but a given warming should matter more in a cold area”, explains lead author Brody Sandel of Aarhus University (Denmark).

The state’s cool areas, notably the north coast and mid-elevation mountains, are richest in native grasses and lowest in exotics… (more)

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2011

This California native bee pollinates manzanitas — and blueberries

Wild bees do far more for California agriculture than expected, fertilizing up to 40% of pollinator-dependent crops and thus providing up to $2.4 billion in ecosystem services. “We were surprised by how much native bees can provide — it’s much higher than other estimates…” (more)

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2011

Dying tanoaks in Sonoma County

One of the biggest challenges in controlling sudden oak death is that prevention is the best treatment, but most efforts begin only after trees are already infected. “People don’t deal with this disease except in crisis mode,” says Janice Alexander, outreach coordinator for the California Oak Mortality Task Force. “We’re trying to reach people on the leading edge of the pathogen before it’s a crisis…” (more)

The UC Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program (IHRMP) was born 20 years ago out of controversy over managing California’s 10 million acres of oak woodlands. Back then, major concerns included poor oak regeneration and ongoing woodland losses. “The question was, what to do about it?” says IHRMP director James Bartolome, a UC Berkeley range ecologist. “State regulation or research and outreach?”… (more)

California Agriculture, 2007

Tahoe is one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, with such clear blue water that you could once see to depths of more than 100 feet. But Lake Tahoe’s extraordinary clarity has declined for half a century and today you can usually only see to depths of about 70 feet… (more)

California Agriculture, 2006