In hotter, drier areas where natural regeneration is weaker, well-timed tree planting can boost post-fire forest recovery by up to 200 percent, according to research by Andrew Latimer and Derek Young, in the Department of Plant Sciences.
The extent of reduced severity of these second fires, or reburns, and the duration of the moderating effect, varies by climate, forest type and other factors. But initial fires continue to mitigate future severity even during extreme weather, such as wind, high temperatures and drought, according to research published in the journal Ecological Applications.
New research from the University of California, Davis, published in the journal Global Change Biology Bioenergy, examines the good and bad uses of biomass and the best pathways to meet California’s goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 85 percent of 1990 levels by 2045.
Sometimes, science has to happen when the opportunity presents itself. It can't wait for the scientist to develop a rigorous theoretical framework or apply for funding. And sometimes, that opportunity leads to unexpected and rich collaboration across disciplines.
Two Department of Plant Sciences faculty members, Valerie Eviner and Mary Cadenasso, contributed to this study in a suprising way that speaks to the collaboration possible at UC Davis. Read their story here.
Natural disasters don't just happen anymore. In a new paper, UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences Prof. Mary L. Cadenasso and colleagues offer a framework for understanding the connection between natural processes and human activity and how they combine to create human-natural disasters.
