The good news for Sacramento Valley growers considering avocados is that U.S. consumption has mushroomed to nearly 2.5 billion pounds a year, and doubling every decade, as this versatile fruit has been discovered as a delicious, heart-healthy source of cholesterol-free fat. The sobering news, however, is that though the trees produce an impressive abundance of…
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Scientists have successfully sequenced the coast redwood and giant sequoia genomes, completing the first major milestone of a five-year project to develop the tools necessary to study these forests’ genomic diversity. The research partners, composed of the University of California, Davis, Johns Hopkins University and the Save the Redwoods League, are making the data publicly…
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A new book, The Conifers: Genomes, Variation and Evolution, by David B. Neale and Nicholas C. Wheeler is now available. Authors David B. Neale is a distinguished professor in the Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis. His research expertise is the genomics of forest trees. Along with his research and teaching, he is editor-in-chief of…
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California produces 99 percent of the walnuts grown in the United States. New research could provide a major boost to the state’s growing $1.6 billion walnut industry by making it easier to breed walnut trees better equipped to combat the soil-borne pathogens that now plague many of California’s 4,800 growers. In a new study, a…
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Mars, Incorporated is developing a research and development facility in Davis, California, and will partner with UC Davis scientists (faculty and students) on developing improved cacao strains. David Mackill, director of Cocoa Genetics and Breeding at Mars, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, has been part of the…
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Did you ever pass an orchard with branches bursting with flowers and wonder how the trees “know” when to blossom or bear fruit all at the same time? Or perhaps you’ve walked through the woods, crunching loads of acorns underfoot one year but almost none the next year. Scientists from the University of California, Davis,…
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Louise Ferguson, UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences and UC ANR, received the 2017 Outstanding Extension Educator Award from the American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS). Ferguson is a UC Cooperative Extension Specialist and faculty member, starting in the Department of Pomology in 1984, then joining the Department of Plant Sciences when pomology merged into…
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Summary: Tree-line species are shifting in the Great Basin of the U.S. Limber pine trees are ‘leapfrogging,’ slowly, over ancient bristlecone pines upslope. If limber pine trees block bristlecones from advancing upslope, bristlecones could face local extirpations. * * * * * Bristlecone pine and limber pine trees in the Great Basin region are like…
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Quick Summary Trees in the driest, densest forests are most vulnerable to dying in extreme drought Effects of extreme drought on forests can take years to surface High tree mortality rates likely to continue as drought effects linger Why do some trees die in a drought and others don’t? And how can we predict where…
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Quick summary Only about half of conifer trees regenerated five to seven years after wildfire in sites studied. Study spanned 10 national forests and 4 burned areas in California. Study presents tool to help foresters prioritize which lands to plant after a wildfire. A study spanning 10 national forests and 14 burned areas in California…
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