Foothill oak woodlands are among the most familiar ecosystems in California. Supporting deer and squirrels, acorn woodpeckers and oak moths, these habitats occupy tens of thousands of acres across the state. Yet change is coming to these widespread habitats. Like much of the West, California’s foothills are predicted to experience shifts in climate in coming […]
News
An island expedition
Santa Cruz Island Reserve, Sept. 25-29, 2018 The CHI team headed to the NRS’s Santa Cruz Island Reserve, located on California’s largest island, for our next site field scouting trip. On the third site visit in our series of 12, we are continuing to try to understand patterns and connections between freshwater availability and the […]
Tracking water through California ecosystems
OAKLAND, California—The University of California Natural Reserve System has received a $2.179 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to monitor the pulse of water through state ecosystems. The California Heartbeat Initiative-Freshwater (CHI-Freshwater) will link plant responses to environmental conditions such as heat waves, rainstorms, and drought on a landscape scale. The results will be […]