Two researchers who recently named the first new species of mushroom from the UC Berkeley campus in more than 30 years are emphasizing the need for continued green and open space on campus, as well as a full-fledged catalog of all North American mushroom species.
Fungal Spore Regenerates Forests
An extensive study by a UC Berkeley graduate student has found that a rich, fungal spore bank under the devastating Rim Fire two years ago remained intact and sparked the rebirth of new plants, trees and seedlings.
Berkeley to Lead $12.3M Study of Crop Drought Tolerance
UC Berkeley is leading a $12.3 million project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to examine the role of epigenetics in allowing plants to survive in drought conditions, an increasing concern for agriculture as the effects of climate change are felt in California and globally.
Berkeley Ranked Top Environment/Ecology University by U.S. News
In U.S. News & World Report‘s “Best Global Universities Rankings,” published this week, UC Berkeley tops the list in Environment/Ecology.
To the Rescue: Berkeley Names Faculty Climate Action Champion
Whendee Silver might not think of herself as an action hero, but the professor of environmental science, policy and management today was named UC Berkeley’s first Faculty Climate Action Champion.
How to beat the climate crisis? Start with carrots
To speed up progress in tackling climate change, policymakers need to build political support by investing in clean-energy industries rather than first penalizing polluters, according to a new policy paper by UC Berkeley researchers.
Millet Project shows grain isn’t just for the birds
Amrita Hazra, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, is on a mission — to introduce people to the benefits of eating millet, which primarily is used in the United States in bird feed.
Free Trade for Green Trade
In the run-up to the Paris talks at the end of the year, governments are preparing their strategies to negotiate national emissions reduction targets. But elsewhere, a different battle is unfolding as firms and governments compete to try to capture the benefits of the rise of the new green economy.
Clearing habitat surrounding farm fields fails to reduce pathogens
The effort to improve food safety by clearing wild vegetation surrounding crops is not helping, and in some cases may even backfire, according to a new study led by researchers at UC Berkeley.
Napolitano names Glenda Humiston to head Agriculture and Natural Resources
University of California President Janet Napolitano will propose to the UC Board of Regents that they approve a veteran administrator with decades of experience in agriculture, natural resources, and sustainability as the next leader of the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, she announced today (July 10).
Newfound groups of bacteria are mixing up the tree of life
University of California, Berkeley, scientists have identified more than 35 new groups of bacteria, clarifying a mysterious branch of the tree of life that has been hazy because these microbes can’t be reared and studied in the lab.
Putting Energy Savings Programs to the Test
A $5-billion Weatherization Assistance Program offered ARE faculty the opportunity to study the effectiveness of such energy efficiency efforts.
Environment takes big hit from water-intensive marijuana cultivation
The debate over the legalization of marijuana has focused primarily on questions of law, policy and health. But a new paper co-authored by UC Berkeley researchers shines a spotlight on the environment as an underappreciated victim of the plant’s growing popularity as a cash crop.
DFS postdoc Liz Carlisle wins Green Book Award
Liz Carlisle, a postdoc at the Berkeley Center for Diversified Farming Systems, won the Green Book Festival award for general non-fiction for her book, The Lentil Underground.
Claire Kremen discusses pollinators on KQED's Forum
ESPM Professor Claire Kremen is one of three panelists on KQED's Forum program addressing the decline in bee populations and steps being taken to mitigate the problem.
Ian Sussex, Influential Plant Development Biologist, Is Dead at 88
A Remembrance Gathering will be held 11 a.m., June 13 at Yale University.
Glaunsinger appointed 2015 Howard Hughes Medical Investigator
The PMB associate professor wins prestigious long-term research support.
New bootcamp on spatial data science
We live in a world where the importance of spatial data is ever increasing. Many of the societal challenges we face today — fire response, energy distribution, land use, food scarcity, privacy and safety — are associated with big spatial data.
Soil depletion threatens global food security, study says
If the alarming trajectory of soil depletion does not change, soil erosion, combined with the effects of climate change, will present a huge risk to global food security over the next century, warns a review paper authored by some of the top soil scientists in the country.
Citizen science helps predict spread of sudden oak death
Efforts to predict the emergence and spread of sudden oak death, an infectious tree-killing disease, have gotten a big boost from the work of citizen scientists.