MISSION STATEMENT: The UC Natural Reserve System is a network of protected natural areas throughout California. Its 39 sites include more than 756,000 acres, making it the largest university-administered reserve system in the world. Most major state ecosystems are represented, from coastal tidepools to inland deserts, and lush wetlands to Sierra Nevada forests. The reserves also serve as a gateway to more than a million acres of public lands. Founded in 1965 to provide undisturbed...

MISSION STATEMENT: The UC Natural Reserve System is a network of protected natural areas throughout California. Its 39 sites include more than 756,000 acres, making it the largest university-administered reserve system in the world. Most major state ecosystems are represented, from coastal tidepools to inland deserts, and lush wetlands to Sierra Nevada forests. The reserves also serve as a gateway to more than a million acres of public lands. Founded in 1965 to provide undisturbed...

The UC Natural Reserve System is a network of protected natural areas throughout California. Its 39 sites include more than 756,000 acres, making it the largest university-administered reserve system in the world. Most major state ecosystems are represented, from coastal tidepools to inland deserts, and lush wetlands to Sierra Nevada forests. The reserves also serve as a gateway to more than a million acres of public lands. Founded in 1965 to provide undisturbed environments for...

MISSION STATEMENT: The UC Natural Reserve System is a network of protected natural areas throughout California. Its 39 sites include more than 756,000 acres, making it the largest university-administered reserve system in the world. Most major state ecosystems are represented, from coastal tidepools to inland deserts, and lush wetlands to Sierra Nevada forests. The reserves also serve as a gateway to more than a million acres of public lands. Founded in 1965 to provide undisturbed...

MISSION STATEMENT: The UC Natural Reserve System is a network of protected natural areas throughout California. Its 39 sites include more than 756,000 acres, making it the largest university-administered reserve system in the world. Most major state ecosystems are represented, from coastal tidepools to inland deserts, and lush wetlands to Sierra Nevada forests. The reserves also serve as a gateway to more than a million acres of public lands. Founded in 1965 to provide undisturbed...

MISSION STATEMENT: The UC Natural Reserve System is a network of protected natural areas throughout California. Its 39 sites include more than 756,000 acres, making it the largest university-administered reserve system in the world. Most major state ecosystems are represented, from coastal tidepools to inland deserts, and lush wetlands to Sierra Nevada forests. The reserves also serve as a gateway to more than a million acres of public lands. Founded in 1965 to provide undisturbed...

MISSION STATEMENT: The UC Natural Reserve System is a network of protected natural areas throughout California. Its 39 sites include more than 756,000 acres, making it the largest university-administered reserve system in the world. Most major state ecosystems are represented, from coastal tidepools to inland deserts, and lush wetlands to Sierra Nevada forests. The reserves also serve as a gateway to more than a million acres of public lands. Founded in 1965 to provide undisturbed...

This dataset contains the project files and data output for the publication: Bailey, Brian; Ponce de León, María; Krayenhoff, E. Scott (2019), One-dimensional models of radiation transfer in heterogeneous canopies: A review, re-evaluation, and improved model. The file main.cpp contains the main program that sets up and runs the simulations. Output files are stored in the 'output' directory. The current version of the Helios source code can be downloaded at https://www.github.com/PlantSimulationLab/Helios

Joint trauma results in the production of inflammatory cytokines that stimulate the secretion of catabolic enzymes which degrade articular cartilage. Molecular fragments of the degraded articular cartilage further stimulate inflammatory cytokine production with this process eventually resulting in post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA). The loss of aggrecan is considered an early step in the progression of PTOA. Aggrecan, composed of a core protein linked to sulfated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), associates with hyaluronic acid (HA) via a link protein....

Genetic changes underlying adaptation vary greatly in terms of complexity and, within the same species, genetic responses to similar selective pressures may or may not be the same. We examine both complex (supergene) and simple (SNP) genetic variants occurring in populations of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) independently isolated from ocean access and compared them to each other and to an anadromous below-barrier population representing their ancestral source to search for signatures of both parallel and...

Freight is fundamental to economic growth, however, the trucks that haul this freight are pollution intensive, emitting criteria pollutants and greenhouse gases at high rates. The increasing volume and time-sensitivity of freight demand over the past decade has encouraged carriers to take the fastest route, which is often not an eco-friendly route. The increase in urban freight movement has thus brought along negative externalities such as congestion, emissions, and noise into cities. Alternative fuel technologies,...

Forest tree communities are shifting as a result of changes in regional climate and human management, which has cascading effects on other members of the community such as epiphytic bryophytes. Epiphytic bryophytes play important roles in ecosystem function, and their distribution is highly dependent on the characteristics of their substrate. To see how epiphytic substrate characteristics affect bryophyte abundance, we measured bark thickness, pH, and water holding capacity as it varied with bryophyte coverage on...

In the age of fire suppression, a major killer of coniferous forests has shifted from wildfires to beetle infestations and drought stress. We examined a conifer forest in the Eastern Sierra Nevada to obtain demographic data on the area and to determine the factors affecting conifer mortality. We found a positive relationship between the number of boreholes and mortality across tree species. Bark beetle tree mortality in lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) was related to density,...

Wildfires are natural processes that revitalize the native biodiversity of many habitats by clearing landscapes and creating sunlight rich areas with low competition. This process occurs in the serpentine chaparral of California, which is home to a variety of fire obligate seeders, including whiteleaf manzanita (Arctostaphylos viscida) and MacNab cypress (Cupressus macnabiana), as well as fire facultative seeders such as chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum). In our study, we surveyed serpentine chaparral habitats in sites with different...

Ant-aphid mutualisms play important ecological roles in many ecosystems. While Formica ants are well studied model organisms, pine-specialist Cinara aphids remain understudied. Moreover, there is little research on ant-aphid mutualism in subalpine ecosystems. We investigated multiple species of Formica ants and their mutualistic interactions with Cinara aphids on the limber pine Pinus flexilis in a subalpine ecosystem. Cinara apini colonies were found tended to by silver, black, and red Formica ants, and they occupy older...

Secondary metabolites are volatile compounds produced by plants that can be used as defense mechanisms for reducing stressors such as herbivory and competition. Leaves, roots, and stems of California bay trees (Umbellularia californica) get their notable aroma from secondary metabolites called monoterpenes, which are allelopathic constituents in many other plants, such as eucalyptus. In this study, we investigated the potential allelopathic and anti-herbivory effects of California bay trees by examining their understory composition, germination rates...

Climate change has increased the frequency of wildfires globally. This increase in wildfires causes many animals to adjust their behaviors in order to cope with the more regular disturbances occurring in their habitats. It is often thought that birds are less affected by disturbances such as fire because of their ability to easily relocate by flying, but species with high levels of territoriality, such as acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus), may be more greatly affected by...

In seasonally dry areas, artificial water sources become a gathering place for a variety of avian species, leading to interactions between birds whose niches otherwise do not overlap. To maximize water use while reducing negative costs associated with conflict and predation, birds adopt anti-predation behaviors and engage in differing levels of tolerant and conflict interactions. In order to better understand how birds interact and behave at artificial water resources, we examined whether species and flock...