- Author: Janet S Hartin
To date, over 1,800 climate-ready shade trees and tips on their planting and long-term care have been provided by UC Master Gardeners and over 20 partners to residents of low shade neighborhoods in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties through the “Trees for Tomorrow Start Today” project. Tree species given away are identified from research projects including the joint University of California/United States Forest Service (USFS) study at UC Riverside as well as from other research, local observations, and input from the green industry and academic colleagues.
Why is this project so important? 95% of Californians now reside in cities and suburban environments. Resulting urban heat islands created by built environments coupled with impacts of climate change can be mitigated through nature-based solutions. Planting climate-ready shade trees now will help ensure cooler urban areas in the next several decades as trees mature and maximize their urban ecosystem benefits. Fortunately, the shade from a single well-placed tree can decrease surface temperatures of black asphalt and artificial turf by more than 70 degrees F in hot inland and desert cities. Studies show that surrounding air temperatures can also be reduced through the transpiration process.
A major goal of the"Trees for Tomorrow Start Today" project is to enhance tree canopy cover in low shade neighborhoods also plagued with much higher than average levels of air pollution and pulmonary and cardiovascular disease incidence. Events over the past month have occurred in Fontana, San Bernardino, and the Salton Sea.
Thank you to all our partners and, especially, our tree recipients, for greening and cooling your yard and neighborhood!
- Author: Janet Hartin
What do Fritillaria devlavayi plants and chameleons have in common? Think evolution and ensuring their survival for years to come. If you thought about their ability to camouflage themselves, you're right!
Plants have a will to live similar to humans and other animals. Besides changing colors, some plants have changed their shapes and patterns over many thousands of years to blend in with their environments. What is a newly discovered twist is that researchers in China determined that humans have also influenced the camouflaging of plants. Yang Niu, Martin Stevens, and Hang Sun published a paper in Current Biology on this topic. 
Why? Fritillaria made this adaptation to protect it from extinction by “hunters” whose goal was to harvest it. Rocky areas are more porous and loose, lending themselves to easier plant collection. Fritillaria has no known natural enemies leading researchers to surmise that human harvesting resulted in the camouflaging adaptation.
Photo credit for all pictures: Yang Niu.
Can you find the Corydalis hemidicentra?
This isn't an outrageous claim at all. Humans are known to have exerted strong selection pressure on some animal traits, resulting in unintentional evolutionary changes. Examples include bighorn sheep having smaller horns than they used to, keeping trophy hunters at bay allowing the bighorn sheep to survive. In other research, a group of UC Santa Barbara scientists led by Dr. Scott Hodges, an ecology professor, hypothesized that columbine flower color has evolved in North America as a survival mechanism. While red columbines are pollinated by hummingbirds, white and yellow ones are pollinated by hawkmoths. Over time, this color change occurred five times. In this mutually beneficial arrangement, flora and fauna both stand to gain! Score one for natural selection. See if you can spot the hidden plant (Corydalis hemidicentra).
The next time you're out in nature take a close look around you. You may see something you never noticed before in your own neighborhood or gain a fresh perspective on the wonders of plants and nature.
