Pests in the Urban Landscape

Winter is peak citrus season, and a time when many people gift their home-grown fruit to friends and loved ones. This holiday season, we would like to remind everyone that harmful invasive pests can move to new areas on citrus fruit. There are several active quarantines in California aimed at slowing the…

The new year is just around the corner, and along with it will come new Urban and Community IPM Webinars! Join us every third Thursday of each month from 12:00 to 1:00pm PST to learn about a wide range of urban pest management topics. This series is free and open to the public but advance registration is…

The invasive pest spotlight focuses on emerging or potential invasive pests in California. In this issue we are covering nutria. Nutria Facts The nutria is a large semi-aquatic rodent introduced to California in the early 1900s to be farmed for their fur. When the fur market collapsed, many nutria…

Let’s be real—California's rodent issue is extensive. In some areas, it may seem like an infinite sea of rats and mice. Commensal rodents, those that live among and benefit from association with humans, significantly affect public health, environmental sustainability, and urban infrastructure.  …

Botryosphaeria canker, sometimes called Bot canker, is a common fungal disease that can affect many tree species including ash, eucalyptus, fig, maple, pistachio, and walnut. Plants infected with this disease typically develop cankers (dark sunken lesions in the bark) and can lose branches. The whole…