- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
![SFREC director Jeremy James stands next to a small chamber designed to simulate effects of warming air and soil temperatures on rangeland grasses. The poly carbonate hexagons slow rates of heat loss from plots, allowing scientists to artificially warm plants and soils in the chambers. (Photo: Linda Forbes)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/Green/blogfiles/60564small.jpg)
Scientific evidence of a warming climate in California and across the globe is clear, but the impacts on ecosystems and agriculture are still difficult to predict.
Sophisticated computer models are used to forecast future climate. Understanding that temperature and precipitation levels will change in the future does not tell the full story: UC Agriculture and Natural Resources researchers also want real-world experience under those future conditions.
Moreover, some agricultural operations have higher sensitivity to the changes than others. Rangeland forage is particularly sensitive to climate changes since, unlike irrigated agriculture, ranchers rely solely on precipitation. They have no...
- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
![The California black rail is heard but rarely seen.](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/Green/blogfiles/28054small.jpg)
While Californians are tightening their pipes to conserve water during this fourth year of drought, the California black rail might say, “Let it leak,” if it could speak.
The rare bird species makes its home in marshes created in large part by leaky pipes, stock ponds, irrigation tailwater and unlined canals. Even the springs that support some habitat may rely on water flowing from leaky canals. In 1994, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources scientists found the small, red-eyed bird with the black breast and speckled black feathers at UC ANR's Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center. Since its discovery, a group of scientists have been...