Two links to recent BBC news articles on invasive weeds.

The first one is about a weed that should be familiar to anyone who has traveled in much of the intermountain west - cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum).  The BBC article entitled "Wildfires fanned by invasive grass species" is a popular press discussion of recently article by Balch et al. in the scientific journal Global Change Biology.  The focus of the research and reports was to discuss the effects that this fast growing (and fast dying) weed has on fire cycles and fire severity in the western US.  Very interesting!

The second one, "

Everywhere you turn these days, the term “citizen science” is in use. The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) dedicates a page of its website to the topic. In July, the Ecological Society of America (ESA) published a supplemental journal devoted wholly to the topic of citizen science—its history, current status, and potential for the future.  When staying with friends last week, I had my morning coffee in a mug labeled “Central Valley Winter Raptor Count – 2008-2011,” an excellent example of citizen science.

But, what do we mean by “citizen science”? Historically, the practice of involving members of the public in various scientific projects was viewed as an opportunity to...

A quick post today to share a few links and reposts that I found interesting recently.

The first is a link to a video on the television program, CBS Sunday Morning.  In this program from a week ago, weeds were the focus.  Click here for a link to the video.  The main focus (and most interesting to me as a herbicide resistance researcher) was the main segment where Dr. Stanley Culpepper from the University of Georgia talked very frankly about the issues that...

Last Thursday (July 19th) was the 56th annual UC Weed Day at the Davis campus. 

We had a really good turnout again this year with just under 150 participants including weed science researchers, students, farmers, land managers, pest consultants, and government agency people in attendance.  Cooperative Extension Specialist Tom Lanini organized the morning field tour and afternoon presentation session and ordered up really great weather for the day.

We started out on campus for registration and signing up for various continuing educaton credits before heading out on two buses and a parade of trucks and vans to the...