Ongoing research

Soil moisture sensors fall into two broad categories, volumetric and tensiometric methods. One tells you how much water is in the soil and the other tells you how tightly the soil holds on to the water.

There's no doubt about it. Bugs will rule at the 99th annual UC Davis Picnic Day this Saturday, April 20. The UC Davis Department of Entomology is planning lots of "bug" activities as part of the campuswide celebration.

If you're a research scientist studying the malaria mosquito, or interested in genomics, you'll want to attend a seminar on Wednesday, April 17 at the University of California, Davis.

The newest issue of the journal "California Agriculture" (April-June 2013) published by the University of California and UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources just came out and has two articles written by UC weed researchers Check out the whole issue here or the specific articles at the l...

Summary of 2012 University of California Statewide Rice Variety Trials...

I just read an article from the latest edition of California Agriculture: Nitrogen fertilizer use in California: Assessing the data, trends and a way forward. The article compiles data about inorganic N fertilizer use by major crops in California and compares data from the 1970s to the 2000s.

In ailanthus territory, you have to be careful not to park for too long in one place.

Some folks call them "mosquito hawks" or "skeeter eaters" or "blood suckers." They're not. None of the above. Crane flies, in the family Tipulidae, don't prey on mosquitoes and they don't suck blood. These slender, long-legged insects remind us of runway models. Thin. Demure. Fragile.

This is a new-to-me weed, even though it's growing all around Robbins Hall where I've been working since typewriter times. Fumitory (Fumaria spp.) is a lacy, vine-like annual native to Europe. Looks sort of like parsley, though it's not related.

What about those Africanized honey bees? Where are they located in California? Hollywood movie refer to them as "killer bees." Ditto, the news media.