News

California’s iconic coast redwoods are used to growing in cool, coastal areas where the average temperature is around 59 degrees Fahrenheit. But as average yearly temperatures rise and heatwaves push to 100-degree-plus spikes, the trees are responding by slowing the very operation that nourishes them, according to a study from the University of California, Davis.

I am so excited for the start of the new school year! This week has been filled with amazing events! We kicked off the last couple of weeks with our first year and transfer College Welcome events to celebrate our new students, enjoyed a sweet treat at the ice cream social and gathered together to welcome our Aggie Jumpstart students. You can feel the energy and enthusiasm on campus as we gear up for another great fall quarter! 

The bright orange plumes of water scientists first noticed billowing across a river in Alaska’s Brooks Range in 2018 were even more acidic and metallic than water leached from metal mines, despite their pristine surroundings. That is according to a new study from the University of California, Davis, of six of the impacted watersheds.

The study, published in the journal AGU Advances, found that these metals can travel far and become more toxic as they go. Metal concentrations were about 70 times higher as much as 60 miles downstream from where they entered the river.

A quarter-century after its founding, the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science is a place of groundbreaking discoveries, collaborations and educational offerings attracting top-notch students, scholars and researchers. 

A transformational gift of $25 million from the Robert and Margrit Mondavi family in 2001 established the RMI to study, advance and improve wine, brewing and food sciences.

The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis is a powerhouse of research, teaching and outreach recognized around the globe for its expertise, hands-on teaching and dedication to solving local, national and world challenges. 

We couldn’t get there without the excellence and dedication of our faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends of the college. 

The college recognizes people for their outstanding achievements, support, leadership and service to the college with an Award of Distinction.  

As the climate warms, people are more exposed to heat stress, which depresses their productivity and the global economy. A study from the University of California, Davis, quantifies the cost of heat stress on global labor. 

The study, published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, estimates that each ton of carbon dioxide emitted in 2025 cost $41 in lost productivity. 

What if the methane from landfills and wastewater treatment plants could become an affordable raw material for sustainable plastics? 

Some naturally occurring bacteria, called methanotrophs, can consume methane and use its carbon to produce biodegradable plastics, which are stored inside their cells. But producing plastic is only part of the puzzle. Recovering and purifying it from the bacteria contributes significantly to costs; thus, reducing these costs can help make methane-derived bioplastics economically competitive with conventional plastics. 

Professor Shahid Siddique has been named the Howard Ferris Endowed Chair in Ecology and Management of Plant and Soil Nematodes, a position that will help support his work studying the tiny organisms that can have a significant impact on crops and soil health.

It’s been a busy summer, with students and researchers working on so many interesting projects and discoveries. Here in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, we have taken this time to reflect on the past academic year and are using this period to prepare for the next class of students arriving this fall.

Tobacco products and food often share shelf space in neighborhood stores. A research team led by the University of California, Davis, examined those shelves to see whether a Sacramento city policy was actually increasing access to healthy food.