The call of American bullfrogs was deafening when scientists from the University of California, Davis, first began researching the impact of invasive bullfrogs on native northwestern pond turtles at Yosemite National Park.

“At night, you could look out over the pond and see a constellation of eyes blinking back at you,” said UC Davis Ph.D. candidate Sidney Woodruff, lead author of a study chronicling the effects of removal. “Their honking noise is iconic, and it drowns out native species’ calls.”

From a small California winery to a large-scale energy project in China, floating photovoltaics — or “floatovoltaics”— are gaining in popularity. Commonly installed over artificial water bodies, from irrigation ponds and reservoirs to wastewater treatment plants, floating solar projects can maximize space for producing clean energy while sparing natural lands.

Home is where the perch is: Two peregrine falcons may be turning the UC Davis water tower into their new nesting spot. Andrew “Andy” Engilis Jr., ornithologist and curator of the UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, spotted a pair of the birds during the first week of April after hearing a loud, high-pitched “scree, scree” outside his office in the Academic Surge building.

UC Davis Professor Hugh Safford was hiking for pleasure in California’s High Sierra when he stumbled upon a new elevation record for the Jeffrey pine, which may now be the state’s highest-altitude tree. His serendipitous finding is published in Madroño, a journal of the California Botanical Society.

Platforms such as iNaturalist and eBird encourage people to observe and document nature, but how accurate is the ecological data that they collect?

Almost everywhere in California, salmon are on the decline. But in Putah Creek — a restored stream running through the University of California, Davis, campus — wild salmon are not only increasing, they also are completing their life cycle.

The plants in our backyards do more than add beauty – they support local insects and thrive, or struggle, depending on the climate. As temperatures shift and rainfall patterns become less predictable, the timing of when plants bloom and insects emerge is changing.

In communities across California, residents are grappling with poor air quality, often without a clear understanding of the pollutants in their environment. In Vallejo, a neighborhood near a cement mixing plant struggles with constant dust on the inside of homes, including kitchen cabinets, counters and tables. Other communities contend with traffic and aircraft emissions, industrial pollution and seasonal wildfire smoke.

On the shores of Lake Tahoe at Emerald Bay State Park grows what some consider to be the most iconic old-growth forest in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Giant ponderosa pines — some of the last remaining in the area — share space with at least 13 other tree species.

From ducks and cranes to giant garter snakes and salmon, flooded rice fields in California’s Central Valley offer important — often vital — habitat to many wildlife species. Yet uncertainties around crop markets, water and climate can prompt some growers to fallow rice fields or change their management practices.

Will today’s rice acreage under current practices be enough to meet key species’ needs? If not, how much rice is needed? Where should it be planted? And what management practices offer the greatest benefit for species of concern?