A team of University of California, Davis, scientists is developing a groundwater management tool that could lead to better streamflow conditions for salmon and steelhead in northern California’s Scott River Valley, which provides critical fish habitat within the Klamath Basin.

This mountain valley also supports an agricultural economy composed of small family farms and ranches, raising alfalfa hay, pasture, and cattle. Regulatory agencies, farmers, ranchers and the local community are working to find win-win solutions for both fish habitat and agriculture.

“For most other rivers in California, summer and fall water flows are entirely dictated by dams that have water behind them,” said Thomas Harter, a Cooperative Extension groundwater hydrologist in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources who led the study. “Scott River is very dependent on the groundwater system."... Read More

A new building-sealing technology developed by researchers at the University of California, Davis, will get a real-world test today at a Habitat for Humanity home in Stockton, Calif.

Developed by scientists at the UC Davis Western Cooling Efficiency Center, the green technology is designed to take the guesswork out of sealing building leaks, which account for roughly 30 percent of the energy used to heat and cool a building.

Previous testing has shown that the UC Davis aerosol sealing technology can reduce available leaks by 50 percent. With further improvements, the researchers think it has the potential to bring leakage down to nearly zero.

The technology uses a compressed nitrogen system to push a sealant through five nozzles. Once sprayed into a pressurized environment, the sealant becomes a foggy mist of aerosolized particles. These particles move toward wherever air is escaping and seal the leak... Read More

Tumbling in the waves as they hit a rocky shore tells purple sea urchin larvae it's time to settle down and look for a spot to grow into an adult, researchers at the University of California, Davis, Bodega Marine Laboratory have found. The work is published April 8 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"How these animals find their way to the right habitat is a fascinating problem," said Brian Gaylord, professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis and a researcher at the Bodega Marine Lab. "The turbulence response allows them to tell that they're in the right neighborhood."

Like most shoreline animals, purple sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) have a two-stage life cycle. The young are microscopic, look completely different from adults and drift in the upper levels of the ocean for about a month before settling on a rocky shore and transforming into the familiar spiny adult... Read More