Environment

June 1, 2026

A group of African elephants
Key Points: Elephants function as a keystone species, producing large amounts of nutrient-rich dung that sustain diverse dung beetle populations and support wider ecosystem health. A 15-year field experiment showed that removing elephants leads to sharp declines in dung beetle...
Bear Creek in Merced rose above flood level after storms pummeled the area in January 2023.
In the wake of record-breaking rain and snow this winter, experts have cautioned that despite the deluge, California remains in a drought. The United States Drought Monitor shows much of...
Professor Findlater and graduate student Aneelman Brar.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a greenhouse gas that is contributing to irreversible climate change. Scientists know how to capture CO2, and they know how to transform it into useful molecules and materials...
For the first time, UC Merced faculty members from each of the campus’s three schools have been chosen as principal investigators on some of the 21 exciting new projects that are being funded...
Professor Xuan Zhang
Although climate change is still a very real challenge, the past decades of efforts to reduce the effects of human activities on the atmosphere have been potent enough to have thrown off the models...
Professor Emily Moran
Life and Environmental Sciences Professor Emily Moran and collaborators at several other universities are set to conduct a continental-scale analysis of climate change effects on tree reproduction...
The effects of drought are evident at this reservoir in Merced County.
Longtime UC Merced supporter and institutional partner the David and Lucile Packard Foundation has made a significant gift to the campus that will catalyze research efforts and scientific...
Professor Jeanette Cobian-Iñiguez, front, and her students study heat transfer in fire in her lab.
Fire scientists typically respond to agency opportunities and conduct research in response to past wildfires. But it is time they take more proactive, integrative, predictive approaches toward...
A recent demonstration of how biochar is created
Adding even a small amount of biochar — a charcoal-like material produced by burning organic matter — to a dairy’s manure-composting process reduces methane emissions by 84%, a...
Professor Joshua Viers, coordinator Danny Royer and Professor Tom Harmon describe plans for UC Merced's smart farm.
Land has been tilled at UC Merced’s smart farm, the first physical step in developing the state-of-the-art project. “Even though it’s just a blank field, we have overcome...

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