Reseachers measure and tag Pacific treefrogs, Pseudacris regilla
Research
The NRS was created to encompass and protect California's natural diversity for research and teaching, and to offer scientists havens where field work may be conducted over long periods without interruption.
NRS reserves serve researchers as outdoor laboratories: sites where they can analyze natural systems; comprehend important, basic, ecological principles; and attain better understanding of how humankind impacts the world and how the world supports us.
Reserves support large-scale interdisciplinary teams of researchers as well as smaller, short-lived projects. Some reserves serve as representative sites for carrying out studies with regional implications. Others are unique and so allow scientists to conduct site-specific research work that cannot be carried out anywhere else in the world. Yet, at all NRS reserves, scientists pursue their studies untroubled by the frequent and unpredictable human disturbances that afflict those who attempt to work on public land. The reserves themselves remain relatively free from the varying degrees of disruption that natural habitats elsewhere sustain under the pressures of growing population, urbanization, and intensified use of natural resources. This happy state of affairs means that scientists can use NRS reserves to establish baseline conditions and accurately measure environmental change.
For more information on research at the UC Davis reserves, please go to the reserve Web site and/or contact the specific reserve's director.
For funding on NRS Reserves, apply for a Mathias Grant.
For funding opportunities at specific reserves, Click here.
For examples of some research projects at the reserves, Click here.