RENO, Nevada – The wildfire season has arrived in North America, and recent research highlights that the impacts of wildfire smoke emissions can alter aquatic ecosystems far away from the sources of the fire. In the summer of 2018, intense smoke from six major wildfires covered Castle Lake, west of Mt. Shasta California, for 55 […]
University of Nevada Reno
Posted inLife
Mercury levels in pet food cause for concern, fish-based foods main culprit
RENO, Nevada – While much of the cat and dog food tested in a years-long study had concentrations of mercury that are high for chronic consumption, according to a new study published in the Elsevier journal Science of the Total Environment, the majority of the pet foods tested had mercury concentrations below suggested levels. The […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Mountain chickadees resist age-related cognitive declines
RENO, Nevada – A combination of harsh winters and strong selection on cognitive abilities needed to find thousands of food caches lead to the evolution of specialized spatial cognition in food-caching species such as mountain chickadees, allowing them to resist age-related cognitive declines, according to a University of Nevada, Reno study published in the Proceedings […]
Posted inRegional
Wastewater testing finds SARS-CoV-2 in Truckee Meadows wastewater
RENO/SPARKS, Nevada March 23, 2021 – Sampling Truckee Meadows wastewater for the SARS-CoV-2 virus found a very clear upward spike approximately seven days before the spike appeared in the community in the form of people testing positive for the virus, according to a study conducted by the University of Nevada, Reno and community partners. “The […]
Posted inCalifornia
Climate change and suppression tactics are critical factors increasing fires
February 18, 2021 – The millions of people affected by 2020’s record-breaking and deadly fires can attest to the fact that wildfire hazards are increasing across western North America. Both climate change and forest management have been blamed, but the relative influence of these drivers is still heavily debated. The results of a recent study show […]
Posted inEnviro
Climate change is a stressor of insect populations around the world, including on Donner Summit
RENO, Nevada January 29, 2021 – Climate change is an important contributor to insect declines around the world, according to a new study published in the scientific journal PNAS that examined continuous long-term monitoring of butterfly and other insect populations. “Specifically, we looked at long-term data sets from relatively protected areas – areas where the […]
Posted inRegional
Researchers quantify carbon changes in Sierra Nevada meadow soils
RENO, NV, November 16, 2020 – Meadows in the Sierra Nevada mountains are critical components of watersheds. In addition to supplying water to over 25 million people in California and Nevada, meadows contain large quantities of carbon belowground. While it has been known for some time that meadows have large quantities of soil carbon, whether […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Magnitude 6.5 earthquake reported by Nevada Seismological Laboratory
RENO, Nev. May 15, 2020 – The Nevada Seismological Laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno reports a magnitude 6.5 earthquake about three miles below the surface located in a remote area 36 miles west of Tonopah, Nevada at 4:03 a.m. PDT on May 15. There have been no reports of damage. Within the first hour following […]
Posted inSci/Tech
University of Nevada, Reno scientists take aim at wildfires in Nevada
RENO, Nev. – With wildland fires eating up the forests and rangelands of Nevada each summer, and fire season now upon us, University of Nevada, Reno scientists are examining how drought, climate change and land management will affect future fire activity and how fires can in turn influence plant, soil and hydrologic processes. In 2016, […]
Posted inRegional
Prediction tool shows how forest thinning may increase Sierra Nevada snowpack
RENO, Nev. May 6, 2020 – The forest of the Sierra Nevada mountains is an important resource for the surrounding communities in Nevada and California. Thinning the forest by removing trees by hand or using heavy machinery is one of the few tools available to manage forests. However, finding the best way to thin forests […]
Posted inRegional
Magnitude 4.5 earthquake reported by Nevada Seismological Laboratory
RENO, Nev. March 20, 2020 – The Nevada Seismological Laboratory reports a magnitude 4.5 earthquake located near the south end of Carson City at 6:33 p.m. PDT on March 20. There have been no reports of damage. More than 6,000 people reported feeling the earthquake and posted their response on the USGS Did-You-Feel-It Website. The location […]
Posted inSci/Tech
A promising breakthrough against a deadly foe: Streptococcus pneumoniae
RENO, Nevada February 10, 2020 – In the battle against deadly diseases that adapt quickly to resist today’s top antibiotics, researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno have shown that stopping bacterial cells from communicating can actually prevent them from amassing their lethal armies. Following more than five years of research, University chemical biologist Yftah […]
Posted inEnviro
Caterpillar loss in tropical forest linked to extreme rain, temperature events
Reno, Nev. January 17, 2020 – Using a 22-year dataset of plant-caterpillar-parasitoid interactions collected within a patch of protected Costa Rican lowland Caribbean forest, scientists report declines in caterpillar and parasitoid diversity and density that are paralleled by losses in an important ecosystem service: biocontrol of herbivores by parasitoids. The study by University of Nevada, […]
Posted inRegional
USGS awards $12.5 million for ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system
RENO, Nev. August 20, 2019 – The U.S. Geological Survey has awarded more than $12.5 million to seven universities and a university-governed non-profit to support operation, improvement and expansion of the ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system for the West Coast of the United States. The University of Nevada, Reno is receiving a portion of the […]
Posted inRegional
Final AlertTahoe fire camera installation complete near Emerald Bay
RENO, Nev. August 2, 2019 – The installation of the newest and final of 11 planned cameras for the AlertTahoe fire camera network is completed and the camera went live on Wednesday, July 31, realizing the goal of placing high-tech cameras on mountaintops ringing the Lake Tahoe Basin and surrounding forests and communities to help […]
Posted inRegional
Sequence of 60 earthquakes in Sun Valley, and Washoe Valley earthquake, a gentle reminder Nevada is seismically active state
Reno, Nev. June 19, 2019 – An ongoing sequence of more than 60 small earthquakes that began in the early morning hours today is centered in the Sun Valley area – they are too small to be felt. But, more than 1,200 people filed “felt reports” following the magnitude 3.7 earthquake in Washoe Valley the […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Global amphibian mass extinctions caused by fungal disease
Reno, Nev. March 28, 2019 – An international study led by The Australian National University has found that a fungal disease has caused dramatic population declines worldwide in at least 501 amphibian species, including 90 extinctions, over the past 50 years. As a co-author of the study published in the journal Science, Jamie Voyles of […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Scientists find causes of firenado in deadly Carr Fire
RENO, Nev. December 5, 2018 – A destructive fire-generated vortex – a massive stream of rising, spinning, smoke, ash and fire – that topped out at 17,000 feet above the earth, accelerated the Carr fire that killed eight people and devastated a widespread area in the Redding, California region in July 2018. The vortex, a […]
Posted inRegional
University of Nevada, Reno’s seismological lab uses drill to help Nevadans learn, prepare for earthquakes
RENO, Nev. October 1, 2018 – More than 500,000 Nevadans – and 20 million people in the worldwide drill – are already registered to participate in the annual statewide public earthquake drill, the Great Nevada ShakeOut, on Thursday, Oct. 18 at 10:18 a.m. In Nevada, earthquakes are not an exception, they are an expectation. It […]
Posted inRegional
Sierra mountaintop laboratory keeps track of some of the worst weather in the country
NORDEN, Calif. April 17, 2018 – Winds that tear weather gauges from their mountings and blizzards that bury chairlifts – this is the kind of weather that hits Donner Summit, and holds great interest to climatologists, meteorologists, hydrologists and water supply managers as well as creates one of the best regions for skiing in the […]