Whitney Brim-DeForest

University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) | UCANR

Flooded rice soils are unique in terms of maintaining soil fertility and long-term productivity, allowing continuous rice systems to contribute greatly to global food supply. Yet increasing herbicide resistant weed pressure, water scarcity, and other sustainability challenges suggest a need to explore options for cropping system diversification. Ho...

Weedy rice ( Oryza sativa f. spontanea Roshev.) has recently become a significant botanical pest in California rice ( Oryza sativa L.) production systems. The conspecificity of this pest with cultivated rice, Oryza sativa (L.), negates the use of selective herbicides, rendering the development of non-chemical methods a necessary component of creati...

Late watergrass is a competitive weed of rice that is well-adapted to both aerobic and anaerobic environments. Cultural controls such as a stale-seedbed and alternating from wet- to dry-seeding have been proposed as management options. However, the effects of these systems on its emergence and early growth are unknown. The objective of this study w...

Agronomic cropping systems in many regions face growing economic and management challenges as well as new regulations designed to address negative environmental and social externalities. At the same time, public support for agricultural education and extension is decreasing. Hence, new approaches are necessary to understand the most pressing on-far...

Weedy rice ( Oryza sativa f. spontanea Rosh.) is an emerging weed of California rice ( Oryza sativa L.) that has potential to cause large yield losses. Early detection of weedy rice in the field is ideal to effectively control and prevent the spread of this weed. However, it is difficult to differentiate weedy rice from cultivated rice during early...

Weedy rice is an emerging problem of cultivated rice in California. Infestations of weedy rice in cultivated rice result in yield loss and reduced grain quality. This study aimed to evaluate the morphological and yield components of a widely-grown cultivated rice variety in California in response to weedy rice competition. Greenhouse competition ex...

Control of weeds in cultivated crops is a pivotal component in successful crop production allowing higher yield and higher quality. In rice‐growing regions worldwide, weedy rice (Oryza sativa f. spontanea Rosh.) is a weed related to cultivated rice which infests rice fields. With populations across the globe evolving a suite of phenotypic traits ch...

Although many pests constrain rice production, weeds are considered to be the major barrier to achieving optimal yields. A predictive model based on naturally occurring mixed-species infestations in the field would enable growers to target the specific weed group that is the greatest contributor to yield loss, but as of now no such models are avail...

Over the last 10 yr, California has experienced a series of ever-worsening droughts. Rice, traditionally a flooded crop, has come under increasing scrutiny with respect to its water use, leading to proposals to evaluate alternative irrigation systems. For growers, weed competition is one of the most limiting factors to maintaining high yields, so u...

The ability to change direction is essential to any animal that moves around in a complex, 3D environment. In this study we present the first 3D description of body positions during gliding turns in a mammalian gliding specialist, the southern flying squirrel, Glaucomys volans. In addition, we used these kinematic data to estimate the aerodynamic f...