LAist article: How Dogs are Saving the Earth
By Fiona Ng Published Aug 17, 2024 9:00 PM HOW DOGS ARE SAVING THE EARTH Lauralea Oliver has worked with dogs for most of her life. She grew up with a German Shepherd as a pet, was a dog trainer for many…
SFGate article: These adorable dogs are fighting California plant poachers
From desert cactus to endangered orchids, these dogs do it all By James Bartlett Aug 12, 2024 The mission took place in the early morning on a vast private ranch in Williams, Arizona, and the operatives were excited and ready…
National Park Service article: Biologists Enlist Best Noses in Town to Protect At-risk Turtles
Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Point Reyes National Seashore, Presidio of San Francisco By Wildlife Biologist Katie Smith, Golden Gate National Recreation Area; and Science Communication Specialist Jessica Weinberg McClosky, San Francisco Bay Area Inventory & Monitoring Network May 2024…
Center for Plant Conservation: Man’s Best Friend Helps Find Elusive Endangered Orchid
Dogs are known for their powerful olfactory senses and have been used by humans over the years to detect objects from drugs to electronics to truffles. This sensory superpower makes them the star of a captivating project at Desert Botanical…
Desert Botanical Garden, Garden Blog: Research Canines Are Helping the Garden Find These Rare and Endangered Arizona Orchids
BY GARDEN BLOG | SEP 16, 2022 | HORTICULTURE Meet Circe and Muon! They are two specially-trained dogs used in ecological research who are helping Desert Botanical Garden, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the Smithsonian find rare and endangered orchids growing in southern Arizona. The…
ResearchGate article: Decline of the Endangered Morro Bay Kangaroo Rat in California
The Morro Bay kangaroo rat Dipodomys heermanni morroensis occurs in the vicinity of Morro Bay (specifically in and near Los Osos) in western San Luis Obispo County in coastal central California. It was listed as endangered pursuant to the U.S…
California Agriculture research article: Three new Phytophthora detection methods, including training dogs to sniff out the pathogen, prove reliable
Multiple species of Phytophthora have been identified in production facilities of plants used in reforestation and restoration projects. There's a risk that infected plant stock will lead to Phytophthoraspecies establishing and spreading in habitats that, having never experienced their presence, may be highly…
SF Estuary Magazine: Man’s best friend is being enlisted in efforts to detect the soil-born pathogen responsible for sudden oak death and other rapidly spreading plant and tree diseases.
Phytophthora is difficult to detect in nurseries, plant materials, and planting sites until it has done its damage. To develop early-detection options, H.T. Harvey and Associates are training a female cattle dog/border collie mix named Bolt to sniff out Phytophthora. Read more...
Desert Museum Blog: Sniffing out the Elusive Pima Pineapple Cactus
The usefulness of detection dogs to our society seems just to grow and grow. Detection dogs have been trained to find explosives, illegal drugs, currency, gourmet fungus, human remains, contraband electronics, firearms, termites, bed bugs, cancerous tumors and low blood…