California
How DNA could help save California’s historic pheasants
Genomic analysis seeks to learn whether bird populations are inbred, causing a decline in fertility and fitness.
Startled, large flocks of pheasants burst into flight, exploding with colorful fuss and flutter from thickets of wild grass and fallen leaves.
But this was decades ago, when California’s autumnal landscape was a mosaic of fallowed fields, diverse cro... [6997 chars]