Feeding the UC Davis Arboretum ducks is fun. They waddle up to you with glorious anticipation. They quack in relative unison. You can choose to feed them individually, or watch their feathers ruffle as they compete for the offering. They provide entertainment and interaction, and all they ask in return is for a piece of stale bread you weren’t planning to eat anyway.

But those whose job it is to study the ducks warn against such behavior. Dr. Melanie Truan serves as director of biomonitoring for the UC Davis Museum of Wildlife & Fisheries Biology. She is well aware of the negative impact feeding the ducks can have on the arboretum, and on the ducks themselves. “Whenever we talk to people, we strongly discourage people from feeding the ducks because it leads to overpopulation and all the inherent problems that come with that.”

She should know. In 2004 and 2005, Dr. Truan, along with other researchers at the university, conducted a survey of the organisms living in the arboretum. “We did surveys over about a period of a year to a year and a half, for butterflies, birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians. We went out on a regular basis and did surveys for the arboretum and just tried to come up with what’s out there.”