UC Davis researchers in conservation biology are the most productive in the nation, according to a new evaluation in the field's top journal.

The new report is the first comprehensive ranking of U.S. and Canadian academic institutions based on their relative contribution to the field, according to the report's authors (none of whom are at the University of California).

Conservation biology is the development of the scientific and technical means for the protection, maintenance and restoration of life on Earth -- its species and habitats, and associated ecological and evolutionary processes.

The authors ranked the scholarly productivity of 315 universities and colleges from 2000 to 2005 according to total number of publications in the field.

The top 10 were:

1. University of California, Davis

2. Oregon State University

3. University of Washington, Seattle

4. Colorado State University

5. University of Wisconsin, Madison

6. University of California, Berkeley

7. University of Florida, Gainesville

8. University of California, Santa Barbara

9. Duke University

10. University of Montana, Missoula

"Our snapshot of productivity provides employers, administrators, practitioners, and researchers with a new tool to help them evaluate sources of research quality and productivity, as well as one with which students may navigate the route to a career in conservation biology," the authors wrote.

The study, "Academic Institutions in the United States and Canada Ranked According to Research Productivity in the Field of Conservation Biology," appears in the current issue of the journal Conservation Biology.