Products
We identify issues and uncertainties that pose obstacles to conservation and then—in collaboration with internal and external colleagues—develop science products that help overcome those obstacles.
2017 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
Ecosystem management and land conservation can substantially contribute to California’s climate mitigation goals
D. Richard Cameron, David C. Marvin, Jonathan M. Remucal, Michelle C. Passero
Combatting climate change will require using all available tools, especially those that contribute to other societal and economic goals, such as natural resource protection and energy security.…
2017 | Terrestrial | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports
Testing a Remote Sensing-Based Interactive System for Monitoring Grazed Conservation Lands
Lawrence D. Ford, H. Scott Butterfield, Pete A. Van Hoorn, Kasey B. Allen, Ethan Inlander, Carrie Schloss, Falk Schuetzenmeister, Miriam Tsalyuk
The Nature Conservancy developed RDMapper, a web-based tool that uses satellite-based productivity estimates, rainfall records, and compliance history to identify easement properties at risk of being…
2017 | Marine | Technology | Science | Video
Aquaculture by Design, Tomales Bay
Serena Lomonico, Robert Jones, Torrey Johnson, Sarah Newkirk, Sarah Lummis, Kirk Klausmeyer, John Finger, Terry Sawyer, Richard James
Aquaculture is becoming an increasingly important global food source. With this growth comes urgent, unanswered questions about the interactions of aquaculture operations—both positive and…
2017 | Terrestrial | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports
Novel fine-scale aerial mapping approach quantifies grassland weed cover dynamics and response to management
Carolyn M. Malmstrom, H. Scott Butterfield, Laura Planck, Christopher W. Long, Valerie T. Eviner
Invasive weeds threaten the biodiversity and forage productivity of grasslands worldwide. However, management of these weeds is constrained by the practical difficulty of detecting small-scale…
2017 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Marine | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports
Dynamic conservation for migratory species
Mark D. Reynolds, Brian L. Sullivan, Eric Hallstein, Sandra Matsumoto, Steve Kelling, Matthew Merrifield, Daniel Fink, Alison Johnston, Wesley M. Hochachka, Nicholas E. Bruns, Matthew E. Reiter, Sam Veloz, Catherine Hickey, Nathan Elliott, Leslie Martin, John W. Fitzpatrick, Paul Spraycar, Gregory H. Golet, Christopher McColl, Scott A. Morrison
What if instead of buying habitat, conservationists could rent it when and where nature needs it most? The Conservancy is using predictive models of shorebird movements, data from the citizen science…
2017 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
A bustle in the hedgerow: Woody field margins boost on farm avian diversity and abundance in an intensive agricultural landscape
Sacha K. Heath, Candan U. Soykan, Karen L. Velas, Rodd Kelsey, Sara M. Kross
This paper discusses the potential for on-farm habitats along field margins as a conservation strategy within intensively cultivated landscapes. Specifically, the study examined the effects of woody…
2017 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
Spatially biased dispersal of acorns by a scatter-hoarding corvid may accelerate passive restoration of oak habitat on California’s largest island
Mario B. Pesendorfer, T. Scott Sillett, Scott A. Morrison
An individual jay can cache thousands of oak seeds per year, and in so doing provide oaks a means to disperse long distances. This ecological process can be especially important in restoration of…
2017 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
Equipping the 22nd-Century Historical Ecologist
Scott A. Morrison, T. Scott Sillett, W. Chris Funk, Cameron K. Ghalambor, Torben C. Rick
Historical records can provide information critical for conservation. Yet, societal investment in collection and curation of museum archives is widely recognized to be insufficient, which is a trend…
2017 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
Partial support for the central–marginal hypothesis within a population: reduced genetic diversity but not increased differentiation at the range edge of an island endemic bird
K.M. Langin, T.S. Sillett, W.C. Funk, S.A. Morrison, C.K. Ghalambor
Genetic diversity is an important target in biodiversity conservation. Understanding how it tends to be distributed across ranges of species can improve conservation planning. This paper examines…
2017 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Marine | Science | Publications & Reports
Managing consequences of climate-driven species redistribution requires integration of ecology, conservation and social science
Timothy C. Bonebrake, Christopher J. Brown, Johann D. Bell, Julia L. Blanchard, Alienor Chauvenet, Curtis Champion, I-Ching Chen, Timothy D. Clark, Robert K. Colwell, Finn Danielsen, Anthony I. Dell, Jennifer M. Donelson, Birgitta Eveng°ard, Simon Ferrier, Stewart Frusher, Raquel A. Garcia, Roger B. Griffis, Alistair J. Hobday, Marta A. Jarzyna, Emma Lee, Jonathan Lenoir, Hlif Linnetved, Victoria Y. Martin, Phillipa C. McCormack, Jan McDonald, Eve McDonald-Madden, Nicola Mitchell, Tero Mustonen, John M. Pandolfi, Nathalie Pettorelli, Hugh Possingham, Peter Pulsifer, Mark Reynolds , Brett R. Scheffers, Cascade J. B. Sorte, Jan M. Strugnell, Mao-Ning Tuanmu, Samantha Twiname, Adriana Verg´es, Cecilia Villanueva, Erik Wapstra, Thomas Wernberg , Gretta T. Pecl
Climate change is driving the largest global redistribution of the planet’s species since the ice age. Species redistributions present challenges for human well-being, environmental management…
2017 | Freshwater | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
A Global Synthesis of Managing Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems Under Sustainable Groundwater Policy
Melissa M. Rohde, Ray Froend, Jeanette Howard
Groundwater is a vital water supply worldwide for people and nature. However, species and ecosystems that depend on groundwater for some or all of their water needs, known as groundwater dependent…
2017 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
Persistence of historical population structure in an endangered species despite near-complete biome conversion in California’s San Joaquin Desert
Jonathan Q. Richmond, Dustin A. Wood, Michael F. Westphal, Amy G. Vandergast, Adam D. Leache, Lawrence R. Saslaw, H. Scott Butterfield, Robert N. Fisher
This paper uses novel genetic approaches to document how land conversion in the San Joaquin Desert has affected population connectivity and relatedness in the endangered blunt-nosed leopard lizard.…
2017 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
Bill morphology and neutral genetic structure both predict variation in acoustic signals within a bird population
Kathryn M. Langin, T. Scott Sillett, Scott A. Morrison, Cameron K. Ghalambor
Island Scrub-Jays, a species restricted to 250 km2 Santa Cruz Island, CA, have different bill forms depending on whether they occupy oak or pine dominated habitat, a pattern that may be associated…