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 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
Population and habitat objectives for avian conservation in California’s Central Valley riparian ecosystems
Kristen E. Dybala, Neil Clipperton, Thomas Gardali, Gregory H. Golet, Rodd Kelsey, Stefan Lorenzato, Ron Melcer, Jr., Nathaniel E. Seavy, Joseph G. Silveira
The Conservancy and partners are working to establish riparian ecosystems that provide sufficient habitat to support genetically robust, self-sustaining, and resilient bird populations in…
2017 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
A General Framework for Setting Quantitative Population Objectives for Wildlife Conservation
Kristen E. Dybala, Neil Clipperton, Thomas Gardali, Gregory H. Golet, Rodd Kelsey, Stefan Lorenzato, Ronald Melcer, Jr., Nathaniel Seavy, Joseph G. Silveira, Gregory S. Yarris
Quantitative population objectives are necessary to achieve conservation goals of secure or robust wildlife populations, however, existing methods for setting them often require extensive…
2017 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
Oren Pollak Memorial Research Fund - 2017 Annual Report
The Oren Pollak Memorial Research Fund was established in 2000 in memory of Dr. Oren Pollak, a leading grassland ecologist and restoration pioneer, as well as an ardent champion and mentor for…
2017 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
Protocols for Argentine ant eradication in conservation areas
C. L. Boser, C. Hanna, D. A. Holway, K. R. Faulkner, I. Naughton, K. Merrill, J. M. Randall, C. Cory, D.H. Choe , S. A. Morrison
Argentine ants are highly invasive and ecologically damaging. This paper presents a method demonstrated to reduce even large-scale (~400 ha) infestations to non-detectable levels. This protocol…
2017 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
The relationship between female brooding and male nestling provisioning: does climate underlie geographic variation in sex roles?
Jongmin Yoon , Helen R. Sofaer, T. Scott Sillett , Scott A. Morrison, Cameron K. Ghalambor
Climate is an important factor in how birds apportion time tending their nests, e.g., how much time they spend brooding versus foraging. This study examines how the roles of males and females of one…
2016 | Marine | Economics | Science | Publications & Reports
Market and design solutions to the short-term economic impacts of marine reserves
Daniel Ovando, Dawn Dougherty, Jono R. Wilson
No-take marine reserves are a management intervention that can provide long-term fishery benefits. But, impacts of reserve implementation can negatively affect fishermen profits in the short term.…
2016 | Marine | Technology | Science | Video
Sustainable Management of Abalone Fishery in California
The Nature Conservancy, Jono Wilson
California fisheries, like the red abalone fishery, are facing increasing environmental variation and uncertainty due to climate change, complicating the sustainable management of commercial and…
2016 | Freshwater | Science | Publications & Reports
Benefits and Economic Costs of Managed Aquifer Recharge in California
Debra Perrone, Melissa M. Rohde
Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) projects can play an important role in ensuring California manages its groundwater sustainably. This study, the first to investigate the benefits and economic costs…
2016 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
A picture is worth a thousand data points: an imagery dataset of paired shrub-open microsites within the Carrizo Plain National Monument
Taylor J. Noble , Christopher J. Lortie , Michael Westphal, H.Scott Butterfield
This paper presents camera trap data comprising over 425,000 images from the Carrizo Plain National Monument. This unique collection of digital images allowed the authors to capture animal behaviours…
2016 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
Inconsistent food safety pressures complicate environmental conservation for California produce growers
Patrick Baur, Laura Driscoll, Sasha Gennet, Daniel Karp
Since a deadly outbreak of pathogenic E. coli in California spinach in 2006, produce growers have been pressured to implement on-farm practices, such as native vegetation removal, in the name of food…
2016 | Terrestrial | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports
Integrating technologies for scalable ecology and conservation
David C. Marvin, Lian Pin Koh, Antony J. Lynam, Serge Wich, Andrew B. Davies, Ramesh Krishnamurthy, Emma Stokes, Ruth Starkey, Gregory P. Asner
Integration of multiple technologies greatly increases the spatial and temporal scales over which ecological patterns and processes can be studied, and threats to protected ecosystems can be…
2016 | Terrestrial | Planning | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports
Spatially explicit analysis of field inventories for national forest carbon monitoring
David C. Marvin, Gregory P. Asner
Policies that incentivize forest conservation by monetizing forest carbon ultimately depend on the accuracy of carbon stock estimates. Often, these estimates are based on field inventory sampling. In…
2016 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports
Pop-up wetland habitats benefit migrating birds and farmers
Christopher J. McColl, Katie Andrews, Mark Reynolds, Gregory H. Golet
In response to the decline of wetland habitats for migrating and wintering water birds in California, the Conservancy developed a program called BirdReturns that creates “pop-up”…