Conservation Science

Many of us have been able to experience the magic of vibrant hillsides showing a kaleidoscope of colors during a superbloom in California, but why isn't every year a superbloom year?

Jessica Davenport's opinion article in the San Francisco Estuary News highlights the importance of equitable access to nature and community engagement in conservation in the Bay Area.

The moment she saw her first iceberg, marine scientist and Switzer Fellow Cassandra Brooks felt a visceral compulsion to protect Antarctica. She helped create the Ross Sea MPA in 2016, and continues to contribute mightily to preserve Antarctica’s icy beauty. Cassandra was recognized as one of five women leaders in Only One's Women Making Waves Series.

Switzer Fellow Susannah Lerman, Research Ecologist with the USDA Forest Service, is a co-lead of a partnership with the University of Minnesota that will establish the first urban long-term ecosystem research (LTER) site in the Midwest. Funded by a $7.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the Minneapolis-Saint Paul (MSP) Long-Term Ecological Research Program will focus on the dynamics of urban nature and the urban social system in the face of rapid environmental and social change.

University of Rhode Island (URI) Professor Laura Meyerson has been elected a fellow of the Ecological Society of America for her contributions to ecological research and policy. Meyerson has been studying invasive species since 1995 and has been a leading advocate for addressing invasive species as a national biosecurity issue since joining the URI faculty in 2005.

Community science, the enlisting of volunteers to collect biodiversity data, is now common and widespread. In theory, the benefits of this model are complementary: community science programs produce useful datasets while engaging the public in conservation. However, in practice there may be tradeoffs regarding data quality, economic cost, and public engagement, which are rarely quantified. This paper adds to a growing body of literature that suggests community science can increase scientific literacy and efficiently produce data of similar quality to technicians, particularly for common species.

In November 2020 Maria Jesus discussed her research with Naomi Fraga for the California Botanic Garden. Maria is a graduate student at Claremont Graduate University (at California Botanic Garden) where she is completing a vascular flora of the southern Inyo Mountains. Thanks to a chance encounter with a plant identification course during her undergraduate English studies, Maria abandoned plans to become a librarian and found her way to field botany.

On October 20, Nick Jensen provided testimony before the California State Assembly on the connections between plants, climate change and wildfire. You can watch his testimony starting at timecode 01:02:46 in the video below. He spoke for more than 45 minutes.

Aram Calhoun has been awarded a Conservation Leadership Award by the Natural Resources Council of Maine for providing her expertise and leadership in the effort to protect Maine's vernal pools, including as a scientific expert supporting our work to stop the CMP corridor project. Aram is a professor at the University of Maine, and her knowledge and dedication have helped ensure protections for our state’s valuable wetlands. Read more