Conservation Science

Foundation News

Switzer Fall Retreats Focus on Communicating with Policymakers

The annual fall Switzer Fellowship retreats are a required activity for new Fellows and also a time to welcome new Fellows into the broader Switzer Fellowship Network community. This year, with 22 new Fellows and several alumni...
November 4, 2013
Fellow Story

Johnson interviewed on Antiguan radio about Barbuda Blue Halo Initiative

Ayana Johnson was interviewed live on Antigua's Observer Radio morning show. Hosted by Daren Matthew-Ward, and with questions from listeners, the discussion focused on the Barbuda Blue Halo Initiative, sustainable fishing, and climate change. Listen to the interview
October 21, 2013
Fellow Story

Looking for bugs from a bench in Middlesex Fells

Naturalist Noah Charney can’t go anywhere without noticing things. I’ve been friends with him for more than a decade, and I’ve always thought more people should benefit from his quirky enthusiasm and his knack for explaining things no one ever realized they wanted to know until he brought them up.
September 9, 2013
Fellow Story

Calhoun on Maine Public Radio about vernal pools' new secrets

"We can tell you that bear and deer and moose use these pools a great deal," says University of Maine professor Aram Calhoun, one of Hoffman's advisors. "The animals that breed in thise pools and then go out into the forest provide food for a lot of other wildlife species that are important to Mainers."
August 12, 2013
Fellow Story

Carle works on restoration project at Año Nuevo Island to bolster population of seabirds

Ryan Carle, an ecologist with Oikonos, has been studying the "rhinos," as they are known, for several years. "Today, there are only three islands in California with suitable habitat for rhinoceros auklet breeding colonies," Carle said. "Islands are refuges for seabirds because they are free of predators. But island ecosystems are fragile and most have been heavily impacted by human activity."
August 12, 2013
Fellow Story

Kramer's work on Belizean fisheries project featured

The relationship between Belize and Guatemala is complex. The history goes back hundreds of years and begins with a territorial dispute between Spain and Britain over who rightfully owned the region that would later become Belize. Guatemala has picked up the feud after gaining its independence from Spain and argues 4,900 square miles of Belizean land – which amounts to over half of the country – belongs to them. The entire nation of Belize is roughly the size of New Hampshire.
June 26, 2013
Network Innovation Grant Grant

Connecting the Scientific Method to Conservation Action for Pacific Albatross

Dr. Myra Finkelstein of UC Santa Cruz, and Dr. Vickie Bakker of Montana State University are leading this collaborative project to research and develop consensus on updated population data and management status of two species of Pacific...
June 24, 2013
Fellow Story

Bumps, Pockmarks, Scars, and Slicks on a Forlorn Planet by H. Bruce Rinker

This article was inspired by colleague David Guggenheim, president of Ocean Doctor, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC and dedicated to protecting and restoring our oceans through hands-on conservation.
June 24, 2013
Fellow Story

Ice plant be gone! Carle helps restore native plants

With its ocean views, walking path, and ice plant-covered cliffs, many in Santa Cruz consider West Cliff Drive to be a jewel of the community. Now a couple of scientists want the community to help them restore native habitat to the coastal bluffs. They’ve started the non-profit West Cliff Ecosystem Restoration project to help organize the restoration. Last winter, volunteers with the group ripped out ice plant in a small bed near the entrance to Natural Bridges State Park.
June 24, 2013
Fellow Story

Why bother saving "drab cigars"? Rubega featured on BBC program

Monty Don presents Shared Planet, the series that looks at the crunch point between human population and the natural world. In this programme Howard Stableford reports from Connecticut on the complex decline of the once very ubiquitous Chimney Swift, a story Monty Don believes is the paradigm for the series. The wider issues of human population and nature are explored in the studio with Lord May, past president of The Royal Society and from Vienna, Professor Wolfgang Lutz, a specialist in human population dynamics.
June 24, 2013