Technology is enabling conservation scientists to collect and analyze data with an efficiency unimagined just decades ago. Satellite and drone-based remote sensing allow rapid mapping and monitoring of environmental conditions; networked sensors such as camera traps and flow meters provide real-time data about the health and potential threats to important resources.
Data are fundamental to making science-based conservation decisions. By modernizing environmental data capture and analysis and streamlining the delivery of usable information to decision makers, we can unlock new opportunities for transformative change in resource management.
The Conservancy’s team of designers, engineers, and data scientists are continually applying new applications of technology to increase the pace and scale of conservation in California – and beyond.
Science in Action
Terrestrial | Planning | Technology
Wildfire and Communities
How can land protection and restoration help protect communities from wildfire?
Terrestrial | Marine | Science
TNC and FEMA
How do we increase climate resilience in ways that work for people and nature?
Products
2016 | Terrestrial | Publications & Reports
Field-scale habitat complexity enhances avian conservation and avian-mediated pest-control services in an intensive agricultural crop
Sara M. Kross, T. Rodd Kelsey, Chris J. McColl, Jason M. Townsend
Globally, loss of biodiversity and impacts to natural services and human health have been driven to a significant degree by loss of natural habitats due to agricultural land conversion and management…
2016 | Terrestrial | Planning | Publications & Reports
Pajaro Compass
A Network for Voluntary Conservation
The Pajaro Compass—with its interactive maps and tools—supports a group of over 50 stakeholders representing conservation, agriculture, transportation, government and community…
2016 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Publications & Reports
Future land-use related water demand in California
Tamara S Wilson, Benjamin M Sleeter, D Richard Cameron
This publication discusses how land use changes in Mediterranean California will drive changes in water use between urban uses and annual vs. perennial crops. The authors used a state-and-transition…
2016 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
Contemporary Drought and Future Effects of Climate Change on the Endangered Blunt-Nosed Leopard Lizard, Gambelia sila
Michael F. Westphal, Joseph A. E. Stewart, Erin N. Tennant, H. Scott Butterfield, Barry Sinervo
This paper documents the negative effects of the 2012-2014 drought—the most severe multi-year drought in southwestern North America in the past 1,200 years—on the endangered blunt-nosed…
2016 | Marine | Publications & Reports
Marine and Coastal Impacts of Ocean Desalination in California
Szeptycki, L., E. Hartge, N. Ajami, A. Erickson, W. N. Heady, L. LaFeir, B. Meister, L. Verdone, J.R. Koseff
The drought in California rekindled interest in ocean desalination as a new and reliable water supply option; yet desalination is expensive, energy intensive, potentially emits greenhouse gases,…
2016 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
Adaptive divergence despite strong genetic drift: genomic analysis of the evolutionary mechanisms causing genetic differentiation in the island fox
Funk, W.C., R.E. Lovich, P.A. Hohenlohe, C.A. Hofman, S.A. Morrison, T.S. Sillett, C.K. Ghalambor, J.E. Maldonado, T.C. Rick, M.D. Day, T.J. Coonan, K.R. Crooks, A. Dillon, D.K. Garcelon, J.L. King, L.M. Lyren, E.E. Boydston, N. Gould , W.F. Andelt
The genomics revolution provides powerful tools for understanding evolution and advancing conservation. This study applies genomics techniques to examine the evolutionary mechanisms underpinning…
2016 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
Context‐dependent seed dispersal by a scatter‐hoarding corvid
M.B. Pesendorfer, T.S. Sillett, S.A. Morrison, A.C. Kamil
Foraging behavior may be influenced by a variety of factors, including food abundance and competitor density. This study examines how such factors affect the seed caching behavior of the Island…
2016 | Freshwater | Maps & Webmaps
How and Where Nature Uses Groundwater
Kirk Klausmeyer, Jeanette Howard, Sandi Matsumoto, Sally Liu, Melissa Rohde
Groundwater is essential to the health and viability of plants, animals and ecosystems. Many tree species, like willows and cottonwoods, rely on groundwater to survive seasonal and annual dry spells.…
2016 | Terrestrial | Science | Blogs
Unraveling the Mystery of the Western Sycamores that Weren’t
Cara Byington, Greg Golet
2016 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
Oren Pollak Memorial Research Fund - 2016 Annual Report
The Oren Pollak Memorial Research Fund provides student researchers with the funds necessary to pursue their studies and complete important research in grassland science. The Fund was…
2016 | Terrestrial | Publications & Reports
Prioritizing Riparian Conservation: A Methodology Developed for the Santa Clara River, California
Sophie S. Parker, Lily N. Verdone, E.J. Remson, Brian S. Cohen
This study addresses a basic problem shared by many riparian conservation projects: parcelization. Having dozens or hundreds of owners along a river can make conserving riparian ecosystems a difficult…
2016 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Marine | Planning | Publications & Reports
Designing virtuous socio-ecological cycles for biodiversity conservation
Conservationists should assume that people don’t care about biodiversity. By doing so, they would be especially motivated to figure out what people do care about, and how conservation might be…
2016 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
Scatter-hoarding corvids as seed dispersers for oaks and pines: a review of a widely distributed mutualism and its utility to habitat restoration
M.B. Pesendorfer, T.S. Sillett, W.D. Koenig, S.A. Morrison
Many corvids are renowned as “ecosystem engineers” because they facilitate the long-distance seed dispersal of keystone tree species like oaks. This paper reviews research into various…
2016 | Freshwater | Science | Publications & Reports
Sustainable Groundwater Management: What We Can Learn from California's Central Valley Streams
The Nature Conservancy, RMC Consultants, Inc.
Groundwater is intimately connected to surface water, which has profound implications for sustainable water resource management. California has historically overlooked this important interaction and…
2016 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
Phylogeographic and population genetic structure of bighorn sheep in North American deserts
Buchalski, M.R, B.N. Sacks, D.A. Gille, M.C.T. Penedo, H.B. Ernest, S.A. Morrison, W.M. Boyce
Bighorn sheep occupy a desert landscape of rugged mountains separated by expansive and very arid valleys. Highways and other development in those valleys fragment habitat and isolate populations from…
2016 | Freshwater | Science | Publications & Reports
Groundwater and Stream Interaction in California’s Central Valley: Insights for Sustainable Groundwater Management
The Nature Conservancy, RMC Consultants, Inc.
Groundwater is intimately connected to surface water, which has profound implications for sustainable water resource management. California has historically overlooked this important interaction and…
2016 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
An irruption interrupted: eradication of wild turkeys from Santa Cruz Island, California
Morrison, S.A., A.J. DeNicola, K. Walker, D. Dewey, L. Laughrin, R. Wolstenholme, N. Macdonald
This paper describes a program to eradicate an introduced and rapidly increasing population of wild turkeys from an island. It includes a description of the principles important for eradication…
2016 | Terrestrial | Planning | Publications & Reports
Climate Action Through Conservation Project
The Nature Conservancy and Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District
The Climate Action Through Conservation project provides a way for local governments, land managers, and planners to understand the links between climate benefits and conservation values and…