Mark D. Reynolds

Director
Pt. Conception Institute
[email protected]

In The Nature Conservancy’s California Chapter, Mark provides scientific leadership and guidance by developing analytical approaches to planning, conservation strategy development and monitoring. He is currently studying the relationships between water management, compatible agriculture and conservation of the Pacific Flyway.

Prior to joining the Conservancy, he was the Executive Director of Field Station Programs at San Diego State University. Prior to that, he worked for the University of California’s Natural Reserve System as Co-Director of the Sedgwick Reserve near Santa Barbara and as Co-Manager of Sagehen Creek Field Station for the University of California, Berkeley. He also worked as a wildlife biologist in Tahoe National Forest for the U.S. Forest Service. He holds a Ph.D. in Zoology/Animal Biology from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.S. in Zoology/Animal Biology from Idaho State University.


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2022 | Terrestrial | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

Predictive ecological land classification from multi-decadal satellite imagery

Daniel Sousa, Frank W. Davis, Kelly Easterday, Mark Reynolds, Laura Riege, H. Scott Butterfield, Moses Katkowski

This paper details a first of its kind approach to land classification, using random forests and multivariate regression trees and historical Landsat satellite imagery to map and then assess changes in oak canopies at the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve. Using this “topoclimatic-edaphic” approach to…


2021 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports

Integrating citizen science data with expert surveys increases accuracy and spatial extent of species distribution models.

O.J. Robinson, V. Ruiz-Gutierrez, M.D. Reynolds, G.H. Golet, M. Strimas-Mackey and D. Fink

Information on species’ habitat associations and distributions, across wide spatial and temporal scales, is fundamental for guiding conservation. Yet these data are often in short supply. In recent years citizen science data, such as that derived from eBird, has increasingly become available to fill…


2021 | Terrestrial | Marine | Planning | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve Invasive Plant Species Action Plan

Moses Katkowski, H. Scott Butterfield, John Knapp, Kelly Easterday, Laura Riege, Mark Reynolds

This 5-year action plan describes the vision for invasive plant species mapping, monitoring and treatment at the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve in Sourthern California. The plan is adaptive and will updated as new species, management approaches (including new and emerging technologies), and monitoring results…


2020 | Terrestrial | Planning | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve Rangeland Management Plan

Butterfield, H.S., M. Katkowski, J. Cota, O. Sage, C. Sage, K. Easterday, D. Zeleke, L. Riege, S. Gennet, K. Lin, B. Leahy, M. Bell, M. Reynolds

Cattle grazing is the dominant land management tool TNC has to manage biodiversity and reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfire at the TNC's Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve. This Rangeland Management Plan, intended to guide rangeland management through 2025, details the adaptive management approach TNC…


2020 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Marine | Planning | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve Integrated Resources Management Plan

Butterfield, H.S., M. Reynolds , M.G. Gleason, M. Merrifield, B.S. Cohen, W.N. Heady, D. Cameron, T. Rick, E. Inlander, M. Katkowski, L. Riege, J. Knapp, S. Gennet, G. Gorga, K. Lin, K. Easterday, B. Leahy, M. Bell

This Plan frames the biological and cultural significance and provides the short- and long-term goals, objectives, and priority actions for the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve.


2019 | Freshwater | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

Dynamic multibenefit solutions for global water challenges

Melissa M. Rohde, Mark Reynolds, Jeanette Howard

In this article, the authors provide an example of how dynamic multi-benefit solutions used to provide “pop-up” wetland habitat for migratory birds also replenishing depleted aquifers to create environmental and water supply benefits and broadens it to the global scale. Additionally, this article outlines six…


2019 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Economics | Science | Publications & Reports

Evidence Synthesis as the Basis for Decision Analysis: A Method of Selecting the Best Agricultural Practices for Multiple Ecosystem Services

Gorm E. Shackelford, Rodd Kelsey, William J. Sutherland, Christina M. Kennedy, Stephen A. Wood, Sasha Gennet, Daniel S. Karp, Claire Kremen, Nathaniel E. Seavy, Julie A. Jedlicka, Kelly Gravuer, Sara M. Kross, Deborah A. Bossio, Andrés Muñoz-Sáez, Deirdre G. LaHue, Kelly Garbach, Lawrence D. Ford, Mark Felice, Mark D. Reynolds, Devii R. Rao, Kathleen Boomer, Gretchen LeBuhn, Lynn V. Dicks

Agricultural management practices impacts not only on crops and livestock, but also soil health, water quality, wildlife, and ecosystem services. There is abundant, but disconnected, scientific evidence for the impacts of different practice. But this evidence is often not used in decision making by farmers or…


2018 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports

Impact of extreme drought and incentive programs on flooded agriculture and wetlands in California’s Central Valley

Matthew E. Reiter​, Nathan K. Elliott, Dennis Jongsomjit, Gregory H. Golet, Mark D. Reynolds

In the Central Valley of California, with 90% of the historic wetlands gone, waterbirds depend upon managed wetlands and seasonally flooded agriculture to meet their habitat needs. The 2013-2015 drought in the Central Valley was more severe than drought years during 2000-2011 and reduced waterbird…



2018 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports

Using ricelands to provide temporary shorebird habitat during migration

Gregory H. Golet, Candace Low, Simon Avery, Katie Andrews, Christopher J. McColl, Rheyna Laney, Mark D. Reynolds

Migratory birds face great challenges due to the climate change, conversion of historical stopover sites, and other factors. To help address these challenges, the Conservancy launched a dynamic conservation incentive program to create temporary wetland habitats in harvested and fallow rice fields for shorebirds…


2017 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Marine | Technology | Economics | 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 program eBird, and NASA satellite wetland habitat data to create a habitat marketplace of…



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 and sustainable development. Species redistribution also poses new questions for the study of ecosystems, conservation science and human societies that…


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” wetland habitat where and when birds need them most by enlisting farmers to flood their fields at specific times. This…



2015 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Technology | Publications & Reports

Abundance models improve spatial and temporal prioritization of conservation resources

Johnston, A., D. Fink, M. D. Reynolds, W. M. Hochachka, B. L. Sullivan, N. E. Bruns, E. Hallstein, M. S. Merrifield, S. Matsumoto, S. Kelling

Global declines in migratory species in response to accelerating habitat destruction and climate change challenge the scope and scale of conservation efforts. The ability to pinpoint where and when conservation interventions will have the greatest positive population impact is especially important for conservation of migratory…


2014 | | Technology | Publications & Reports

eBird enterprise: integrated approach to development and application of citizen science

Brian L. Sullivan, Jocelyn L. Aycrigg, Jessie H. Barry , Rick E. Bonney, Nicholas Bruns, Caren B. Cooper, Theo Damoulas, André A. Dhondt , Tom Dietterich, Andrew Farnsworth, Daniel Fink, John W. Fitzpatrick, Thomas Fredericks, Jeff Gerbracht, Carla Gomes, Wesley M. Hochachka, Marshall J. Iliff, Carl Lagoze, Frank A. La Sorte, Matthew Merrifield, Will Morris, Tina B. Phillips, Mark Reynolds, Amanda D. Rodewald, Kenneth V. Rosenberg, Nancy M. Trautmann, Andrea Wiggins, David W. Winkler, Weng-Keen Wong, Christopher L. Wood, Jun Yu, Steve Kelling

This paper outlines how eBird has evolved from a basic citizen-science project into a collective enterprise, taking a novel approach to citizen science by developing cooperative partnerships among experts in a wide range of fields: population and distributions, conservation biologists, quantitative ecologists, statisticians, computer scientists, GIS…


2013 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports

Vinecology: Pairing Wine with Nature

Joshua H. Viers, John N. Williams, Kimberly A. Nicholas, Olga Barbosa, Inge Kotzé, Liz Spence, Leanne B. Webb, Adina Merenlender, Mark Reynolds

As an essential component of food security, agricultural landscapes must play a role in conservation efforts because they occupy large areas of land, are adjacent to critical habitat, and both depend on and provide ecosystem services. Winegrapes are a high-value specialty crop that can both…


2013 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports

Farm practices for food safety: an emerging threat to floodplain and riparian ecosystem

Gennet, S., J. Howard, J. Langholz, K. Andrews, M.D. Reynolds, S.A. Morrison

This paper discusses the 2006 outbreak of toxic foodborne E. coli and its impact on wildlife. The authors explain how farming practices for food safety that target wildlife can damage ecosystems but may not actually improve the safety of the food supply and how high…


2011 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports

Proactive Conservation Management of an Island-endemic Bird Species in the Face of Global Change

Scott A. Morrison, T. Scott Sillett, Cameron K. Ghalambor, John W. Fitzpatrick, David M. Graber, Victoria J. Bakker, Reed Bowman, Charles T. Collins, Paul W. Collins, Kathleen Semple Delaney, Daniel F. Doak, Walter D. Koenig, Lyndal Laughrin, Alan A. Lieberman, John M. Marzluff, Mark D. Reynolds, J. Michael Scott, Jerre Ann Stallcup, Winston Vickers, Walter M. Boyce

This paper discusses conservation of the Island Scrub-Jay in the context of novel threats posed by climate change. The authors discuss management actions that could reduce extinction risk—including vaccination, captive propagation, biosecurity measures, and establishing a second free-living population on a neighboring island—and present a…


2011 | Freshwater | Science | Publications & Reports

Identifying habitat conservation priorities and gaps for migratory shorebirds and waterfowl in California

Stralberg, D., D. Cameron, M. Reynolds, C. Hickey, K. Klausmeyer, S. Busby, L. Stenzel, W. Shuford, G. Page

This analysis provides the first comprehensive overview of the specific habitats used by 42 different migratory waterbird species throughout California. The authors reveal important gaps in protection for wintering habitat for shorebirds and waterfowl and highlight the importance of agricultural lands in migratory bird conservation. They advocate…


2006 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Marine | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

Where to draw the line: integrating feasibility into connectivity planning

Scott A. Morrison, Mark D. Reynolds

Protecting, restoring, and enhancing habitat connectivity in already fragmented landscapes poses many challenges for conservationists. This essay discusses the importance of considering implementation feasibility when developing connectivity conservation priorities and plans. In Connectivity Conservation edited by Kevin R. Crooks and M Sanjayan.