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.
2019 | Freshwater | Science | Publications & Reports
Rapid and Accurate Estimates of Streamflow Depletion Caused by Groundwater Pumping Using Analytical Depletion Functions
Samuel C. Zipper, Tom Gleeson, Ben Kerr, Jeanette K. Howard, Melissa M. Rohde, Jennifer Carah, Julie Zimmerman
Reductions in streamflow from groundwater pumping can negatively impact water users and aquatic ecosystems but are challenging to estimate due to the time and expertise required to develop numerical…
2019 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports
Biodiversity Analysis in Los Angeles (BAILA) Report
Parker SS, Randall JM, Pauly GB, Li E, Brown BV, Cohen BS
This report is a product of the Biodiversity Analysis in Los Angeles (BAILA) project. It provides details on why we conducted our analysis, how the partnership between the Museum and the Conservancy…
2019 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Technology | Science | Data
Biodiversity Analysis in Los Angeles (BAILA) data
Enjie Li, Sophie S. Parker, Gregory B. Pauly, John M. Randall, Brian V. Brown, Brian S. Cohen
This dataset is a product of the Biodiversity Analysis in Los Angeles (BAILA) project, and demonstrates a new way to evaluate urban biogeography—patterns in the distribution of species across…
2019 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports
An urban biodiversity assessment framework that combines an urban habitat classification scheme and citizen science data
Enjie Li, Sophie S. Parker, Gregory B. Pauly, John M. Randall, Brian V. Brown, Brian S. Cohen
This paper presents a new way to evaluate urban biogeography—patterns in the distribution of species across urban areas. The authors developed a hierarchical, quantitative method for classifying…
2019 | Freshwater | Technology | Science | Maps & Webmaps
GDE Pulse: Monitoring Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems with Satellites
Kirk Klausmeyer, Falk Schuetzenmeister, Nathaniel Rindlaub, Tanushree Biswas, Melissa M. Rohde, Jeanette Howard
94,333 unique ecosystems depend on groundwater in California. GDE Pulse lets you see how they have changed over the last 30 years. Groundwater managers and environmental stakeholders often lack…
2019 | Freshwater | Publications & Reports
SGMA's First Groundwater Market: An Early Case Study from Fox Canyon
Sarah Heard, E.J. Remson, Matthew Fienup, Siobhan King
In 2014, California passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) which regulates groundwater at scale for the first time, requiring the state’s largest source of stored water to be…
2019 | Freshwater | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
Conservation Planning Foundation for Restoring Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and O. mykiss in the Stanislaus River
Prepared by Anchor QEA, LLC (John Ferguson, Elizabeth Greene, and Michelle L. Ratliff), Contributors and Participants: John Cain, Jon Rosenfield, Alison Weber-Stover, Stephen Louie, John Shelton, Tim Heyne, Brian Ellrott, Sierra Franks, Monica Gutierrez, Rhonda Reed, David Swank, Steve Edmundson, Katie Schmidt, Rachel Johnson, Jeanette Howard, Julie Zimmerman, Chris Carr, Daniel Worth, Rene Henery, Ron Yoshiyama, Joshua Israel, Paul Cadrett, Ramon Martin, and J.D. Wikert
Also view Appendix A: Stanislaus Survival Model and and other report Appendices.
2019 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
The dark side of facilitation: native shrubs facilitate exotic annuals more strongly than native annuals
Jacob E. Lucero, Taylor Noble, Stephanie Haas, Michael Westphal, H. Scott Butterfield, Christopher J. Lortie
Previous work at the Carrizo Plain by this team in 2018 showed that native shrubs facilitated endangered blunt-nosed leopard lizard populations, and should be considered part of plans for habitat…
2019 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
Clarifying Effects of Environmental Protections on Freshwater Flows to—and Water Exports from—the San Francisco Bay Estuary
Gregory J. Reis, Jeanette K. Howard, Jonathan A. Rosenfield
For years the narrative of the San Francisco Bay Delta has been driven by the contention that water use by agriculture was being limited by environmental regulation. Analyzing long-term trends…
2019 | Freshwater | Science | Publications & Reports
Stream flow modeling tools inform environmental water policy in California
Theodore E. Grantham, Julie K. H. Zimmerman, Jennifer K. Carah, Jeanette K. Howard
Management of California’s vast water distribution network, involving hundreds of dams and diversions from rivers and streams, provides water to 40 million people and supports a globally…
2019 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
Habitat restoration opportunities, climatic niche contraction, and conservation biogeography in California's San Joaquin Desert
Joseph A. E. Stewart, H. Scott Butterfield, Jonathan Q. Richmond, David J. Germano, Michael F. Westphal, Erin N. Tennant, Barry Sinervo
Due to limited water resources, there is a global trend toward the retirement of farmland, especially in the San Joaquin Valley in California where the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act could…
2019 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
San Diego County Ecosystems: Ecological Impacts of Climate Change on a Biodiversity Hotspot
Megan Jennings, Dan Cayan, Julie Kalansky, Amber Pairis, Alexandra Syphard, Rachel Clemesha, Alexander Gershunov, Kristen Guirguis, John Randall, Eric Stein, Sula Vanderplank, Shasta Gaughen
2018 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Marine | Science | Publications & Reports
Conservation Science Catalyst Fund - 2018 Annual Report
The Nature Conservancy deploys science to help overcome major challenges facing people and nature. In today’s fast-paced world, turning threats to nature into opportunities for conservation…
2018 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Science | Blogs
The Promise of eDNA: A New Kind of Fieldwork to Guide Conservation
This blog post discusses how environmental DNA or “eDNA” methods can be used by conservation biologists. These methods rely on the premise that DNA is shed by organisms through normal,…
2018 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
The emergence of cannabis agricultural frontiers as environmental threats
Van Butsic, Jennifer K. Carah, Matthias Baumann, Connor Stephens, Jacob C. Brenner
While cannabis cultivation in California is known to sometimes have serious collateral impacts on the environment, those impacts and their extent are not well understood or described. In this paper,…
2018 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Marine | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
Informing Our Successors: What Botanical Information for Santa Cruz Island will Researchers and Conservation Managers in the Century Ahead Need the Most?
Randall, J.M., K. McEachern, J. Knapp, P. Power, S. Junak, K. Gill, D. Knapp, M. Guilliams
2018 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
Wetland Bird Conservation in California Rice Fields
Chris Elphick, T. Rodd Kelsey, Catherine Hickey, Khara Strum, Paul Buttner, Monica Iglecia
Wetland birds, especially Sandhill Cranes, are heavily dependent on irrigated farmlands in the Central Valley of California after widespread conversion of natural habitats. TNC and its partners have…
2018 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports
Waterbird response to variable-timing of drawdown in rice fields after winter-flooding
Kristen Sesser, Monica Iglecia, Matthew Reiter, Khara Strum, Catherine Hickey, Rodd Kelsey, Daniel Skalos
Over 50% of waterbird habitat in the Central Valley of California is provided by flooded agricultural land. Each year non-breeding waterbird habitat decreases in the late winter as flooded…
2018 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
Groundwater sustainability in the San Joaquin Valley: Multiple benefits if agricultural lands are retired and restored strategically
Rodd Kelsey, Abby Hart, H. Scott Butterfield, Dan Vink
Restoring habitat in retired farmland could reduce water demand and provide ecosystem services for farmers and local communities. In some areas of California, as a result of the Sustainable…