Terrestrial | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

The tree cover and temperature disparity in US urbanized areas: Quantifying the association with income across 5,723 communities

Robert I. McDonald, Tanushree Biswas, Cedilla Sachar, Ian Housman, Timothy M. Boucher, Deborah Balk, David Nowak, Erica Spotswood, Charlotte K. Stanley, Stefan Leyk

Urban tree cover provides benefits to human health and well-being, but it is often inequitably distributed. In this study, researchers Google Earth Engine (GEE) and an automated machine learning algorithm to map urban tree cover at 2m resolution across 5,723 municipalities and unincorporated communities in the US, and surveyed tree cover inequality for US Census blocks in large-urbanized areas, home to 167 million people. In 92% of the urbanized areas surveyed, low-income blocks have on average 15.2% less tree cover and are 1.5⁰ C hotter (surface temperature) than high-income blocks. The greatest difference was found in urbanized areas in the Northeast of the United States, where low-income blocks often have at least 30% less tree cover and are at least 4.0⁰ C hotter. Overall low-income neighborhoods have 62 million fewer trees than high income neighborhoods. An investment of $17.6 billion is needed in tree planting across these cities to eliminate the tree cover disparity for 42 million people in low-income blocks. 

Link the US Urban Tree Cover Inequality tool to explore the disparity in tree cover within these cities. 
Coverage of the tool in the Academic Times. 

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2025 | Freshwater | Planning | Technology | Microsite

Functional Flows Calculator

Kirk Klausmeyer, Bronwen Stanford, Nathan Enerson, Steven Sonvisen, Falk Schuetzenmeister, and Jam Hamidi

To protect water for nature, we first need to understand current flow conditions in our rivers, and how that flow is altered from natural conditions. Under the California Environmental Flows Framework…

2025 | Freshwater | Planning | Technology | Microsite

California North Coast Water Availability Tool

Jennifer Carah, Ben Kerr, Mia van Docto, Anders Farr, Kirk Klausmeyer, Steven Sonvisen, Siena Testa, and Jam Hamidi

Water is essential for California’s people, economy, and environment, yet water availability for people and nature is not well understood. This tool efficiently assesses water availability in…

2025 | Terrestrial | Technology | Publications & Reports

Real-time island biosecurity surveillance: evaluating a wireless camera network for AI-assisted early detection of invasive mammals on Santa Cruz Island, CA

Lara J. Brenner, Nathaniel Rindlaub, Juliana Matos, Scott Meyler, Sue Pollock, Falk Schuetzenmeister, Nick D. Holmes

Invasive mammals like rats pose a major threat to island ecosystems and endemic species. This study tests a wireless camera network on Santa Cruz Island that uses AI to detect nonnative mammals in…

2025 | Terrestrial | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

Phylosymbiosis and Elevated Cancer Risk in Genetically Depauperate Channel Island Foxes

Alexandra L. DeCandia, Jasmine Lu, Emily E. Hamblen, Lara J. Brenner, Julie L. King, Calypso N. Gagorik, Juliann T. Schamel, Stacy S. Baker, Francesca J. Ferrara, Melissa Booker, Andrew Bridges, Cesar Carrasco, Bridgett M. vonHoldt, Klaus-Peter Koepfli, Jesús E. Maldonado

Isolated island species may be more susceptible to disease because of their lack of genetic diversity. Santa Catalina Island foxes have the highest rate of cancer ever measured in wildlife - over 50%…

2025 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

The wildlife attitude-acceptability framework’s potential to inform human dimensions of wildlife science and practice

Alexander L. Metcalf, Elizabeth Covelli Metcalf, Lara J. Brenner, Holly K. Nesbitt, Conor N. Phelan, Michael S. Lewis, Justin A. Gude

The long-term survival of large carnivores like wolves, grizzly bears and mountain lions depends not just on ecological factors like habitat, but also on social factors like human acceptance of their…

2025 | Terrestrial | Planning | Publications & Reports

Conservation planning for climate change vulnerability across the islands of the Californias

Lara J. Brenner, Piper D. Wallingford, Nick D. Holmes, John J. Knapp, John M. Randall, Scott A. Morrison

Island ecosystems are especially vulnerable to climate change, yet planning for these impacts remains challenging due to a lack of available data. This paper reports on a collaborative workshop across…

2025 | Terrestrial | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

The gut microbiomes of Channel Island foxes and island spotted skunks exhibit fine-scale differentiation across host species and island populations

Samantha Pasciullo Boychuck, Lara J. Brenner, Calypso N. Gagorik, Juliann T. Schamel, Stacy Baker, Elton Tran, Bridgett M. vonHoldt, Klaus-Peter Koepfli, Jesús E. Maldonado, Alexandra L. DeCandia

On California’s Channel Islands, two rare carnivores—the island fox and island spotted skunk—have coexisted for millennia despite competing for similar resources. This study explores…

2025 | Terrestrial | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

Evaluating UAV LiDAR and Field Spectroscopy for Estimating Residual Dry Matter Across Conservation Grazing Lands

Bruce Markman, H. Scott Butterfield, Janet Franklin, Lloyd Coulter, Moses Katkowski, and Dan Sousa

Residual dry matter has been widely used to monitor grazing impacts across conservation grazing lands for more than 75 years, largely done with time-intensive, expensive, and hard-to-reproduce…

2025 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

High streamflow enhances population growth rates for Bank Swallows

Golet G.H., Kristen E. Dybala, Joeseph G. Silvera, Adam Henderson, Jennifer Isola, David H. Wright, Ron Melcer Jr., and Danika Tsao.

Lowland alluvial rivers are rich in biodiversity, yet many are highly degraded and no longer support robust natural communities. Over the past few decades, Bank Swallows, which depend upon these…

2025 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

The Value of Community Science Data for Conservation Decision-making

A.D. Binley, J.O. Hanson, O.J. Robinson, G.H. Golet, J.R. Bennett

Monitoring biodiversity is critical for informing conservation but can also deplete resources available for management actions if the time and money available are limited. Freely available…

2025 | Marine | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports

Ship collision risk threatens whales across the world’s oceans

Nisi A, H Welch, S Brodie, C Liephardt, R Rhodes, E Hazen, JV Redfern, TA Branch, A S Barreto, J Calambokidis, T Clavelle, L Dares, A de Vos, S Gero, J A. Jackson, RD Kenney, D Kroodsma, R Leaper, DJ McCauley, SE Moore, E Ovsyanikova, S Panigada, CV Robinson, T White, JR Wilson, B Abrahms

Collisions between whales and ships are a leading cause of death for threatened whale species across the globe. In this paper, scientists identified high risk areas for whale-ship collisions by…

2025 | Marine | Science | Publications & Reports

Captive Breeding for Disease Resistance in the Sunflower Sea Star (Pycnopodia helianthoides)

The Nature Conservancy

In 2013, sea star wasting disease led to the collapse of sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides) along the west coast of North America. Animals are now being grown in captivity for eventual…

2025 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

Is our climate fight killing the environment? A case for smart from the start planning

Michael J Clifford, Peter Gower, Tanya Anderson, Jaina Moan, Mickey Hazelwood, Sophie S Parker, Laurel Saito

Dramatic changes to the transportation and energy sectors are required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet the goal of keeping global average temperatures from rising. The authors discuss how…

2025 | Marine | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

The Business of Restoration: Assessment and recommendations for the oyster reef restoration industry in the United States

Bryan DeAngelis, Elliot Hall

We must radically increase the pace, scale, and impact of restoration to recover the abundance, resilience, and benefits of coastal ecosystems.  This project explored the current size of the…

2025 | Terrestrial | Science | Publications & Reports

Oren Pollak Memorial Research Fund - 2025 RFP

Brynn Pewtherer

The Oren Pollak Memorial Research Fund was established in 2000 in memory of Dr. Oren Pollak, a leading grassland ecologist and restoration pioneer, as well as an ardent champion and mentor for…

2025 | Marine | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

The recovery of seabirds after an oil spill is limited by the presence of a non-native predator on their breeding island

Bixler, K., D. Roby, D.B. Irons, G.H. Golet

Seabirds are excellent indicators of the health of the world’s oceans. They are susceptible to marine pollution and dependent upon ecological processes that concentrate food in predictable…

2024 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

An approach to designing efficient implementation of 30×30 terrestrial conservation commitments

Carrie A. Schloss, D. Richard Cameron, Bradley Franklin, Christoph Nolte, Scott A. Morrison

In response to biodiversity declines worldwide, over 190 nations committed to protect 30% of their lands and waters by 2030 . As these jurisdictions move from planning to implementation, we propose a…

2024 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

Maximizing the habitat value for shorebirds of private landowner incentive programs

Erin. E. Conlisk, Gregory H. Golet, Mark D. Reynolds, Nathan Elliot. and Matthew E. Reiter

Shorebirds are the second fastest declining group of birds in North America. To reverse this trend, The Nature Conservancy has been implementing BirdReturns, a habitat incentive program that pays…

2024 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports

Climatically robust multiscale species distribution models to support pronghorn recovery in California

William T. Bean, H. Scott Butterfield, Jeanette K. Howard, Thomas J. Batter

In this paper, the authors used a variety of habitat suitability modeling approaches to begin to understand where pronghorn may exist in the future in California under different climate change…

2024 | Terrestrial | Marine | Science | Publications & Reports

Spatial Patterns of Vegetation Change in a Fire-Suppressed Coastal California Landscape

Lucy Genua, Brad Anderson, Meghan Bowen, Genelle Ives, Owen Liu, Thomas Paschos, H. Scott Butterfield, Kelly Easterday, Mark Reynolds, James H. Thorne

In this paper, the authors used historical vegetation data, from both aerial photographs and field transects, to assess the change in major vegetation types at the Dangermond Preserve over the last…