Publications

The coastal Cactus Wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus) persists in small and fragmented populations throughout southern California that are subject to genetic drift and inbreeding. We combined individual banding and resighting data and genotyped individuals at 22 microsatellite loci to assess whether heterozygosity was associated with survival across three regional Cactus Wren...

Premise Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) are two iconic paleoendemic species with limited distributions, well known for their spectacular size. Recently, they have been exposed to high-severity crown fires, with starkly contrasting responses.Methods We used all available published literature and field observations to understand the...

Draining, water diversion, and development have greatly reduced the availability of freshwater wetland habitat around the world, and many remaining wetlands are on private lands. Public–private partnership programs can be an important means for promoting habitat conservation and management on private lands. We investigated bird use of 117 wetlands enrolled in the California Waterfowl...

Executive Summary We surveyed for coastal Cactus Wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus) in 507 established plots in San Diego County in 2024, encompassing four genetic clusters (Otay, Lake Jennings, Sweetwater/Encanto, and San Pasqual). Of the 507 plots, 376 have been surveyed every year starting in 2020. Two surveys were completed at each plot between March 1 and July 31, 2024. Cactus...

There exists a long-standing disconnect between statistical and mechanistic approaches to the development of causal understanding. Statistical approaches, which have dominated the literature, have focused on the need to obtain perfectly unbiased estimates of causal effects often using either experimental, quasi-experimental or other methods. Mechanistic approaches have instead focused on

Subspecies are often targets for conservation, yet many lack the genetic data necessary to validate their status as distinctive evolutionary lineages. In 2016, conservationists faced this issue when designating the California glossy snake, Arizona elegans occidentalis, as a Species of Special Concern in California, a decision prompted by population declines and habitat loss but absent of...

Fire is a defining feature of our biosphere, having appeared when the first plants colonized the land, and it continues to occur across the planet at different frequencies and intensities. Fire has been and remains as an evolutionary force in many plant and animal lineages and contributes to explaining the variability of our biodiversity. Fire has also shaped the structure of many...

Conservation translocations and reintroductions are widely used to improve conservation outcomes for declining species. Reintroductions are unlikely to be successful if the threats that led to the extirpation of the focal species, such as non-native predators, have not been ameliorated. The non-native brown treesnake (Boiga irregularis) was introduced to Guam in the mid-20th century and...

Texas Tortoises (Gopherus berlandieri) are understudied compared to federally protected congeners. Despite important early studies on the basic ecology of G. berlandieri, quantitative identification of habitat associations with specific environmental conditions has been limited. Gopherus berlandieri inhabits Tamaulipan thornscrub across its range, and coastal populations are historically

The installation of offshore wind energy infrastructure (OWEI) at sea may affect marine birds by increasing the risk of mortality from collision with OWEI (Collision Vulnerability) and causing disturbance and displacement from important habitats (Displacement Vulnerability). In 2017, we published the first comprehensive database quantifying marine bird Collision Vulnerability and...

Joshua trees are long-lived perennial monocots native to the Mojave Desert in North America. Composed of two species, Yucca brevifolia and Y. jaegeriana (Asparagaceae), Joshua trees are imperiled by climate change, with decreases in suitable habitat predicted under future climate change scenarios. Relatively little is understood about the ecophysiology of Joshua trees across their range...

Global conservation targets include protecting genetic diversity within species. Yet few studies have assessed whether protected areas (PAs) include genetically diverse populations across species globally. A first step is understanding the availability of population genetic data that could be used in these assessments. We surveyed georeferenced population-level nuclear (as opposed to...