Dr. Kathryn McEachern began her career in the open pit coal mines of Pacific Power and Light in Wyoming and Montana.
There she designed long-term vegetation monitoring programs, directed topsoil salvage operations, and designed and tested native plant seed mixes for habitat reclamation. Her interest in ecosystem restoration led her to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she participated in the restoration ecology group, and helped design a new Conservation Biology Master’s program. In 1988, she began working with the National Park Service in the Great Lakes region on conservation of coastal ecosystems. She began long-term studies of a threatened dune thistle in one of the habitats she loves best: coastal dunes. Her research interests led her to the California south coast, where she continues to study rare plants and vegetation. Her particular interests are in the study of how the vegetation forms the context for rare plant persistence, as seen through long-term demographic patterns in the rare plants of the California Channel Islands. To look at this question, she is tracking the native and alien plant communities of the islands along with a suite of rare native plants that inhabit these communities. She guides the Prototype Vegetation Monitoring Program at Channel Islands National Park, and assists other agencies with plant community and rare plant monitoring program design.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
- Chaparral Ecology
- Coastal Sage Ecology
- Community ecology
- Conservation biology
- Ecological monitoring
- Geographic Information Systems
- Invasive species ecology
- Landscape ecology
- Landscape patterns
- Plant ecology
- Pop. viab. models
- Population biology
- Restoration ecology
- Species/Population management
- Weed management
Education and Certifications
Ph.D., Botany, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 1992
B.S., Botany, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO 1979
Affiliations and Memberships*
California Native Plant Society
International Association for Vegetation Science
Society for Conservation Biology
The Ecological Society of America
Science and Products
Drivers of Ecosystem Recovery on Santa Rosa Island
Developing Monitoring Programs for Damaged Ecosystems
Restoring Rare Plants on Public Lands
Channel Islands Field Station
Demographic data and location information for the endangered Gailum buxifolium from 2005 to 2014 on Santa Cruz and San Miguel Islands, California
Diverse native island flora shows rapid initial passive recovery after exotic herbivore removal on Santa Rosa Island, California
Sea-cliff bedstraw (Galium buxifolium) patterns and trends, 2005–14, on Santa Cruz and San Miguel Islands, Channel Islands National Park, California
Effects of life history and reproduction on recruitment time lags in reintroductions of rare plants
Regeneration and expansion of Quercus tomentella (island oak) groves on Santa Rosa Island
Informing our successors: What botanical information for Santa Cruz Island will researchers and conservation managers in the century ahead need the most?
Oak habitat recovery on California's largest islands: Scenarios for the role of corvid seed dispersal
Population-specific life histories contribute to metapopulation viability
Terrestrial vegetation monitoring protocol for the Mediterranean Coast Network—Cabrillo National Monument, Channel Islands National Park, and Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area: Standard Operating Procedures, Version 1.0
Spatial and temporal patterns of cloud cover and fog inundation in coastal California: Ecological implications
Managed island ecosystems
Comparison of reintroduction and enhancement effects on metapopulation viability
Ecological change on California's Channel Islands from the Pleistocene to the Anthropocene
Science and Products
- Science
Drivers of Ecosystem Recovery on Santa Rosa Island
The Channel Islands were used as ranches for almost 150 years. Sheep, cattle, pigs and other livestock grazed on native perennial scrub, leaving behind barren landscapes that could not collect moisture from coastal fog. In time, ranching ended and livestock were removed. WERC’s Dr. Kathryn McEachern is monitoring habitat recovery and testing the efficacy of restoration practices on the islands for...Developing Monitoring Programs for Damaged Ecosystems
California’s Channel Islands are recovering from a long history of ranching. As the island ecosystems respond to the absence of livestock, WERC’s Dr. Kathryn McEachern is working with the National Park Service to test new monitoring programs that could help ecologists and biologists study recovering environments across the West.Restoring Rare Plants on Public Lands
Ecosystems throughout the U.S. face threats from invasive species and rapid changes to the environment. Dr. Kathryn McEachern is studying the long-term effects of invasive plants and animals, and environmental change on the survival and recovery of rare plants across the 18 California Islands and in the Great Lakes.Channel Islands Field Station
Eight islands make up the California Islands archipelago in the United States, extending from Point Conception to the U.S. border with Mexico. The archipelago extends even farther south off the coastline of Baja Sur, Mexico, adding another 10 islands to the chain. WERC’s Channel Islands Field Station is the site of key research on endangered plants, invasive species, and conservation projects on... - Data
Demographic data and location information for the endangered Gailum buxifolium from 2005 to 2014 on Santa Cruz and San Miguel Islands, California
The sea-cliff bedstraw (Galium buxifolium) data set contains two types of information, formatted as CSVs: 1) Spatial coordinates (WSG 84) of known population occurrences on Santa Cruz and San Miguel Islands, California, as of 2006 (sensitive locality information); 2) Demographic data measured at four populations growing on Santa Cruz Island. Three of the populations were measured in 2005 and 2006, - Multimedia
- Publications
Filter Total Items: 47
Diverse native island flora shows rapid initial passive recovery after exotic herbivore removal on Santa Rosa Island, California
Removing exotic vertebrates from islands is an increasingly common and potentially effective strategy for protecting biodiversity. Yet, surprisingly few studies evaluate large-scale effects of island removals on native plants. We surveyed 431 hectares of habitat in 7 canyons on Santa Rosa Island just after exotic herbivore control began (1994–1996), and again after two herbivore species had been eAuthorsDiane M Thomson, Kathryn McEachern, Emily L Schultz, Kenneth G. Niessen, Dieter Wilken, Katherine A. Chess, Lauren F Cole, Ruth Y Oliver, Jennifer D Phillips, Acadia TuckerSea-cliff bedstraw (Galium buxifolium) patterns and trends, 2005–14, on Santa Cruz and San Miguel Islands, Channel Islands National Park, California
Sea-cliff bedstraw (Galium buxifolium [Rubiaceae]) is a delicate dioecious subshrub endemic to Santa Cruz and San Miguel Islands, in the northern California Channel Islands. It was listed as endangered in 1997 under the Federal Endangered Species Act, threatened by soil loss, habitat alteration, and herbivory from more than a century of ranching land use. At the time of listing, there were eight pAuthorsKathryn McEachern, Katherine A. Chess, Karen Flagg, Kenneth G. NiessenEffects of life history and reproduction on recruitment time lags in reintroductions of rare plants
Reintroductions are important components of conservation and recovery programs for rare plant species, but their long‐term success rates are poorly understood. Previous reviews of plant reintroductions focused on short‐term (e.g., ≤3 years) survival and flowering of founder individuals rather than on benchmarks of intergenerational persistence, such as seedling recruitment. However, short‐term metAuthorsMatthew A. Albrecht, Oyomoare L. Osazuwa-Peters, Joyce Maschinski, Timothy J. Bell, Marlin L. Bowles, William E. Brumback, Janice Duquesnel, Michael Kunz, Jimmy Lange, Kimberlie A. McCue, Kathryn McEachern, Sheila Murray, Peggy Olwell, Noel B. Pavlovic, Cheryl L. Peterson, Jennifer Possley, John L. Randall, Samuel J. WrightRegeneration and expansion of Quercus tomentella (island oak) groves on Santa Rosa Island
Quercus tomentella (island oak) is an endemic species that plays a key functional role in Channel Island ecosystems. Growing in groves on highland ridges, Q. tomentella captures fog and increases water inputs, stabilizes soils, and provides habitat for flora and fauna. This cloud forest system has been impacted by a long history of ranching, and restoration efforts are underway that include erosioAuthorsJay Woolsey, Cause Hanna, Kathryn McEachern, Sean Anderson, Brett D. HartmanInforming our successors: What botanical information for Santa Cruz Island will researchers and conservation managers in the century ahead need the most?
Climate changes are predicted to drive changes in plant species composition and vegetation cover around the world. Preserved specimens and other botanical information that we gather today—a period future practitioners may look back on as an early stage of modern anthropogenic climate change—will be of value to conservation managers and conservation biologists in the decades and centuries ahead. HeAuthorsJohn M. Randall, Kathryn McEachern, John Knapp, Paula Power, Steve Junak, Kristina Gill, Denise Knapp, Matt GuilliamsOak habitat recovery on California's largest islands: Scenarios for the role of corvid seed dispersal
Seed dispersal by birds is central to the passive restoration of many tree communities. Reintroduction of extinct seed dispersers can therefore restore degraded forests and woodlands. To test this, we constructed a spatially explicit simulation model, parameterized with field data, to consider the effect of different seed dispersal scenarios on the extent of oak populations. We applied the model tAuthorsMario B. Pesendorfer, Christopher M. Baker, Martin Stringer, Eve McDonald-Madden, Michael Bode, Kathryn McEachern, Scott A. Morrison, T. Scott SillettPopulation-specific life histories contribute to metapopulation viability
Restoration efforts can be improved by understanding how variations in life-history traits occur within populations of the same species living in different environments. This can be done by first understanding the demographic responses of natural occurring populations. Population viability analysis continues to be useful to species management and conservation with sensitivity analysis aiding in thAuthorsSamniqueka J. Halsey, Timothy J. Bell, Kathryn McEachern, Noel B. PavlovicTerrestrial vegetation monitoring protocol for the Mediterranean Coast Network—Cabrillo National Monument, Channel Islands National Park, and Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area: Standard Operating Procedures, Version 1.0
These Standard Operating Procedures are one part of a two-part protocol for monitoring terrestrial vegetation in the Mediterranean Coast Network. The second part of the protocol is the narrative:Tiszler, J., D. Rodriguez, K. Lombardo, T. Sagar, L. Aguilar, L. Lee, T. Handley, K. McEachern, L. Starcevich, M. Witter, T. Philippi, and S. Ostermann-Kelm. 2016. Terrestrial vegetation monitoring protocoAuthorsJohn Tiszler, Dirk Rodriguez, Keith Lombardo, Tarja Sagar, Luis Aguilar, Lena Le, Timothy Handley, Kathryn McEachern, Leigh Ann Harrod Starcevich, Marti Witter, Tom Philippi, Stacey Ostermann-KelmSpatial and temporal patterns of cloud cover and fog inundation in coastal California: Ecological implications
The presence of low-lying stratocumulus clouds and fog has been known to modify biophysical and ecological properties in coastal California where forests are frequently shaded by low-lying clouds or immersed in fog during otherwise warm and dry summer months. Summer fog and stratus can ameliorate summer drought stress and enhance soil water budgets, and often have different spatial and temporal paAuthorsBharat Rastogi, A. Park Williams, Douglas T. Fischer, Sam F. Iacobellis, Kathryn McEachern, Leila Carvalho, Charles Leslie Jones, Sara A. Baguskas, Christopher J. StillManaged island ecosystems
This long-anticipated reference and sourcebook for California’s remarkable ecological abundance provides an integrated assessment of each major ecosystem type—its distribution, structure, function, and management. A comprehensive synthesis of our knowledge about this biologically diverse state, Ecosystems of California covers the state from oceans to mountaintops using multiple lenses: past and prAuthorsKathryn McEachern, Tanya Atwater, Paul W. Collins, Kate R. Faulkner, Daniel V. RichardsComparison of reintroduction and enhancement effects on metapopulation viability
Metapopulation viability depends upon a balance of extinction and colonization of local habitats by a species. Mechanisms that can affect this balance include physical characteristics related to natural processes (e.g. succession) as well as anthropogenic actions. Plant restorations can help to produce favorable metapopulation dynamics and consequently increase viability; however, to date no studiAuthorsSamniqueka J Halsey, Timothy J. Bell, Kathryn McEachern, Noel B. PavlovicEcological change on California's Channel Islands from the Pleistocene to the Anthropocene
Historical ecology is becoming an important focus in conservation biology and offers a promising tool to help guide ecosystem management. Here, we integrate data from multiple disciplines to illuminate the past, present, and future of biodiversity on California's Channel Islands, an archipelago that has undergone a wide range of land-use and ecological changes. Our analysis spans approximately 20,AuthorsTorben C. Rick, T. Scott Sillett, Cameron K. Ghalambor, Courtney A. Hofman, Katherine Ralls, R. Scott Anderson, Christina L. Boser, Todd J. Braje, Daniel R. Cayan, R. Terry Chesser, Paul W. Collins, Jon M. Erlandson, Kate R. Faulkner, Robert C. Fleischer, W. Chris Funk, Russell Galipeau, Ann Huston, Julie King, Lyndal L. Laughrin, Jesus Maldonado, Kathryn McEachern, Daniel R. Muhs, Seth D. Newsome, Leslie Reeder-Myers, Christopher Still, Scott A. Morrison - News
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government