Center for Conservation Biology

Landscape changes resulting from urbanization, habitat fragmentation, eutrophication of soils and water from pollution, proliferation of invasive exotic species, and climate change individually and collectively challenge our ability to sustain natural biodiversity. Conservation Science has informed the design of reserves aimed at protecting regional biodiversity, but to date that science has been largely absent from the decision process regarding the implementation and management of those reserve networks. The CCB embarked on a research program in the Coachella Valley in 2002 aimed at identifying and providing the information needs of land managers who have been given the responsibility for ensuring the protection of biodiversity. This program addresses research that includes:

• Modeling population dynamics in order to partition typical fluctuations from those that indicate a trajectory toward local extinctions.
• Modeling the impacts, and so the risks, of stressors and their influence on sustainability of populations and communities.
• Examining conservation objectives within a community rather than single-species context.
• An examination of boundary processes at the wildland-urban interface.
• The development of a spatial and temporal database of the patterns of occurrence of vegetation, arthropods, reptiles, mammals, birds, and abiotic processes within and across natural communities.
• The development of monitoring frameworks that directly inform managers as to if, when, and how to adaptively manage the resources under their charge.
• Outreach to students, managers, decision makers, and residents, providing them with a connection to the issues and opportunities present in their natural environment

While currently this research is focused on a network of reserves aimed at protecting remnants of a biologically rich sand dune landscape, the program goals are to create a research-information framework that could be adapted to any region.

Recent Publications:

• Barrows, C. 2004. Indicator species and time series images reveal progress of dune habitat restoration. Ecological Restoration 22(1): 56.
• Barrows, C. W., M. B. Swartz, W. L. Hodges, M. F. Allen, J. T. Rotenberry, B. Li, T. A. Scott and X. Chen. 2005. A framework for monitoring multiple species conservation plans. Journal of Wildlife Management 69:1333-1345.
• Barrows, C. W. 2006. Population dynamics of a threatened dune lizard. Southwestern Naturalist 51:514-523.
• Barrows, C. W., M. F. Allen and J. T. Rotenberry. 2006. Boundary processes between a desert sand dune community and an encroaching suburban landscape. Biological Conservation 131:486-494.
• Barrows, C. W. and M. F. Allen. 2007. Community complexity: stratifying monitoring schemes within a desert sand dune landscape. Journal of Arid Environments 69:315-330.
• Barrows, C. W. and M. F. Allen. 2007. Biological monitoring and bridging the gap between land management and science. Natural Areas Journal 27:194-197.
• Barrows, C. W. and M. F. Allen. 2007. Persistence and local extinctions of an endangered lizard on isolated habitat patches. Endangered Species Research 3:61-68.
• Barrows C. W., K. L. Preston, J. T. Rotenberry, M. F. Allen. 2008. Using occurrence records to model historic distributions and estimate habitat losses for two psammophilic lizards. Biological Conservation 141:1885-1893.
• Barrows, C. W., E. B. Allen, M. L. Brooks, and M. F. Allen. 2009. Effects of an invasive plant on a desert sand dune landscape. Biological Invasions 11:673-686.
• Barrows, C. W. and M. F. Allen. 2009. Conserving Species in Fragmented Habitats: Population Dynamics of the Flat-tailed Horned Lizard, Phrynosoma mcallii. Southwestern Naturalist 54: