Director's Welcome
September 20, 2025
Welcome to the Center for Conservation Biology. We are an interdisciplinary center that broadly addresses fundamental and solutions oriented conservation biology from organismal to landscape scales. We emphasize issues directed affecting the sustainability of southern California as well as having and international and global perspective. While we focus on threatened and endangered native ecosystems and species in terrestrial and aquatic habitats, we also study processes occurring in urban and agricultural centers. The wildland urban interface concept has emerged as a valuable framework too integrate our research across multiple dimensions of conservation. In conducting our research, we look to build an interdisciplinary understanding of how we can conserve and sustain key biological systems in the face of multiple threats
In addition to cutting-edge research, we also value contributions to educational and service activities. As an inter-departmental unit we make invaluable contributions to graduate and undergraduate training that lies outside individual programs or disciplines. We have a lively graduate student and undergraduate student groups. We also provide valuable service through public engagement, hosting workshops, contributing to policy.
Our activities have a strong history at the University of California Riverside that we build on to continue advancing conservation needs. We were founded and ratified by the UCR Faculty Senate in 1997 with Professor Norm Ellstrand as Founding Director. He was followed by Professor Mike Allen, who led the center from 1999 to 2017. I am now the third Director and am continuously learning from these nearly three decades of ongoing success. Over this time, we have contributed to many improvements in conservation, from greatly reduced air pollution to enactment of multiple species habitat conservation plans. However, the threats to conservation have also accelerated, including rapid climate changes, ongoing development, and increasing numbers of invasive species. More than ever a center directed to conservation science and action is needed to help ensure the continued sustainability of southern California and the world.
We invite you to peruse our website for more information and reach out if you are interested in collaborating. We welcome engagement with diverse community members, land managers, and other academics.
Dr. Darrel Jenerette, Director Center for Conservation Biology