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The Conservation Ecology Lab is part of a recent collaborative paper published in Marine Policy synthesizing best practices for climate-resilient fisheries management. With input from fisheries managers and scientists, eight best practices emerged to facilitate an effective link between climate knowledge and fisheries management action. Please check out this excellent blog post written by the two primary co-authors to learn more about how the puzzle pieces fit together! 
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Postdoctoral Researcher In Climate Adaptation: Drought And Fire Resilience For Southern California7/14/2023 The Institute for Ecological Monitoring and Management at San Diego State University is hiring a postdoctoral research position in climate adaptation with an emphasis on drought and fire resilience. Job Description: Start date is as soon as possible. The postdoctoral researcher will support several ongoing initiatives, including a project funded by NOAA National Integrated Drought Information System and a NASA-funded project to support Tribal decision making for fire preparedness and cultural burning. These projects focus on integrating regionally-relevant information on ecological drought and fire risk, recognizing known linkages among drought and wildfire risk, water sustainability, and ecosystem dynamics, to develop an actionable climate adaptation framework for natural resource managers. The postdoc will contribute to data integration, spatial analyses, and the development of a structured decision support process to guide adaptation strategies and responses to extreme precipitation variability, drought, and fire risk. Other research opportunities for this position include development of practitioner-accessible conceptual frameworks for decision making, multi-metric evaluation and integration, and development of a climate adaptation decision support tool for natural resource managers. The postdoctoral researcher will be based at San Diego State University (SDSU) and will work under the direction of Megan Jennings (SDSU) along with collaborators Rebecca Lewison (SDSU) and Amber Pairis (Desert Research Institute & Climate Science Alliance). The project may require travel within California. Qualifications: We are seeking a postdoctoral researcher with expertise in related climate adaptation research, drought or fire data analyses, spatial analyses, decision support methods and tools to advance climate adaptation planning and implementation. A PhD is required as well as strong spatial analyses and programming skills. The candidate must be fluent in R and GIS. The candidate should be able to work both independently and in a collaborative setting with project stakeholders at a variety of natural resource management organizations and Tribal governments or organizations. Familiarity with the Southern California ecosystems is desirable. Appointment: 75-100% time appointment for one year from start date, with the possibility for additional year(s) of funding contingent upon performance. Salary is approximately $64,000 a year plus benefits (DOE). To apply: Please send your letter of interest, CV, and contact information for three references to Megan Jennings at [email protected] with "Climate Adaptation Postdoc" in the email subject heading. The position will remain open until filled, but application review will commence on July 27, 2023. San Diego State University is an equal opportunity employer.  A new academic year is in full swing and it's time to celebrate new lab members! We're so excited to have Jaz (MS student), Corey (PhD student), and Tim (MS student) joining us this year. A belated welcome to Erica (MS student) as well, who joined us last year but somehow was not subjected to a get-to-know-you Q&A. Major oversight! Jaz Llamas, MS Student
Corey Kramer, PhD Student
Erica Mills, MS Student
Postdoctoral research fellow Dr. Eve Bohnett has embarked on a fieldwork journey in Chitwan district, Nepal. Her research is funded as part of a National Science Foundation grant to study coupled human-natural systems. In Chitwan district, there are distinct management zones where some areas receive funds to provide villagers with training and encourage participation in restoration programs. There are avenues for the conservation of wildlife that are compatible with wider forest management regimes ongoing throughout the area.
To understand how land management strategies influence local biodiversity, Dr. Bohnett will estimate occupancy and abundance of wildlife in the region using thermal infrared drones and a remote camera array. Wildlife of interest include greater one-horned rhino, Asian elephant, sambar deer, red muntjac, spotted deer, wild boar, Bengal tiger, and rhesus macaques. Additionally, she will implement a participatory mapping project to identify areas of key ecosystem services provisions such as grazing, firewood collection, fishing, or tourist-related camping. Her work will ultimately inform how we understand the complex relationships between socio-economic, cultural, and ecological factors.
 Dr. Rebecca Lewison and Dr. Megan Jennings in the Conservation Ecology Lab at San Diego State University (SDSU) seek a self-motivated and hardworking graduate student at the Ph.D. level to conduct research on Peninsular desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) population ecology and conservation through population, habitat/resource use, and predation modeling in partnership with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The goal of this project is to update population information and the role of predation in the distinct population segment of desert bighorn sheep located in southern California’s Peninsular Range to inform recovery planning for the species, which is listed as threatened under California’s Endangered Species Act and endangered under the Federal Endangered Species Act. The research project will focus on applied conservation science, as well as wildlife, landscape, and population ecology. Potential research questions may include topics related to predation risk from pumas (Puma concolor) in a multi-prey system and factors affecting habitat or resource utilization and population persistence (e.g., drought). Minimum qualifications:
Preferred qualifications:
To apply, submit the following to Dr. Megan Jennings ([email protected]) with the subject line “Bighorn Sheep PhD Assistantship”. Application review will begin October 4 and applications will be accepted through October 15, 2021:
We’re interested in applicants who are able to start before the academic year (e.g., Spring 2022). Selected applicant will also be required to apply for admission to the Joint Doctoral Program in Ecology between SDSU and the University of California, Davis. Applications for Fall 2022 admission to the Joint Doctoral Program are due to UC Davis on December 1, 2021. Abbreviated applications to SDSU are by request after initial review.
 The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) - Sea Grant Joint Fellowship supports the next generation of specialized experts in fisheries management. This fellowship addresses the critical need for future fisheries scientists with expertise in stock assessment that will inform how we protect and manage marine resources and environments in a changing world. Lab member Nima Farchadi was recently awarded this prestigious fellowship for his research on fishery-species and fishing fleet distributions under anomalous climatic conditions.
Climate-driven changes in the oceans are shifting the distributions of fishery resources; however, further research is needed on how fishing fleets will be affected by these climate changes. Because fish populations and fishing fleets may respond to climate change in divergent ways, accurately describing and understanding variations in species and fleet distributions is a key requirement for managers and policy makers to develop management strategies that will support climate-readiness and resilience in U.S. fisheries. As an awardee of the 2021 Sea Grant and NOAA Fisheries Joint Fellowship Program, Nima Farchadi will be employing a novel joint fishery-species distribution model (JFSDMs) approach to improve our understanding of how fish and fishers will respond to marine heatwaves. Nima will focus on predicting the spatiotemporal distribution and relative overlap of albacore tuna (Thunnus alalunga) and the northwest Pacific Albacore troll fishery. The goal of this research is to evaluate the predictive skill of JFSDMs under anomalous environmental conditions and support climate resilient and climate-ready fisheries management. Congratulations, Nima!!  Until fairly recently, the majority of landscape connectivity analyses considered connectivity as a static landscape feature, despite the widespread recognition that landscapes and the abiotic and biotic processes that influence them are dynamic. An upcoming Special Issue of Land calls attention to the importance of landscape dynamics for characterizing, planning for and maintaining connectivity. The special issue reviews the state of dynamic connectivity science and presents current applications of dynamic connectivity in landscapes around the world.
The articles in the issue focus on innovative analyses to assess structural and functional connectivity that can inform adaptive planning for connectivity over time from a landscape and species perspective. The contributions evaluate the influence of spatial and temporal dynamics on connectivity in response to seasonal, annual, or decadal climate changes and changes in conservation and development status. The articles also explore the importance of collaborative partnerships between scientists and stakeholders to develop, interpret and enact effective connectivity plans, and, most importantly, develop implementation priorities and strategies. Whether in support of conservation of tigers in Southeast Asia, creating sustainable landscapes to support multiple species in chaparral of Southern California, landscape connectivity in the Upper Yellow River, China, or establishing a landscape connectivity network in Northern California, the innovative research from the authors in the Special Issue highlights how landscape dynamics are essential to understand connectivity and how failure to translate connectivity science into planning efforts has impeded the ability to effectively protect connected landscapes now and under future conditions. Although there are unique challenges that accompany the adoption of dynamic connectivity for conservation management and planning in the context of traditional conservation prioritization approaches, what this body of research evidences is that with the increased availability of temporal and spatial climate and species movement data, computational capacity, and an expanding number of empirical examples in the literature, incorporating dynamic processes into connectivity models is an intrinsic component of connectivity and integral to the future of connectivity science.
Debates around the Green New Deal have largely centered around climate change concerns on land. A new paper from Rebecca Lewison and colleagues explains why policies that integrate terrestrial and ocean approaches are needed to create a robust portfolio of climate adaptation and mitigation measures supporting communities, the environment and the economy. “A Teal Deal combines land and ocean approaches to address climate change, generating economic benefits to communities everywhere,” Lewison said. “The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that rapid, responsive and coordinated efforts across sectors can stop a crisis. The climate change crisis is ongoing and an integrated policy offers the same opportunity -- to develop a responsive and coordinated multi-sectoral plan for climate resilience.” For more, visit SDSU NewsCenter  |
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