Adina Merenlender

Associate Cooperative Extension Specialist,Adjunct Associate Professor
PhD  Biology    University of Rocherster, 1993
B.S.   Biology    University of California, San Diego, 1985

Primary Office: Hopland Research and Extension Center
4070 University Road
Hopland, California 95449-9717
adina@nature.berkeley.edu
office: 707-744-1270   lab: 707-744-1270   fax:  707-744-1040

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My primary focus is in the field of conservation biology. In particular, I am interested in the forces that influence loss of biodiversity at all hierarchical levels from genes to ecosystems. My experience spans from single species management to measures of ecosystem health, and most recently to regional land use planning. My other interests include ecological monitoring, restoration ecology, cumulative impacts to watersheds, conservation easements, protected area planning, mitigation, and protected area planning.

y research program covers a diverse suite of projects that involve mapping, monitoring, and modeling natural resources and human land-use patterns. I have developed an applied research program that uses Geographic Information Systems to better integrate biodiversity research and conservation planning in California's north coast oak woodlands. This is done through integrating spatially explicit land use change models with environmental data. Primarily we focus on the major threats that oak woodlands face in the north coast: 1) habitat fragmentation due to exurban development, 2) a booming wine industry driving an expansion of hillside vineyards in oak woodlands, and 3) the cascading effects of land-use on the Russian River Basin. The students and staff who work with me study wildlife in the agricultural matrix, watershed restoration, and sustainable land use.

To assess the effects of land-use conversion on biodiversity, my research group is measuring biological community integrity and diversity found in different land use types such as suburban developments, small ranches, vineyards and undeveloped areas within similar oak woodland habitat. This data in combination with a development and agricultural build out models for Sonoma County gives a full picture of the future threats to the biological resources in the region. Our previous work has suggested that invasive species from agricultural and developed areas differentially impact wildlands depending on the landscape configuration of these areas and their surrounding matrix. Graduate students are addressing this issue for a suite of invasive species and the native communities most likely impacted.

I am actively facilitating an interdisciplinary research team focused on sustainable water use in Mediterranean watersheds. This research draws on biology, hydrology, and sociology to develop decision support tools that can help prioritize restoration of stream flow for improved juvenile salmon survivorship and increase water certainty for agricultural uses. This new program takes advantage of ongoing work in the lab on the relationship between land use and stream condition for salmon.

We developed and recently revised a GIS decision-making tool for Sonoma County open space planners to identify properties that contain priority natural and agricultural assets that should be considered for conservation easements. The products of this type of research will help county planners avoid making decisions at a local level without the benefit of understanding the patterns of change at the regional level.

Working with the UC Cooperative Extension’s Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program provides an opportunity for us to implement natural resource conservation and education programs in north west California. For more information please see our lab web site at http://nature.berkeley.edu/ihrmp

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BYRD, K. B., KELLY, N. M., and MERENLENDER, A. M. 2007 Temporal and Spatial Relationships between watershed land use and salt marsh disturbance in a Pacific estuary. Environmental Management 39(1):98-112

RISSMAN, A. R., LOZIER, L. COMENDANT, T. KAREIVA, P., KIESECKER, J. M., SHAW, R. and A. M. MERENLENDER 2007 Conservation easements: Biodiversity protection and private use. Conservation Biology 21(3):709-718

OPPERMAN, J. J. and A. M. MERENLENDER. 2007 Living trees provide stable large wood in streams. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 32:1229-1238.

HILTY, J. A., LIDICKER, W. Z., and, A. M. MERENLENDER. 2006 Corridor Ecology: The Science and Practice of Connectivity for Biodiversity Conservation. Island Press, Washington DC

OPPERMAN, J. J, LOHSE, K., BROOKS, C., KELLY, N. M., and MERENLENDER, A. M. 2005. Influence of land use on fine sediment in salmonid spawning gravels within the Russian River basin, California. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science 62:2740-2751

HILTY, J. A., BROOKS, C., HEATON, E., and A. M. MERENLENDER. 2006 Forecasting the effect of land-use change on native and non-native mammalian predator distributions. Biodiversity and Conservation 15:2853–2871

NEWBURN, D., BERCK, P., and A. M. MERENLENDER. Incorporating vulnerability and cost in targeting strategies for land conservation. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 88(1):28-42

MERENLENDER, A. M., BROOKS, C., SHABAZIAN, D., GAO, S., and R. JOHNSTON. 2005. Forecasting exurban development to evaluate the influence of land-use policies on wildland and farmland conservation. Journal of Conservation Planning 1(1):64-88.

NEWBURN, D., REED, S., BERCK, P. and A. M. MERENLENDER. 2005. Economics and land-use change in prioritizing private land conservation. Conservation Biology, 19(5):1411-1420.

HILTY, J. A. and A. M. MERENLENDER. 2004. Use of riparian corridors and vineyards by mammalian predators in Northern California. Conservation Biology 18(1):126-135.

MERENLENDER, A. M., HUNTSINGER, L., GUTHEY, G., and S. K. FAIRFAX. 2004. Land trusts and conservation easements: Who is conserving what for whom? Conservation Biology 18(1):65-75.

OPPERMAN, J. and A. M. MERENLENDER. 2004. The effectiveness of riparian restoration for improving instream fish habitat in four hardwood-dominated California streams. North American Journal of Fisheries Management. Vol 24(3):822-834.

HILTY, J. A. and A. MERENLENDER. 2003. Studying biodiversity on private lands. Conservation Biology 17(1):132-137.