Tara Cornelisse

• PhD
• Invertebrate Zoologist at NatureServe

The endangered Ohlone tiger beetle (Cicindela ohlone) depends on bare ground areas in California coastal grasslands to encounter mates, oviposit, and find prey. We tested habitat creation as a potential management strategy to increase the availability of oviposition sites for C. ohlone. We compared three different bare ground treatments by scraping...

Conservation of metapopulations requires managing extirpated sites, particularly with current threats of increased fragmentation and displacement from global warming. Determining the habitat requirements of threatened species and how they relate to defining characteristics of occupied and unoccupied sites is key to managing suitable habitat in exti...

Arthropods provide ecosystem services upon which humans depend, yet are declining across the globe. Arthropods are neglected from conservation efforts due to many factors that include a lack of understanding of their roles and conservation need. Knowledge gain of arthropod roles could therefore increase support for their conservation, albeit indire...

Agricultural pesticide use and its associated environmental harms is widespread throughout much of the world. Efforts to mitigate this harm have largely been focused on reducing pesticide contamination of the water and air, as runoff and pesticide drift are the most significant sources of offsite pesticide movement. Yet pesticide contamination of t...

Pollinators are critical for food production and ecosystem function. Although native pollinators are thought to be declining, the evidence is limited. This first, taxonomically diverse assessment for mainland North America north of Mexico reveals that 22.6% (20.6 to 29.6%) of the 1,579 species in the best-studied vertebrate and insect pollinator gr...

The Saving Life on Earth plan says the United States must: Take a global leadership role by declaring an extinction crisis national emergency and investing $100 billion to stem the disappearance of the world’s wildlife and plants, protect irreplaceable places around the world, and end the illegal trafficking and overexploitation of wildlife and pl...

Petition to list the Gulf Coast solitary bee (Hesperapis oraria) as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act

Most monarchs (Danaus plexippus plexippus) overwinter in the volcanic mountains of central Mexico clustering in oyamel fir (Abies religiosa) forests described as a hot-water bottle, blanket, and umbrella that maintain a microclimate warm enough for the butterflies not to freeze, but cool enough to save lipids for northward migration. In the mid-199...

Filed petition to list the Mojave poppy bee (Perdita meconis) as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act

On 28 April 2018 the European Parliament voted for a complete and permanent ban on all outdoor uses of the three most commonly used neonicotinoid pesticides. With the partial exception of the state of Ontario, Canada, governments elsewhere have failed to take action. Below is a letter, signed by 232 scientists from around the world, urgently callin...

The world is increasingly urbanized and yet, even in urban areas, humans remain dependent on the ecosystem services that nature provides. This case study and exercise explore selected aspects of the dynamic between humans and urban ecology in three parts. First, we briefly discuss urban ecosystems and the context of biodiversity conservation in urb...

California winegrape growers interested in merging conservation with agricultural production have established nest boxes for songbirds in their vineyards. A common occupant, the native western bluebird Sialia mexicana consumes arthropods during the breeding season. We measured the effect of enhanced avian activity on arthropod pests and natural ene...

Despite their role in providing ecosystem services, insects remain overlooked in conservation planning, and insect management approaches often lack a rigorous scientific basis. The endangered Ohlone tiger beetle (Cicindela ohlone) occurs in a 24-km(2) area in Santa Cruz County, California. The once larger metapopulation now consists of subpopulatio...

Recreation is a leading cause of species decline on public lands, yet sometimes it can be used as a tool for conservation. Engagement in recreational activities, such as hiking and biking, in endangered species habitats may even enhance public support for conservation efforts. We used the case of the endangered Ohlone tiger beetle (Cicindela ohlone...

Background/Question/Methods The endangered Ohlone tiger beetle (Cicindela ohlone) occurs on public lands open to recreation. Recreation is the second leading cause of the decline of threatened species on public lands. Paradoxically, C.ohlone utilizes trails and disturbed areas for breeding and foraging. From 2001 to 2005 recreation was considered...

The Ohlone tiger beetle (Cicindela ohlone) is an endangered species endemic to Santa Cruz County, California. As with all tiger beetles, C. ohlone requires bare ground for efficient foraging as well as for oviposition and larval growth and survivorship. Extensive bare ground is a feature of the historic coastal grasslands in which the Ohlone tiger...

Abstract 1. Understanding species-specific habitat requirements is important in insect ecology. Co-occurrence of closely related species can provide insight into microhabitat segregation. Tiger beetles are well suited for such studies, as they occur in multi-species assemblages, exhibit species-specific habitat requirements, and are sensitive to an...

Dampwood termites, Zootermopsis angusticollis (Isoptera: Termopsidae), mount an immune response to resist microbial infection. Here we report on results of a novel analysis that allowed us to electrophoretically assess changes in hemolymph proteins in the same individual before and after exposure to a pathogen. We demonstrate that contact with a su...