Erica Fleishman Research Associate
	efleish@stanford.edu 650-725-9914

Erica Fleishman has been associated with the Center for Conservation Biology since 1988. Fleishman works at the at the interface between concepts, empirical research, and management of public and private lands. She aims to develop scientifically reliable, cost-effective approaches to understand the spatial and temporal distribution of assemblages and species, underlying mechanisms, and the potential influence of human actions on those patterns and processes.

Fleishman’s research spans a wide range of spatial scales, temporal scales, and levels of ecological organization. She often uses birds and butterflies in the Great Basin and Mojave Desert as model systems to develop methods and draw inferences that are applicable to diverse taxonomic groups and ecosystems. Spatial analyses and Bayesian approaches contribute to both the rigor and the practical applicability of her research.

One aspect of Fleishman’s current research is development of explanatory and predictive models of species richness (number of species) and species occurrence (presence / absence or density of individual species). She also explores the generality of biogeographic patterns such as nestedness. Predictor variables for these projects include attributes of habitat measured in the field, topographic and climatic variables derived from digital elevation models, and information on productivity and land cover drawn from satellite images. Further, Fleishman is developing predictive models of species richness as a function of “indicator” species, small sets of species with presence or absence patterns that functionally are correlated with species richness of a larger group of organisms.  

To investigate whether human intervention can influence certain biodiversity patterns and ecological processes, Fleishman evaluates relationships among native assemblages, invasive plants, and disturbance gradients. Since 2000, she has participated in a long-term study on the ecological effects of prescribed fire and wildfire. In addition, Fleishman is interested in conservation planning for threatened species. She has studied the population structure of an endangered plant and several protected butterflies, and she has advised the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on prioritization and recovery planning for rare taxa. In California, a substantial proportion of conservation efforts focus on management of private lands. Habitat Conservation Plans (HCPs) and Natural Community Conservation Plans (NCCPs) have become critical tools for long-range planning by citizens, municipalities, and counties. Fleishman participated in science review for the Southern California Coastal Sage Scrub HCP / NCCP and recently served as facilitator of the science advisory process for an ongoing HCP / NCCP in east Contra Costa County.

Fleishman conducts much of her work in association with multidisciplinary research / management partnerships. The Intermountain West is spatially extensive, but for the most part the density of humans—let alone scientists and practitioners—is low. Collaborative networks leverage existing capacity. They allow us to capitalize on unanticipated research opportunities, expedite requests for data or interpretation, and better understand the ecological and socioeconomic landscape. Fleishman works closely with the Nevada Biodiversity Initiative, a partnership among universities, resource agencies, and private organizations that integrates conservation science with management of public lands. In addition, she collaborates with the Great Basin Ecosystem Management Project to study the ecological effects and feasibility of prescribed fire and other potential tools for land management. In 2003, Fleishman launched the Great Basin Invasive Species and Remote Sensing Network. This program facilitates dialogue among resource professionals seeking to assess changes in land cover and reduce risks to natural resources and humans.

Fleishman serves as founding editor of the newsletter of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) and is an ex officio member of SCB’s Board of Governors. SCB is a global community of conservation professionals whose mission is to develop the scientific and technical means for the protection, maintenance, and restoration of life on Earth: species, ecosystems, and the processes that sustain them.

Selected Publications (as of 15 March 2005)

Fleishman, E., J.F. Baughman, A.E. Launer, and P.R. Ehrlich. 1993. The effect of fluorescent pigments on butterfly copulation. Ecological Entomology 18:165–167.

Fleishman, E. and D.D. Murphy. 1993. A review of the biology of coastal sage scrub. Sections 9.1 and 9.2 in Southern California Coastal Sage Scrub Natural Communities Conservation Plan: Scientific Review Panel Conservation Guidelines and Documentation. California Department of Fish and Game and California Resources Agency, Sacramento, California.

Fleishman, E., A.E. Launer, K.R. Switky, and S.B. Weiss. 1994. Multi-level monitoring of the endangered plant Cordylanthus palmatus at the Springtown Alkali Sink. Pages 20–32 in D.M. Kent and J.J. Zentner, editors. Selected Proceedings of the 1993 Conference of the Society of Wetland Scientists, Western Chapter.

Fleishman, E. 1995. A holistic view of butterflies. Review of Swallowtail Butterflies of the Americas: A Study in Biological Dynamics, Ecological Diversity, Biosystematics, and Conservation by H. Tyler, K.S. Brown, Jr., and K.H. Wilson. Conservation Biology 9:968–969.

Fleishman, E., A.E. Launer, K.R. Switky, and U. Yandell. 1996. Development of a long-term monitoring plan for the endangered plant Cordylanthus palmatus. Pages 45–57 in D.M. Kent, J.J. Zentner, and K.D. Whitney, editors. Selected Proceedings of the 1994 Conference of the Society of Wetland Scientists, Western Chapter.

Fleishman, E. 1996. Applications of butterfly ecology to cooperative land management in the Great Basin. Pages 40–45 in K. Evans, editor. Sharing Common Ground on Western Rangelands: Proceedings of a Livestock/Big Game Symposium. General Technical Report. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Ogden, Utah.

Fleishman, E., G.T. Austin, and D.D. Murphy. 1997. Natural history and biogeography of the butterflies of the Toiyabe Range, Nevada (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea). Holarctic Lepidoptera 4:1–18.

Fleishman, E. and A.D. Weiss. 1997. Modeling the response of butterflies to climate change as a conservation tool. Pages 137–141 in Proceedings of the 10th Conference on Applied Climatology. American Meteorological Society, Boston, Massachusetts.

Fleishman, E., A.E. Launer, S.B. Weiss, J.M. Reed, C.L. Boggs, D.D. Murphy, and P.R. Ehrlich. 1997 (2000). Effects of microclimate and oviposition timing on prediapause larval survival of the Bay checkerspot butterfly, Euphydryas editha bayensis (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 36:31–44.

Fleishman, E. 1998. A field guide to statistics. Review of Surveying Natural Populations by L. Hayek and M. Buzas. Ecology 79:355–356.

Fleishman, E., G.T. Austin, and A.D. Weiss. 1998. An empirical test of Rapoport’s rule: elevational gradients in montane butterfly communities. Ecology 79:2482–2493.

Fleishman, E. 1999. Exploring fields of opportunity: conservation biology and policy in the Great Basin. Association for Women in Science Magazine 28(1):8–12.

Fleishman, E., G.T. Austin, P.F. Brussard, and D.D. Murphy. 1999. A comparison of butterfly communities in native and agricultural riparian habitats in the Great Basin. Biological Conservation 89:209–218.

Fleishman, E. and D.D. Murphy. 1999. Patterns and processes of nestedness in a Great Basin butterfly community. Oecologia 119:133–139.

Fleishman, E., D.D. Murphy, and G.T. Austin. 1999. Butterflies of the Toquima Range, Nevada: distribution, natural history, and comparison to the Toiyabe Range. Great Basin Naturalist 59:50–62.

Fleishman, E., G.H. Wolff, C.L. Boggs, P.R. Ehrlich, A.E. Launer, J.O. Niles, and T.H. Ricketts. 1999. Conservation in practice: overcoming obstacles to implementation. Conservation Biology 13:450–452.

Fleishman, E. 2000. Monitoring the response of butterfly communities to prescribed fire. Environmental Management 26:685–695.

Fleishman, E. 2000. Biogeography in theory and practice. Review of An Introduction to Applied Biogeography by I.F. Spellerberg and J.W.D. Sawyer. Ecology 81:289–290.

Fleishman, E., C.L. Boggs, M.C. Devine, S. Kark, and T.H. Ricketts. 2000. Status of the union. Review of Status and Trends of the Nation’s Biological Resources by M.J. Mac, P.A. Opler, C.E. Puckett Haecker, and P.D. Doran, editors. Conservation Biology 14:1926–1927.

Fleishman, E., J.P. Fay, and D.D. Murphy. 2000. Upsides and downsides: contrasting topographic gradients in species richness and associated scenarios for climate change. Journal of Biogeography 27:1209–1219.

Fleishman, E., B.G. Jonsson, and P. Sjögren-Gulve. 2000. Focal species modeling for biodiversity conservation. In P. Sjögren-Gulve and T. Ebenhard, editors. The use of population viability analyses in conservation planning. Ecological Bulletins 48:85–99.

Fleishman, E., D.D. Murphy, and P.F. Brussard. 2000. A new method for selection of umbrella species for conservation planning. Ecological Applications 10:569–579.

Fleishman, E. 2001. Moving scientific review beyond academia. Conservation Biology 15:547–549.

Fleishman, E. 2001. Wisdom and wonder. Review of Precious Heritage: The Status of Biodiversity in the United States by B.A. Stein, L.S. Kutner, and J.S. Adams, editors. Ecology 82:2375–2376.

Fleishman, E., G.T. Austin, and D.D. Murphy. 2001. Biogeography of Great Basin butterflies: revisiting patterns, paradigms, and climate change scenarios. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 74:501–515.

Fleishman, E., R.B. Blair, and D.D. Murphy. 2001. Empirical validation of a method for umbrella species selection. Ecological Applications 11:1489–1501.

Fleishman, E., A.E. Launer, K.R. Switky, U. Yandell, J. Heywood, and D.D. Murphy. 2001. Rules and exceptions in conservation genetics: genetic assessment of the endangered plant Cordylanthus palmatus and its implications for management planning. Biological Conservation 98:45–53.

Fleishman, E., R. Mac Nally, J.P. Fay, and D.D. Murphy. 2001. Modeling and predicting species occurrence using broad-scale environmental variables: an example with butterflies of the Great Basin. Conservation Biology 15:1674–1685.

Fleishman, E., D.D. Murphy, and R.B. Blair. 2001. Selecting effective umbrella species. Conservation Biology in Practice 2(2):17–23.

Fleishman, E., C.J. Betrus, R.B. Blair, R. Mac Nally, and D.D. Murphy. 2002. Nestedness analysis and conservation planning: the importance of place, environment, and life history across taxonomic groups. Oecologia 133:78–89.

Fleishman, E. 2002. The error of judgment: struggling for neutrality in science and journalism. Conservation Biology 16:1451–1453.

Fleishman, E. and R. Mac Nally. 2002. Topographic determinants of faunal nestedness in Great Basin butterfly assemblages. Conservation Biology 16:422–429.

Fleishman, E., D.D. Murphy, T. Floyd, N. McDonal, and J. Walters. 2002. Characterization of riparian bird communities in a Mojave Desert watershed. Great Basin Birds 5:38–44.

Fleishman, E., D.D. Murphy, and P. Sjögren-Gulve. 2002. Modeling species richness and habitat suitability for species of conservation interest. Pages 507–517 in J.M. Scott, P.J. Heglund, M. Morrison, M. Raphael, J. Haufler, and B. Wall, editors. Predicting species occurrences: issues of scale and accuracy. Island Press, Covello, California.

Fleishman, E., C. Ray, P. Sjögren-Gulve, C.L. Boggs, and D.D. Murphy. 2002. Assessing the relative roles of patch quality, area, and isolation in predicting metapopulation dynamics. Conservation Biology 16:706–716.

Mac Nally, R. and E. Fleishman. 2002. Using ‘indicator’ species to model species richness: model development and predictions. Ecological Applications 12:79–92.

Austin, G.T., D.D. Murphy, J.F. Baughman, A.E. Launer, and E. Fleishman. 2003. Hybridization of checkerspot butterflies in the Great Basin. Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society 57:176–192.

Britten, H.B., E. Fleishman, G.T. Austin, and D.D. Murphy. 2003. Genetically effective and adult census population sizes in the Apache silverspot butterfly, Speyeria nokomis apacheana (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Western North American Naturalist 63:229–235.

Fleishman, E. 2003. Local scope, global challenge. Review of Conservation Biology by A. Pullin. Journal of Biogeography 30:1781–1782.

Fleishman, E., C.J. Betrus, and R.B. Blair. 2003. Effects of spatial scale and taxonomic group on partitioning of butterfly and bird diversity in the Great Basin. Landscape Ecology 18:675–685.

Fleishman, E., C.J. Betrus, and L.P. Bulluck. 2003. Annual variability of species richness and composition of breeding birds in the central Great Basin. Great Basin Birds 6(1):36–44.

Fleishman, E. and R. Mac Nally. 2003. Distinguishing between signal and noise in faunal responses to environmental change. Global Ecology and Biogeography 12:395–402.

Fleishman, E. and R. Mac Nally. 2003. Topography may help explain faunal nestedness: a case study using Great Basin butterfly assemblages. Invited submission. Toward Best Practices Electronic Forum, National Biological Information Infrastructure. Available at http://www.nbii.gov/datainfo/bestpractices/eforum/index.php.

Fleishman, E., R. Mac Nally, and J.P. Fay. 2003. Validation tests of predictive models of butterfly occurrence based on environmental variables. Conservation Biology 17:806–817.

Fleishman, E., N. McDonal, R. Mac Nally, D.D. Murphy, J. Walters, and T. Floyd. 2003. Effects of floristics, physiognomy, and non-native vegetation on riparian bird communities in a Mojave Desert watershed. Journal of Animal Ecology 72:484–490.

Mac Nally, R., E. Fleishman, J.P. Fay, and D.D. Murphy. 2003. Modeling butterfly species richness using mesoscale environmental variables: model construction and validation. Biological Conservation 110:21–31.

Bailey, S-A., S. Anderson, K. Carney, E. Cleland, M.C. Horner-Devine, G. Luck, L.A. Moore, C. Betrus, and E. Fleishman. 2004. Primary productivity and species richness: relationships among functional guilds, residency groups and vagility classes at multiple spatial scales. Ecography 27:207–217.

Fleishman, E. 2004. Bio[statistics]philia. Review of Experimental Design and Data Analysis for Biologists by G.P. Quinn and M.J. Keough. Conservation Biology 18:286–288.

Fleishman, E., J.B. Dunham, P.F. Brussard, and D.D. Murphy. 2004. Explanation, prediction, and maintenance of native species richness and composition in the central Great Basin. Pages 232–260 in J.C. Chambers and J.R. Miller, editors. Great Basin riparian ecosystems—ecology, management, and restoration. Island Press, Washington, D.C.

Fleishman, E. and R. Mac Nally. 2002–2003. Linking models of species occurrence and landscape reconstruction. Transactions of the Western Section of the Wildlife Society 38/39:1–4.

Baber, M.J., E. Fleishman, K.J. Babbitt, and T.L. Tarr. 2004 The relationship between wetland hydroperiod and nestedness patterns in assemblages of larval amphibians and predatory macroinvertebrates. Oikos 107:16–27.

Mac Nally, R. and E. Fleishman. 2004. A successful predictive model of species richness based on indicator species. Conservation Biology 18:646–634.

Mac Nally, R., E. Fleishman, L. Bulluck, and C. Betrus. 2004. Comparative influence of spatial scale on beta diversity within regional assemblages of birds and butterflies. Journal of Biogeography 31:917–929.

Mac Nally, R., E. Fleishman, and D.D. Murphy. 2004. Influence of temporal scale of sampling on detection of relationships between invasive plants and the diversity patterns of plants and butterflies. Conservation Biology 18.

Seto, K.C., E. Fleishman, J.P. Fay, and C.J. Betrus. 2004. Linking spatial patterns of butterfly and bird species richness with Landsat TM derived NDVI. International Journal of Remote Sensing 25:4309–4324.

Betrus, C.J., E. Fleishman, and R.B. Blair. 2005. Cross-taxonomic potential and spatial transferability of an umbrella species index. Journal of Environmental Management 74:79-87.

Sada, D.W., E. Fleishman, and D.D. Murphy. 2005. Response of spring-dependent aquatic assemblages to environmental and land use gradients in a Mojave Desert mountain range. Diversity and Distributions 11:91-99.

Bulluck, L. P., E. Fleishman, C. J. Betrus, and R. B. Blair. In press. Spatial and temporal variation in species occurence rate effects the accuracy of occurance models. Global Ecology and Biogeography.

Fleishman, E. In press. Identification and conservation application of signal, noise, and taxonomic effects in diversity patterns. Animal Biodiversity and Conservation (by invitation).

Fleishman, E., R. Mac Nally, and D.D. Murphy. In press. Relationships among non-native plants, diversity of plants and butterflies, and adequacy of spatial sampling. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Fleishman, E., R. Mac Nally, and J.R. Thomson. In press. Challenges and opportunities for conserving faunal biodiversity in arid ecosystems. Annals of Arid Zone (by invitation).

Fleishman, E. and D.D. Murphy. In press. Biodiversity patterns of spring-associated butterflies in a Mojave Desert mountain range. Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society.

Fleishman, E., J.R. Thomson, R. Mac Nally, D.D. Murphy, and J.P. Fay. In press. Predicting species richness of multiple taxonomic groups using indicator species and genetic algorithms. Conservation Biology.

Thomson, J.R., E. Fleishman, R. Mac Nally, and D.S. Dobkin. In press. Influence of the temporal resolution of data on the success of indicator species models of species richness across multiple taxonomic groups. Biological Conservation.

Return to the top