Carolyn Koehn

Carolyn Koehn

I am a doctoral candidate at Boise State University primarily interested in teaching ecology and data science skills to undergraduates. My current research focuses on dynamics of ecosystem services and social-ecological archetypes in an urbanizing public-private lands network.

Publications

You can also find my articles on my Google Scholar profile.

Journal Articles

Carbon stock protection and food production are key targets for conservation planning in a landscape of public and private lands

Published in Landscape Ecology, 2026

We quantified 21 benefits from landscapes, used systematic conservation planning to generate cost-efficient land protection solutions, and developed methods to determine which inputs were most influential.

Recommended citation: Koehn, C. R., Caughlin, T. T., Halperin, S., Hopping, K., Som Castellano, R., & Brandt, J. (2026). Carbon stock protection and food production are key targets for conservation planning in a landscape of public and private lands. Landscape Ecology, 41, 63.
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Time series analysis to demonstrate restoration outcomes and system change from satellite data

Published in Restoration Ecology, 2025

We present a guide to applying time series analysis to assess restoration outcomes via change point detection, using publicly available remote sensing data.

Recommended citation: Kolarik, N.E., Koehn, C., Nati-Johnson, E., Rojas Lucero, J.C., Martin, C., Caughlin, T.T., Iskin, E., Jochems, L., Neville, H., & Brandt, J. (2025). Time series analyses provide a low-cost and scalable way to assess restoration outcomes from satellite data. Restoration Ecology, e70184.
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Conservation easements target high quality lands but do not increase their quality

Published in Biological Conservation, 2025

Private land conservation programs typically focus on maximizing acres enrolled, but their outcomes are less studied. We used a counterfactual approach to measure the efficacy of private land protection investments in a high-value conservation region of the western United States, where private agricultural lands provide critical habitats that are not well-protected by public protected areas, but are highly vulnerable to development.

Recommended citation: Kolarik, N.E., Cattau, M., Koehn, C., Roopsind, A., Williamson, M., & Brandt, J. (2025). Conservation easements target high quality lands but do not increase their quality. Biological Conservation, 308, 111234.
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Systematic conservation planning for private working lands: Identifying agricultural protection areas for climate solutions, biodiversity habitat, and ecosystem services

Published in Biological Conservation, 2024

We combined Systematic Conservation Planning (SCP) principles, optimization algorithms, and the Ecosystem Service framework to identify potential APAs and explore the trade-offs in promoting the multifunctionality of agricultural land.

Recommended citation: Halperin, S., Koehn, C.R., Johnson, K.K., & Brandt, J.S. (2024). Systematic conservation planning for private working lands: Identifying agricultural protection areas for climate solutions, biodiversity habitat, and ecosystem services. Biological Conservation, 297, 110735.
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Not Only Severe Events: Moderate Dry Periods Impact the Hydraulic Functioning and Survival of Planted Ponderosa Pine Seedlings

Published in Forests, 2022

We conducted a controlled field experiment at a single site in the Front Range of Colorado, USA, to determine the responses and survival of 3 Colorado subpopulations of <1 year old potted ponderosa pines to moderately dry conditions, variation in small rainfall events based on observed patterns, and shaded and unshaded microsite environments.

Recommended citation: Koehn, C.R., Petrie, M.D., & Hubbard, R.M. (2022). Not Only Severe Events: Moderate Dry Periods Impact the Hydraulic Functioning and Survival of Planted Ponderosa Pine Seedlings. Forests, 13, 370.
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Botanical Assessments of High-Quality Southern Shrub-Carr and Hardwood Swamp Wetlands in the Undeveloped Lowell Regional Greenspace, Kent County, Michigan

Published in The Great Lakes Botanist, 2022

Four wetlands located in the same drainage basin along Karen Creek in the Lowell Regional Greenspace were inventoried for floristic quality assessments during the summers of 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2021.

Recommended citation: Crow, G.E., Warners, D.P., Weesies, H.R., Walt, J.D., Hartwig, Z.E., & Koehn, C.R. (2022). Botanical Assessments of High-Quality Southern Shrub-Carr and Hardwood Swamp Wetlands in the Undeveloped Lowell Regional Greenspace, Kent County, Michigan. The Great Lakes Botanist, 61(1-2): 2, 2–34.
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Seasonal Precipitation and Soil Moisture Relationships Across Forests and Woodlands in the Southwestern United States

Published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 2021

We evaluated seasonal precipitation and soil moisture relationships at shallow (0–20 cm) and intermediate (50 cm) soil depths for nine semiarid forest and woodland sites (56 total years), which comprised three elevation gradients in the southwestern US.

Recommended citation: Koehn, C.R., Petrie, M.D., Bradford, J.B., Litvak, M.E., & Strachan, S. (2021). Seasonal Precipitation and Soil Moisture Relationships Across Forests and Woodlands in the Southwestern United States. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 126(4), e2020JG005986.
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Botanical Assessment of High-quality Woodland Parcels of the Undeveloped Lowell Regional Greenspace, Kent County, MI

Published in The Great Lakes Botanist, 2021

Nine wooded sites within the Lowell Regional Greenspace property that appear to be high-quality habitat were identified for floristic inventories and floristic quality assessments during the summers of 2018 and 2019.

Recommended citation: Warners, D.P., Crow, G.E., Walt, J.D., Koehn, C.R., Hartwig, Z.E., & Clum, D. (2021). Botanical Assessment of High-quality Woodland Parcels of the Undeveloped Lowell Regional Greenspace, Kent County, MI. The Great Lakes Botanist, 60(3-4), 110.
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Avian migrants encounter higher temperatures but continue to add mass at an inland stopover site in the Great Lakes region

Published in Journal of Avian Biology, 2021

To quantify changes in songbird arrival patterns at stopover sites during fall migration we analyzed forty years of banding data in nine passerine species commonly captured at banding stations in southwestern Michigan.

Recommended citation: VanTol, S.D., Koehn, C.R., Keith, R., Keith, B., & Proppe, D.S. (2021). Avian migrants encounter higher temperatures but continue to add mass at an inland stopover site in the Great Lakes region. Journal of Avian Biology, 52(4).
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