Publications & Presentations

You can find all of my articles on my Google Scholar profile.

Selected Publications

Pawlak, C. C., Yost, J., Ventura, J., Guizan, G., Arnold, S., Okin, G., Cavanaugh, K., Fricker, G. A., Ritter, M., & Gillespie, T. W. (2026). Mapping California’s Urban Forest at Scale: An Error-Adjusted Canopy Time Series for Monitoring Change. Ecology. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.05.04.722774 [Pre-print, Under Review @ PLOS ONE]

Zhang, Y., Wu, K., Wang, H., Pfannerstill, E. Y., Nagalingam, S., Coggon, M. M., Stockwell, C., Ruiz, V. M., Ho, C., Yu, Y., Novelly, J., Pawlak, C., Kim, S., Warneke, C., Goldstein, A. H., & Guenther, A. B. (2026). Reconciling observed and modeled estimates of urban terpenoid emissions. Nature Communications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-75075-9

Kenny, R., Johns, J., Pawlak, C., Fricker, A., Yost, J., & Ritter, M. (2026). Urban trees and structure loss in the 2025 Eaton and Palisades fires. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 121, 129470. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2026.129470

Love, N. L. R., Althaus, K., Esperon-Rodriguez, M., Ossola, A., Johns, J., Pawlak, C., Igić, B., Ritter, M., & Yost, J. (2025). Genetic diversity in urban forests and their potential role in conserving the world’s threatened tree species. Annals of Botany, mcaf238. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf238

Vannucci, P. F., Kianmehr, A., Pawlak, C. C., Faiola, C. L., Wilson, J. P., & Berelson, W. M. (2025). The role of urban forest composition in modulating summertime air quality in Los Angeles. Science of The Total Environment, 1003, 180715. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.180715

Thorne, J. H., Godfrey, J. M., Boynton, R. M., Shapiro, K. D., Stern, M. A., Pawlak, C., Ritter, M., & Choe, H. (2025). A spatial triage of at-risk conifer forests to support seed collection efforts and sustainable forestry. Journal of Environmental Management, 373, 123654. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123654

Ventura, J., Pawlak, C., Honsberger, M., Gonsalves, C., Rice, J., Love, N. L. R., Han, S., Nguyen, V., Sugano, K., Doremus, J., Fricker, G. A., Yost, J., & Ritter, M. (2024). Individual tree detection in large-scale urban environments using high-resolution multispectral imagery. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 130, 103848. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2024.103848

Rendon, P., Love, N., Pawlak, C., Yost, J., Ritter, M., & Doremus, J. (2024). Street tree diversity and urban heat. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 91, 128180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2023.128180

Pawlak, C. C., Love, N., Fricker, A., Doremus, J., Yost, J., & Ritter, M. (2023). California’s Native Trees and Their Use in the Urban Forest. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 89, 128125.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2023.128125.

K. C., Cavanaugh, Cavanaugh, K.C. , Pawlak, C. C., Bell, T., & Saccamano, V. (2023). CubeSats show persistence of bull kelp refugia amidst a regional collapse in California. Remote Sensing of Environment, 290, 113521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2023.113521.

Saccomanno, V. R., Bell, T., Pawlak, C., Stanley, C. K., Cavanaugh, K. C., Hohman, R., … & Gleason, M. (2022). Using unoccupied aerial vehicles to map and monitor changes in emergent kelp canopy after an ecological regime shift. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, 9(1), 62-75. https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.295.

Love, N. L., Nguyen, V., Pawlak, C., Pineda, A., Reimer, J. L., Yost, J. M., Fricker, A. G., Ventura, J., Doremus, J., Crow, T., & Ritter, M. K. (2022). Diversity and structure in California’s urban forest: What over six million data points tell us about one of the world’s largest urban forests. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 74, 127679. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2022.127679.

Houskeeper, H. F., Rosenthal, I. S., Cavanaugh, K. C., Pawlak, C., Trouille, L., Byrnes, J. E., Bell, T., & Cavanaugh, K. C. (2022). Automated satellite remote sensing of giant kelp at the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas). PloS one, 17(1), e0257933. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257933.

Datasets

J. Ventura, C. Pawlak, M. Honsberger, C. Gonsalves, J. Rice, N. Love, S. Han, V. Nguyen, K. Sugano, J. Doremus, G.A. Fricker, J. Yost & M. Ritter (2024). Results: Individual Tree Detection in Large-Scale Urban Environments using High-Resolution Multispectral Imagery [dataset]. Open Sience Framework. DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/4S859

Baiza, J., Pawlak, C., Baehr, A., Yost, J., Ritter, M., & Fricker, A. (2022). Mapping Social and Environmental Justice Across California Schools (Version V4) [dataset]. Harvard Dataverse. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/7NNBJD

Becerra, M., Rivera, O., Pawlak, C., Crocker, A., & Pinto, N. (2022). Base de datos de cobertura de cultivos de cacao en la Amazonia Peruana (Version V3) [dataset]. Harvard Dataverse. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/XMQNC2

In Preparation

Love, N.L.R., E.L. Grady, C. Pawlak, J. Yost, J. Ventura, G.A. Fricker, J. Doremus, and M. Ritter. In prep. Patterns in the distribution of public vs. private urban trees: Implications for tree equity in one of the world’s largest urban forests. Target journal: Urban Forestry & Urban Greening.

Johns J., Love, N.L.R., C. Pawlak, J. Yost, and M. Ritter. In Prep. Using climatic niches to plan climate resilient urban forests. Target journal: Urban Forestry & Urban Greening.

C. Pawlak, R. Kenny, T. Ruiz, J. Schedler, K. Veerasingam, A. Fricker, J. Yost, and M. Ritter. In Prep. Integrating Arborist Records and Remote Sensing to Improve Urban Tree Allometric Equations and Benefit Estimates. Target journal: Scientific Data.

Reports and Professional Publications

CAL FIRE Urban and Community Forestry & Urban Forest Ecosystems Institute. (2026). Greening the Golden State: Urban Forest Canopy Plan for California [Draft strategic plan]. Named collaborator and contributing author.

Presentations

Tracking California’s Urban Forest: Big Data and Remote Sensing for Smarter Management. Climate Solutions Now. February 2025 | Invited Talk

Harnessing Neural Networks for Broad-Scale Urban Canopy Cover Mapping: A Remote Sensing Approach in California. American Geophysical Union annual conference, Washington D.C. December 2024 | Presentation

OpenCanopy: Tracking California’s Urban Forest The Western Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture. April 2024 | Cultivating Competence | Presentation

Data-Driven Urban Forest: How We Can Use Data and Tools to Manage Urban Forests. Professional Tree Care Association of San Diego. August 2023 | Into the Canopy| Invited Presentation

OpenCanopy: Leveraging aerial imagery and deep learning to delineate California’s urban tree canopy. SIGKDD Conference on Knowledge, Discovery, and Data Mining. August 2023 | KDD 2023 Southern California Data Science Day | Poster

Trends in California’s Native Trees in the Urban Environment. California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo. May 2023 | Cal Poly College of Science & Mathematics 2023 Conference| Presentation

Data-Driven Urban Forest: How We Can Use Data and Tools to Manage Urban Forests. California ReLeaf. May 2023 | ReLeaf Network Retreat | Invited Presentation

New Tools for the Urban Forest Ecosystem Institute. The Western Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture. May 2023 | Digging In: An Exploration of Arboriculture | Invited Presentation

Trends in California’s Native Trees in the Urban Environment. San Luis Obispo GIS Users Group. November 2022 | San Luis Obispo GIS Day | Poster

May the Forest Be With You: leveraging GEDI’s spaceborne LiDAR data for tropical ecosystem applications. San Luis Obispo GIS Users Group. November 2022 | San Luis Obispo GIS Day | Poster

Trends in California’s Native Trees in the Urban Environment. The Britton Fund. November 2022 | Putting Research to Work | Invited Presentation

Data-Driven Urban Forest: Using Data to Make Better Species Selections. California Urban Forests Conference. October 2022 | California Urban Forest Council: Lead with Trees Conference | Invited Presentation

Toward Automatic Urban Forest Inventories with Remote Sensing. Data Strategic Research Initiative, California Polytechnic State University. June 2022 | Data Strategic Research Initiative, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo | Poster

Magazine Articles

Pawlak, C., Love, N., Yost, J., Ritter, M. (2023). Native to Where? California’s Native Trees and Their Use in the Urban Environment. Western Arborist.

Komen, J., Falco, C., Pawlak, C., & Hodel, D. (2023). Gallery Characteristics of the Invasive Shot Hole Borer and Extent of Accompanying Fusarium Dieback Disease Spread in Relation to the CODIT Model and Principles in London Plane Trees. Western Arborist.

Hodel, D. , Falco, C., Pawlak, C., & Komen, J. (2022). Testing treatment effectiveness for Invasive Shot Hole Borers. Western Arborist.

Maps Published In

Ritter, M., & Kauffmann, M. E. (2025). California’s Trees: A Field Guide to the Native Species. Backcountry Press.

Keil, D., & Hoover, R. (2023). Vascular Plants of San Luis Obispo County, California (2nd ed.). Pacific Street Publishing.