Christa Horn, M.S.

Christa Horn serves San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance as a Conservation Program Specialist in Plant Conservation. In this role she works to conserve the rare plants of California and conserve the flora that animals and people depend on for food, shelter, and more. As she wraps up research on the aguaje palm with partners, she supports the team with project planning, GIS management, grant proposal development, and logistics and works with partners to leverage more conservation successes. Her primary research interest is in plant population ecology, applied to various conservation scenarios in land management, sustainable harvesting, and restoration.

Currently, Christa works to build collaborations within San Diego and throughout California. To leverage support for local rare plants such as San Diego thornmint, she works with the San Diego County agencies, non-profits, and land managers to develop management plans and activities through the Rare Plant Management Group. She also coordinates the California Plant Rescue (CaPR) collaborative, bringing together botanical institutions across California to coordinate our ex situ conservation efforts (especially seed banking), share data, and fundraise. Together we hope to conserve the amazing botanical diversity of California – an internationally recognized biodiversity hotspot.

Christa earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Earth Systems from Stanford University. She draws on her interdisciplinary background in ecology, botany, anthropology, and geography to carry out her research. In her free time, Christa enjoys exploring San Diego County and hiking in the Sierra Nevada mountains. 

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