WERC Highlights -- April 2002

The Aleutians, Cradle of the Storms: This documentary, jointly produced by New Zealand Natural History (Fox Television) and others, will air nationally on PBS on two consecutive Wednesdays (May 8 and May 15) at 10 p.m. Verify the airing schedule in your area. Two scientists at the USGS Western Ecological Research Center, research ecologist Jim Estes and wildlife biologist A. Keith Miles, appear in the two-part production, which covers the archipelago's geological evolution, origins and life of its traditional peoples, and its rich natural environment. (Jim Estes, Santa Cruz, CA 831-459-2820; A. Keith Miles, Davis, CA, 530-752-5365)

Buffelgrass: USGS research ecologist Cecil Schwalbe was interviewed by Greenwire about buffelgrass, a nonnative, drought-tolerant perennial grass that is spreading vigorously in southern Arizona and threatening the Sonoran Desert ecosystem. (Cecil Schwalbe, Tucson, AZ, 520-621-5508)

Vireo Status: USGS research ecologist Barbara Kus was interviewed by the Los Angeles Times for a story on the spread of brown-headed cowbirds and the effects that cowbirds and cowbird control have had on the endangered least Bell's vireo in California. (Barbara Kus, San Diego, CA 858-637-6881)

Early Land Managers: USGS research ecologist Jon Keeley’s recently published findings that prehistoric Native Americans of California’s coastal ranges used fire to manage natural resources appeared in the Environmental News Service’s AmeriScan report. (Jon Keeley, Three Rivers, CA, 559-565-3170)

Fire, a Land-Management Tool in Pre-Columbian Coastal California: According to a study published in the Journal of Biogeography, research ecologist Jon Keeley of the USGS Western Ecological Research Center produced evidence that Native Americans converted possibly as much as one-quarter or more of the landscape of California’s coastal ranges from intact shrublands to grasslands. Keeley found that long before the EuroAmerican colonization of the region, Native Americans made widespread use of fire to subsidize the low occurrence of natural fire. Repeated burning of the shrublands, beyond the tolerance of chaparral shrubs to regenerate, displaced woody plant communities in favor of native grasses and forbs more useful to the Native peoples. Much of the landscape that underwent such type conversion either was maintained by EuroAmerican land management practices or resisted recolonization by native shrubs. Today, alien-dominated grasslands cover approximately one-quarter of the landscape, and less than one percent of these grasslands have a significant native grass presence. The findings of Keeley’s study indicate that restoration of the alien-dominated grassland with native bunchgrass species may be inappropriate and unsuccessful on sites formerly dominated by chaparral shrubs. (Jon Keeley, Three Rivers, CA, 559-565-3170) Official news release

Buffelgrass, an Invader Fueling Wildfires in the Sonoran Desert: Exotic plants have invaded the Sonoran Desert, bringing with them the potential for changing native shrublands into exotic, fire-driven grasslands. Increased fire frequency can lead to the elimination in some areas of species unadapted to fire, such as the saguaro cactus and foothill paloverde. Of the perennial exotic plants identified by researchers as invading the Sonoran Desert, buffelgrass appears to be spreading the most rapidly and carries the most serious threat to the ecosystem. USGS scientists, working collaboratively with colleagues in federal and state agencies, universities, and private organizations in the United States and Mexico, will begin a study this spring at Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Ariz., to determine the most effective and efficient removal of buffelgrass and the response by native vegetation and wildlife to the encroachment and removal of this exotic grass. At study plots having buffelgrass infestation, the researchers will assess chemical removal methods and compare those with manual removal of plants in another study. (Todd Esque, Las Vegas, NV, 702-914-2206 x226; Cecil Schwalbe, Tucson, AZ, 520-621-5508) Official news release

Current Research on Herpetofauna of the Sonoran Desert II: This meeting provides a forum for federal, state, university, and non-governmental scientists from the United States and Mexico to share information on this important segment of the biota of this region. Because of the great interest in research on and conservation of the high diversity of reptiles and amphibians in the region, the US Geological Survey is co-sponsoring this meeting with the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Arizona Game and Fish Department, BBC Television, National Park Service, Phoenix Zoo, Sonoran Institute, Tucson Herpetological Society, and the University of Arizona. The meeting will be held at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in Tucson April 5-7, 2002. A meeting outline with titles and authors of papers can be found at http://tucsonherpsociety.org/. (Cecil Schwalbe, Tucson, AZ, 520-621-5508)

Endemic San Diego Fauna: At a biodiversity workshop organized by the University of California, San Diego, Robert N. Fisher, a research biologist with the USGS Western Ecological Research Center, spoke about values to society found in the rich diversity of species in southern California. An example is the presence of a lizard that can prevent Lyme disesase from reaching the human population of southern California. In collaborative work with other partners, USGS is evaluating the biodiversity of southern California as science support for the Habitat Conservation Planning effort in the region. USGS scientists are gathering basic biology information on hundreds of species to better understand their roles in maintaining the region’s biodiversity, and even discoveries as unexpected as new species are possible. News coverage about the collaborative effort that recently uncovered what is believed to be an insect new to science includes the Associated Press (in several newspapers including the San Francisco Chronicle and Washington Post, and CNN), the Orange County Register, San Diego Union Tribune, and the National Geographic Channel, and San Diego TV stations. (Robert N. Fisher, San Diego, CA, 858-637-6882)

What Are the Effects of Human Disturbance on the Threatened Marbled Murrelet? Marbled murrelets, eight-inch seabirds that nest in old-growth conifer forests and feed in coastal marine areas, are a federally threatened species in Washington, Oregon, and California, and state-listed as endangered in California, the southern end of their range. Both natural and human-related factors may be contributing to their decline. USGS and Humboldt State University researchers are beginning their second year of study to assess the role of human-caused disturbance on nesting and fledging success of marbled murrelets in Redwoods National and State Parks in California. Last year they successfully attached small radio-transmitters to 23 murrelets, 5 of which attempted to nest. Three of the five nests fledged young murrelets. The research team is analyzing last year’s bird behavior data to assess the potential impact of noise on the nesting birds. They also observed that the marked murrelets move considerable distances along the coast away from their nests. This year’s research will include a larger sample size, the continuation of disturbance monitoring, and determination of movements at sea. The National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Game, California Department of Parks and Recreation, and California Department of Transportation are cooperating in the study. (Dennis Orthmeyer, Dixon, CA, 707-678-0682 x626)