WERC Highlights -- August 2004

Invasive Plants: Matt Brooks and Peggy Moore of the Western Ecological Research Center scientists are among 15 USGS scientists expected for the NPS/USGS Invasive Plant Monitoring Protocol Development Workshop, to be held at the NPS Pacific Northwest Regional Ecosystem Office in Portland, Oregon, Aug. 30-Sept. 2, 2004. The workshop deals with two important aspects of invasive plant monitoring: the development of a comprehensive early detection protocol for monitoring invasive plant species that can be adapted and tested in a wide range of environmental settings, and development of an inter-programmatic approach to monitoring restoration of ecological integrity following management efforts to remove invasive plants from biologically degraded communities. (USGS contact for the workshop: Paul H. Geissler, Beltsville, MD, 301-497-5780, paul_geissler@usgs.gov)

Desert Tortoises: USGS scientist Kristin H. Berry of the Western Ecological Research Center will give an invited presentation titled “The Social Life of Wild, Male Desert Tortoises” at the two-day celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the California Turtle and Tortoise Club on September 11, 2004 at the Carson Convention Center, California. The CTTC is an over 2,000-member nonprofit and educational organization with 13 chapters throughout the state. The club manages adoptions of captive desert tortoise for the California Department of Fish and Game. (Kristin Berry, Moreno Valley, CA, 951-697-5361, kristin_berry@usgs.gov)

ESA Presentation Award: USGS ecologist Dylan Schwilk of the Western Ecological Research Center coauthored the 2004 Billings Award paper that achieved honorable mention as second best oral presentation at the recent Ecological Society of America meeting in Portland, Oregon. The paper was “Quantifying functional diversity: A new analytic method” by W.K. Cornwell, D.W. Schwilk, and D.D. Ackerly, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. The researchers developed a new multivariate method for quantifying functional diversity and have been using it to examine California chaparral communities. (Dylan Schwilk, Three Rivers, CA, 559-565-4282; dschwilk@usgs.gov)

Common Ravens: USGS scientist William I. Boarman of the Western Ecological Research Center was interviewed about raven ecology and management issues for an upcoming story for Wildlife Conservation Magazine. With human subsidies (e.g., landfills, developments), raven numbers have increased dramatically in the Mojave Desert in recent years. (Bill Boarman, San Diego, CA, 858-637-6880, william_boarman@usgs.gov)

Mountain Lion Death: USGS scientist Robert N. Fisher of the Western Ecological Research Center was interviewed regarding a mountain lion that was killed by a truck on California Foothill (241) Toll Road for Aug. 19 stories in the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times, and for Aug. 18 story on KFWB radio in Los Angeles. USGS scientists, who are studying movement patterns of carnivores, had recently refitted this adult female mountain lion with a new tracking collar. A Highway Patrol officer took a phone photo of the dead cat, which the Orange County Register ran in a brief story on Aug. 18, leading to the animal’s identity. (Robert N. Fisher, San Diego, CA, 858-637-6882, rfisher@usgs.gov)

MSCP Video Airing: “Fragile Web: San Diego's Multiple Species Conservation Program” is a new video of the County of San Diego that profiles the Multiple Species Conservation Program and county parks. As part of the video, last year USGS scientists Melanie Madden-Smith, Ed Ervin, Denise Clark, and Manna Warburton of the Western Ecological Research Center were filmed conducting MSCP monitoring work on turtles and toads. The video, which has been airing during the past week will continue to be featured on the San Diego County Television Network (Cox 19 (N) or 24 (S), Time-Warner 22, Adelphia 66) on August 16: 9:30pm, and August 19: 3:30pm , 9:30pm. (Melanie Madden-Smith, San Diego, CA, 858-637-6907, mmaddensmith@usgs.gov)

Fire in the Urban-Wildland Interface: USGS scientist Jon Keeley, will be featured speaker at the Southern California BotSwap meeting on August 20, 2004, at the Coal Oil Point Reserve on the University of California Santa Barbara campus. Keeley will be there to talk about fire in the urban-wildland interface. He will give a brief overview of his recent research, and then will have an informal, information-sharing discussion of the topic. BotSwap is a collection of state and federal resource agency plant ecologists as well as ones from academia. (Jon Keeley, Three Rivers, CA, 559-565-3170, jon_keeley@usgs.gov; Kathryn McEachern, Ventura, CA, 805-658-5753, kathryn_mceachern@usgs.gov)

Birds on the Point: On July 8, 2004, Mark Mendelsohn, a USGS scientist at the Western Ecological Research Center, gave a brief presentation for 8 members of the Youth Conservation Corp (YCC) on studies of the local bird community at Cabrillo National Monument (CNM), located at the tip of Point Loma in San Diego, California. The presentation included an interactive discussion of graduate research on the greater roadrunner in San Diego County, contrasted with other bird species which are presently inhabiting the peninsula. The enthusiastic YCC members were exposed to the data collection step of the scientific method, including the field techniques of using vocalizations played from a portable device to entice birds to respond and facilitate detection, and the important skill of writing a species account while observing wildlife. One year of surveys for the greater roadrunner at CNM and many other sites across the county have been completed, and the analysis begun, in an effort to reveal the causes of declining roadrunner numbers in the region. (Mark Mendelsohn, San Diego, CA, 858-637-6888, mmendelsohn@usgs.gov)

Snake Awareness: On August 2, 2004, Carlton Rochester, a USGS scientist at the Western Ecological Research Center, presented the 3rd annual “Snake Talk” for 8 members of the Youth Conservation Corp (YCC) and 30 members the California Conservation Corp (CCC) at Cabrillo National Monument, California. The presentation included three live snake species. A San Diego gopher snake was presented as an example of a common native species that these two work groups might encounter within the park. Two rosy boas were shown as examples of a snake species that is known to occur within the park from the detection of a single individual. Finally, a California glossy snake represented a species that is suspected to have occurred on Point Loma peninsula historically, but which has not been detected in over seven years of USGS reptile and amphibian research in the park. From 1995 through 2002, the USGS conducted pitfall trap sampling at 17 points throughout Cabrillo National Monument. These efforts resulted in 1,900 reptile and amphibian captures, representing 13 species. Since 2002, the National Park Service has continued these pitfall trap efforts. The USGS continues to support the National Park Service by providing them with tools and resources needed to collect the data, such as the digital data forms used to collect the field data on handheld computers. (Carlton Rochester, San Diego, CA, 858-637-6884, crochester@usgs.gov)

Fire: USGS scientist Jon Keeley of the Western Ecological Research Center was interviewed regarding post-fire plant germination, including the impact of smoke on plant germination, for an upcoming fire story in Science News. (Jon Keeley, Three Rivers, CA, 559-565-3170, jon_keeley@usgs.gov)

Invasive Alien Plants: USGS scientist Matt Brooks of the Western Ecological Research Center was quoted in an Aug. 5 story in the Las Vegas Sun that discusses tamarisk control, including the biocontrol method in practice in northern Nevada. In southern Nevada, a proposed effort would test other methods for controlling the invasive tree in Clark County on the Virgin River system, where the tree has displaced native plants used by endangered southwest willow flycatchers. Brooks was also interviewed on Aug. 4 by Associated Press regarding a new system developed to assess the effects of invasive alien plants on fire regimes and prioritize them for control. (Matthew L. Brooks, Henderson, NV, 702-564-4615, matt_brooks@usgs.gov)