WERC Highlights -- February 2007

Biodiversity Conservation in Mediterranean-type Systems: USGS scientist Jon Keeley of the Western Ecological Research Center has been invited to The Nature Conservancy workshop on “Priorities, Strategies and Collaboration for Biodiversity Conservation in Mediterranean-type Systems,” to be held in Monterey, Calif., Mar. 19-23, 2007. The 40 participants will include conservation practitioners and biodiversity experts from all five mediterranean regions of the world: the Mediterranean Basin, South Africa, Chile, Australia, and California/Baja California. All of these regions have been identified as global priorities for biodiversity conservation. Workshop goals are to develop and advance strategies to abate the threats to biodiversity in mediterranean regions of the world and to develop a framework for sustaining cross-regional priority-setting, collaboration and learning. (Jon Keeley, Three Rivers, CA, 559-565-3170, jon_keeley@usgs.gov)

Fire, Invasive Weeds, and Desert Tortoise Habitat: In a Feb. 24, 2007, story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal USGS scientists Kristina Drake, Todd Esque, and Matt Brooks said it will take at least another year to know some of the answers on how best to restore desert tortoise habitat and deal with the increasing problem of nonnative cheatgrass, red brome, and Sahara mustard, which serve as flash fuels for wildfires. A similar but shorter story by the Associated Press appeared in the North County Times. See: http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2007/Feb-24-Sat-2007/news/12791003.html and also http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/02/25/news/state/16_06_302_24_07.txt. (Kristina Drake, Henderson, NV, 702-564-4632, kdrake@usgs.gov)

Camp Pendleton Conservation Expo: On Mar. 8, 2007, USGS scientists from the Western Ecological Research Center will participate in the Marine Corps Installations WEST (MCIWEST) Conservation Expo 2007, to be held at Marine Corp Base Camp Pendleton, California. Barbara Kus will deliver a presentation on integrating endangered species protection into ecosystem management. At the USGS booth, a variety of handout materials will be available and include topics of interest such as arroyo toads, Stephen's kangaroo rats, tidewater gobies, estuary health, fires, snowy plovers. See: http://www.mciwestconservationexpo2007.com/. (Barbara Kus, San Diego, CA, San Diego, CA, 619-225-6421, barbara_kus@usgs.gov)

Prescribed Fire Effects on Cheatgrass Persistence in a Sierra Nevada Ponderosa Pine Forest: Investigating the impacts of prescribed burning in different seasons and other factors on the persistence of cheatgrass in low-elevation forests in Kings Canyon National Park, USGS scientists Tom McGinnis and Jon Keeley found that once cheatgrass had become established in open ponderosa pine forests, low-intensity prescribed burning, regardless of season, favored its continued persistence. The authors also found that cheatgrass was inhibited by a dense surface layer of pine needles, simulating long unburned conditions. Needle accumulation directly inhibited cheatgrass establishment and indirectly inhibited cheatgrass by increasing fire intensity sufficiently to decimate much of the seedbank. Their study is published in the International Journal of Wildland Fire. See: http://www.werc.usgs.gov/pubbriefs/keeleypbfeb2007b.html. (Jon Keeley, Three Rivers, CA, 559-565-3170, jon_keeley@usgs.gov)

Mountain Yellow-legged Frog: Two articles in Connect, the magazine of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, reference the mountain yellow-legged frog conservation efforts of USGS and its partners in articles on the role of zoos in recovery of North American amphibians. A background article shows that that the endangered mountain yellow legged frog is listed by the Amphibian Taxon Advisory Group as one of the “critical four” North American species identified for zoos to work with to recover (the other three frogs are the Wyoming toad, Mississippi gopher frog, and Ramsey Canyon leopard frog). In the magazine’s section on “significant efforts in conservation,” another article highlights the current conservation effort underway with the San Diego Zoo. Photos of mountain yellow-legged frogs at the San Diego Zoo appear with these articles. See: http://www.aza.org/Publications/2007/02/global_amph.pdf and http://www.aza.org/Publications/2007/02/conservation.pdf. (Adam Backlin, Irvine, CA, 714-508-4702, abacklin@usgs.gov; Robert Fisher, San Diego, CA, 619-225-6422, rfisher@usgs.gov)

California Red-legged Frog: A photograph of a California red-legged frog by USGS scientist Gary Fellers of the Western Ecological Research Center is the cover image of the most recent issue of the Journal of Wildlife Management (December 2006). In an article in the same journal issue, USGS scientists Gary Fellers and Patrick Kleeman compared day versus night surveys for California red-legged frogs and found that significantly more frogs can be detected at night. See: http://www.werc.usgs.gov/pubbriefs/fellerspbfeb2007.html. (Gary Fellers, Pt. Reyes, CA, 415-464-5185, gary_fellers@usgs.gov) Citation: Fellers, G. M., and P. M. Kleeman. 2006. Diurnal versus nocturnal surveys for California red-legged frogs. Journal of Wildlife Management 70:1805-1808.

Seed Production by Sahara Mustard: The non-native Sahara mustard (Brassica tournefortii) has spread throughout the southwestern deserts of North America, where it is most common on roadsides, abandoned fields, and sand dunes. Sahara mustard poses threats to native desert vegetation by using soil moisture and mineral nutrients and by its potential for increasing fire return intervals. In a recent issue of Madroño, USGS scientists Melissa Trader, Matt Brooks, and Julie Draper evaluated the relationships of Sahara mustard seed count and biomass with plant density and biomass. The authors found strong linear relationships between plant biomass and seed production, with larger plants producing more seeds per plant and greater seed biomass per plant. Both seed count and seed biomass were also greater in 0.25m2 plots that had higher plant biomass. See: http://www.werc.usgs.gov/pubbriefs/brookspbfeb2007.html. (Matt Brooks, Henderson, NV, 702-564-4615, matt_brooks@usgs.gov) Citation: Trader, M. R., M. L. Brooks, and J. V. Draper. 2006. Seed production by the non-native Brassica tournefortii (Sahara mustard) along desert roadsides. Madroño 53:313–320.

Fire Dynamics of Foothill Pine in the Southern Sierra Nevada: In a recent issue of Madroño, USGS scientists Dylan Schwilk and Jon Keeley investigated the population structure of the foothill pine (Pinus sabiniana) following fire. They found that on shrubland landscapes subject to high-intensity fires, foothill pine populations are dependent on refugia, in the form of alluvial areas, grasslands, or rock outcrops. The authors also hypothesized that the pine’s absence from the Kaweah River watershed between 36° and 37° N is due to the steeply faceted, mountainous topography with a narrow riparian zone, which provides insufficient refugia from fire. See: http://www.werc.usgs.gov/pubbriefs/keeleypbfeb2007.html. (Jon Keeley, Three Rivers, CA, 559-565-3170, jon_keeley@usgs.gov) Citation: Schwilk, D. W. and J. E. Keeley. 2006. The role of fire refugia in the distribution of Pinus sabiniana (Pinaceae) in the southern Sierra Nevada. Madroño 53:364–372.

Toxoplasma gondii Research: On Feb. 7, 2007, USGS scientist Kevin Lafferty was interviewed by The Prague Post about how Czech Republic scientist Jaroslav Flegr’s findings of subtle long-term effects on an individual’s personality from Toxoplasma gondii infection inspired Lafferty to investigate if the parasite, where prevalent, might also subtly affect cultural traits of human populations. (Kevin Lafferty, Santa Barbara, CA, 805-893-8778, klafferty@usgs.gov)