WERC Highlights -- July 2001

Analysis of Historical Overfishing Will Assist Researchers and Resource Managers of Coastal Ecosystems: Imagine the world’s oceans teeming with whales, sea turtles and fishes, with shellfish so abundant they posed a hazard to navigation. Only in a Jules Verne classic fantasy? Not so. A group of scientists from several research institutions has recently depicted that such rich ocean life existed in the not-so-distant past. Writing in the July 27 issue of the journal Science, the scientists have documented long-term effects of fishing and provided a framework for repairing coastal marine ecosystems that have collapsed from centuries of overfishing. One of the authors is Jim Estes, a USGS research ecologist at the Western Ecological Research Center, who contributed expertise on kelp forest ecosystems gained from three decades of research on sea otters and kelp forests in Alaska and California. (Jim Estes, Santa Cruz, CA, 831-459-2820)

Historical Overfishing in the News: Jim Estes, a USGS research ecologist at the Western Ecological Research Center was interviewed about the findings of the recent article published in the journal Science for stories in the Los Angeles Times, Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle, National Public Radio and CBC (Canadian public radio). (Gloria Maender, Tucson, AZ, 520-670-5596)

Bullfrogs on Pulse of the Planet: Listen August 9 and 10 to an interview of USGS research ecologist Cecil Schwalbe of the Western Ecological Research Center about the impact of bullfrogs in the West on Pulse of the Planet (http://www.pulseplanet.com/). Bullfrog predation has been a major factor in the decline of the Chiricahua leopard frog, a subject of research by Schwalbe. Pulse of the Planet airs on 300 radio stations and on nationalgeographic.com. (Cecil Schwalbe, Tucson, AZ, 520-621-5508)

From Desert to Coast, Talks at SCB Conference: USGS scientists at the Western Ecological Research Center will discuss their research at the annual meeting of the Society of Conservation Biologists, co-hosted by USGS, at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, July 29-Aug. 1. Topics by WERC scientists range from looking at diseases and severe declines in desert tortoises, to parasites of exotic aquatic species that are invading native species, to the role of predators in maintaining healthy kelp forests. They will report also on the status of vertebrate and invertebrate species in southern California and what may influence their abundance, such as El Nino events that seem to assist native fish in the Santa Margarita River, or wet conditions leading to increases in vehicular deaths of amphibians. (Gloria Maender, Tucson, AZ, 520-670-5596)

Fire, Disease Research to be Presented at ESA Meeting: Scientists from the USGS Western Ecological Research Center will speak at the Ecological Society of America annual meeting in Madison, Wis., Aug. 5-10, about: how infectious disease fits in with conservation biology; fire temperatures and effects of fire in the Mojave Desert; shrubland fire regimes in California; and will co-chair a symposium on the impacts of fire suppression in ecosystems in which crown fires occur. (Gloria Maender, Tucson, AZ, 520-670-5596)

Monitoring Stream Health: A procedure to assess stream health using the composition of suspended sediment as an indicator was proposed by USGS scientists to the California Board of Forestry’s Monitoring Study Group, July 19. Mary Ann Madej (USGS Western Ecological Research Center) and Margaret Wilzbach (USGS-Humboldt State Coop. Fisheries Research Unit) discussed future directions for monitoring sediment in streams and the effect of suspended sediment on aquatic organisms. (Mary Ann Madej, Arcata, CA, 707-825-5148)

Human Disturbance to Western Snowy Plovers: USGS marine biologist Kevin Lafferty, with the Western Ecological Research Center in Santa Barbara, reviews the status, trends, and conservation of a population of the federally protected, threatened western snowy plover that winters on the sandy beach of Coal Oil Point Reserve in Santa Barbara Co., Calif. Increasing human disturbance may cause the plovers, which probably include refugees that previously abandoned other beach wintering sites, to abandon this location for breeding. Lafferty discusses possible management options to reduce disturbance at the Reserve. The review was prepared as a technical report for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and published as Environmental Report No. 15 by the Museum of Systematics and Ecology, University of California, Santa Barbara, and is online at http://lifesci.ucsb.edu/~mseweb/publications/pub.html. (Kevin Lafferty, Santa Barbara, CA, 805-893-8778).

San Francisco Bay Refuges: USGS scientist John Takekawa with the Western Ecological Research Center was interviewed by the San Jose Mercury News on migratory bird research and habitat use of salt ponds in the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuges. (John Takekawa, Vallejo, CA, 707-562-2000)

Parasites: BBC radio will record an interview July 3 of USGS marine biologist Kevin Lafferty of the Western Ecological Research Center. Lafferty is conducting research funded by the Environmental Protection Agency to develop monitoring tools that use parasites to evaluate the health of salt marshes. Trematodes, or flukes, that occur in salt marshes are parasites with a complex life cycle involving multiple hosts. If one of the hosts in a trematode's life cycle is missing, that trematode will not be able to persist. A measure of the trematode community, gathered from dissecting snails that act as the first host, provides a single, integrated snapshot of the hosts that have been in an estuary over the average life-span of the snails that occur there. (Kevin Lafferty, Santa Barbara, CA, 805-893-8778)

Search for a "Phantom" Tree: USGS research scientist Nate Stephenson of the Western Ecological Research Center was interviewed by the Bakersfield Californian for a feature article on the efforts of a private group to locate a giant sequoia rumored to be the largest tree in the world. The tree, dubbed "the Phantom of Homer's Nose" in honor of a massive rock dome that towers over the search area in Sequoia National Park, was first reported in 1888, but has never been definitively relocated. Stephenson noted that previously unrecorded sequoia trees can still be found in the rugged search area. While it is unlikely that a giant sequoia larger than the famous General Sherman tree exists, the possibility cannot be confidently ruled out until a thorough search is made. (Nate Stephenson, Three Rivers, CA, 559-565-3176)