WERC Highlights -- June 2000

USGS Teaches Teachers: The Western Ecological Research Center's Redwood Field Station is hosting high school and middle school science teachers from in and around Arcata, California, in a summer institute called "Forest Ecology Monitoring Experience for Science Teachers." Teachers will participate in field monitoring studies in forest and stream ecology, and learn how to design field research projects that they can then use in the classroom. The workshop is sponsored by Portland State University and the National Science Foundation and runs from June 26 to July 21. There's an orientation for the teachers held at the university, which will include several guest speakers from different science disciplines. USGS research geologist Mary Ann Madej will be the lead instructor at Arcata. Participants will also have the opportunity to meet National Park Service wildlife biologists and botanists to learn about other types of research projects in Redwood National and State Parks. (Mary Ann Madej, Arcata, CA, 707-825-5148)

Patterns of Plant Invasions: Nonnative annual plants are causing significant ecological changes, and new, potentially more damaging species continually threaten to invade the Mojave Desert. In a recent study, USGS research ecologist Matt Brooks found that plant invasions are assisted by high levels of soil nutrients and by human disturbance. Based on the precept that future invasions are likely to follow similar patterns as past invasions, Brooks evaluated the habitat associations of three nonnative annual grasses and one nonnative forb. Patterns of dominance varied among nonnative species, indicating that potential ecological ranges should be evaluated separately for individual species. The results of his study "Habitat invasibility and dominance by alien annual plants in the western Mojave Desert," were recently published in the journal Biological Invasions. (Matt Brooks, Three Rivers, CA, 559-561-6511)

Nonnative Grasses Change Fire Regimes in the Mojave Desert: Fires have become more frequent in the Mojave Desert since the 1970s due partly to increases in the number of fires caused by humans. However, without a continuous cover of flammable plants, these fires would quickly extinguish. The results of a recent study indicate that the management of Mojave Desert fires should include the control of nonnative annual grasses. In the recent article "Alien annual grasses and fire in the Mojave Desert," published in the journal Madroņo, USGS research ecologist Matt Brooks shows that nonnative grasses in the genera Bromus and Schismus allow fire to spread in an otherwise fire-proof ecosystem, by filling in naturally occurring spaces between native desert plants with continuous fuel beds that persist long after the nonnative grasses die. In contrast, native annual plants crumble soon after death, leaving little accumulated biomass to burn. (Matt Brooks, Three Rivers, CA, 559-561-6511)

California Sea Otters in News: USGS recently reported the first overall increase observed in the threatened California sea otter population since the spring survey of 1995. Scientists cautioned that a sustained trend over the next several years will be required to determine whether the decline is over. Media coverage of the story, with some interviews of USGS sea otter researchers Jim Estes and Brian Hatfield, include: NBC Dateline Discovery News, KGO TV San Francisco News, Associated Press, National Geographic News, University Science News, Yahoo! News, Monterey County Herald, Salinas Californian, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Santa Barbara News Press, Santa Cruz Sentinel, and the Santa Maria Times. (Gloria Maender, Tucson, AZ, 520-670-5596) Official news release

Fire and Forest Management in the News: On June 5, AP reporter Matt Kelley interviewed USGS plant ecologist Nate Stephenson for an upcoming article on the use of prescribed fire in forest management. The interview covered the science of fire ecology, and the similarities and differences between the two major tools for forest restoration: mechanical thinning and prescribed fire. (Nate Stephenson, Three Rivers, CA, 559-565-3176)

The Competitive Edge of Nonnative Species: In the race over resources needed to flourish in the Mojave Desert, certain nonnative plants out-compete both native species and even other nonnatives. In an upcoming article in the journal American Midland Naturalist, USGS research ecologist Matt Brooks presents results from his recent study "Competition between alien annual grasses and native annual plants in the Mojave Desert." Removal of nonnative annual grasses in the genera Bromus and Schismus each increased the density and biomass of native annual plants, and the nonnative forb Erodium cicutarium. This study indicates that nonnative annual grasses can directly affect native annuals plants in the Mojave Desert, and that efforts to control these grasses may promote the dominance of other nonnative species. (Matt Brooks, Three Rivers, CA, 559-561-6511)

USGS Study Takes Top Prize! When USGS research ecologist Jon Keeley was contacted several weeks ago by a gentleman from Rye Brook, New York, he didn't know their series of conversations regarding Keeley's recent work on the role of smoke in the germination of dormant chaparral seeds would lead to a first prize project at the local high school science fair and an opportunity to compete statewide. Keeley discussed how the New Yorker's son could present his research as a science project and provided procedural details not readily gleaned from research articles. The science fair project tested a number of previously unstudied species and expanded our knowledge base on smoke-stimulated germination in other ecosystems beyond the chaparral studied in Keeley's original report. In "Trace gas emissions in smoke-induced germination," Science 276:1248-1250, Keeley and his associate C. J. Fotheringham found that chaparral species require smoke exposure, but not heat, for germination and that nitrogen oxides were the component responsible for germination. These differences in response to fire are ecologically significant, because the structure of chaparral plant communities is determined by which plant species recolonize the landscape following fire. Keeley received news of the winning science project in a letter of appreciation from the proud father, Jose Alvelo. (Jon Keeley, Three Rivers, CA, 559-565-3170)

A Decade Later, How Are Desert Tortoises Faring? About ten years ago, the Daily Press (Barstow and Victor Valley) and the Desert Dispatch (Barstow) ran a story about the status and trends in desert tortoises in California. Recently reporter Teri Figueroa, writing for both newspapers, interviewed USGS research wildlife biologist Kristin Berry regarding the current status and trends in California's desert tortoise populations. In the decade since that original story appeared, the overall trend in desert tortoise populations in San Bernardino County and California at large has been downward, with catastrophic declines during the last two years documented by Berry at two of her study areas. (Kristin Berry, Riverside, CA, 909-697-5361)