WERC Highlights -- March 2003

The “Wright” Stuff: Several scientists from the Western Ecological Research Center are among more than two dozen USGS scientists who will discuss their research at the joint George Wright Society Biennial Conference and Cultural Resources 2003 for the National Park Service and partners in San Diego, April 14-18. The topics of WERC scientists range from plant and wildlife research and ecological change, to metals contamination assessments, restoration of disturbed lands, and fire management in wilderness areas. Other USGS scientists from across the country will chair sessions, give workshops, and speak on a wide variety of subjects such as DNA-based inventories for animals difficult to monitor, threats to resources from rising sea level or invasive species, cave ecosystems, and wildlife diseases. USGS is a co-sponsor of the event. (Gloria Maender, Tucson, AZ, 520-670-5596, gloria_maender@usgs.gov)

Late Miocene Grasslands: USGS scientist Jon Keeley of the Western Ecological Research Center will give a presentation titled “A Model for the Late Miocene Expansion of C4 Grasslands” at the Third International Monocot Congress in Ontario, California, Mar. 31–Apr. 4, 2003. Tropical and subtropical (e.g., southern Arizona) grasslands are dominated by grasses with a different photosynthetic pathway known as C4 photosynthesis. Fossil carbon isotope measurements show that this pathway is a recent evolutionary phenomenon, having exploded in abundance during the late Miocene Epoch about 5-7 million years ago. A widely held hypothesis is that this increase in C4 was the result of declining atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. In light of recent reports questioning those patterns of atmospheric CO2 declines, Keeley proposes an alternative model that places the rise of C4 grasslands on the displacement of woodlands from a marked increase in fire frequency during the late Miocene. Fossil charcoal supports this sudden increase in fire frequency. For more information: http://monocots3.org/ (Jon Keeley, Three Rivers, CA, 559-565-3170, jon_keeley@usgs.gov)

Band-tailed Pigeon Breeding Population: USGS scientist Mike Casazza of the Western Ecological Research Center is presenting a paper titled “Development of mineral site counts to reliably index the Pacific coast breeding population of the band-tailed pigeon” at the 68th Annual North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference, sponsored by the Wildlife Management Institute, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Mar. 26-30, 2003. For more information: http://www.wildlifemanagementinstitute.org/pages/main.html. (Mike Casazza, Dixon, CA, 707-678-0682 x629, mike_casazza@usgs.gov)

Bat Inventories in California: Scientists at the USGS Western Ecological Research Center are conducting bat inventories in San Francisco Bay area national parks and in San Diego County. Information about the bat inventories, including vocalization graphs and sound files, can be found at a new website: http://www.werc.usgs.gov/bats/. Bat inventories in the Bay area use automated recording stations to record the ultrasonic sounds bats use for navigation, feeding, and social communication. Information gained will result in a more complete inventory of bats and provide insights into seasonal activity, habitat preference, and the influence of weather, notably temperature and humidity. In San Diego County bat inventories, acoustic monitoring as well as observation and capture of bats at foraging and roosting sites are being used, detecting thus far 17 of the 23 bat species known from San Diego County. (Gary Fellers, Point Reyes, CA, 415-464-5185, gary_fellers@usgs.gov; Drew Stokes, San Diego, CA, 858-637-6885, dstokes@usgs.gov)

Joshua Trees: USGS scientist Todd Esque of the Western Ecological Research Center was interviewed for a story in the Riverside Press-Enterprise on de-barking that is occurring on Joshua trees as a result of last year’s drought and the importance of Joshua trees to Mojave Desert animals. (Todd Esque, Henderson, NV, 702-564-4506, todd_esque@usgs.gov)

Bay Salt Ponds: USGS scientist John Takekawa of the Western Ecological Research Center was interviewed for a story in the San Francisco Chronicle about the restoration project to gradually return the daily tidal ebb and flow to about a third of the salt ponds. (John Takekawa, Vallejo, CA, 707-562-2000, john_takekawa@usgs.gov)

Necropsies Tell How Some Otters Died: USGS scientist Jim Estes of the Western Ecological Research Center was interviewed in an Associated Press story on what can be learned about sea otters from necropsies of dead otters that are recovered. The story appeared in the San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle, San Diego Union-Tribune, Sacramento Bee and other major news outlets. Story url: http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/5468486.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp (Jim Estes, Santa Cruz, CA, 831-459-2820, jim_estes@usgs.gov)

Otter Researcher Awarded: The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported on the Ricketts award of USGS scientist Jim Estes of the Western Ecological Research Center, in the March 13 story, “Otter researcher will receive an award”: http://www.santa-cruz.com/archive/2003/March/13/local/stories/11local.htm) (Jim Estes, Santa Cruz, CA, 831-459-2820, jim_estes@usgs.gov)

San Francisco Bay Studies: USGS scientist John Takekawa can be heard in two recent stories on the science radio series Earth & Sky, and the story transcripts can be read online at the following: March 17, “Bay Shorebirds”: http://www.earthsky.com/2003/es030317.html; March 18, “Salt Ponds”: http://www.earthsky.com/2003/es030318.html.) (John Takekawa, Vallejo, CA, 707-562-2000, john_takekawa@usgs.gov)

“Shake, Rattle and Roll”: Mary Ann Madej, a USGS research geologist at the Western Ecological Research Center, is running a hands-on workshop as part of the 2003 Expanding Your Horizons Conference, covering science and math for 6th to 8th grade girls, to be held at Humboldt State University, Arcata, Calif, on Sat., April 5, 2003. In Madej's workshop, the students will use puzzles, a wave tank, and a shake table to explore plate tectonics while learning about earthquakes and tsunamis in northern California. For more information: http://www.humboldt.edu/~eyh/. (Mary Ann Madej, Arcata, CA, 707-825-5148, mary_ann_madej@usgs.gov)

Bat Man of Point Reyes: USGS scientist Gary Fellers of the Western Ecological Research Center will give a presentation on monitoring bats through call recordings at the 2003 Annual Meeting of the Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology to be held at Humboldt State University in Arcata, Calif., Mar. 19-22. In “Long-Term Acoustic Monitoring: How Reliable Are Bat Surveys?” Fellers will discuss the monitoring results from the bat monitoring station at Point Reyes National Seashore, which has been in operation since Dec. 1999, the longest running station of 11 set up in 3 national parks in the San Francisco Bay area. For more information about this meeting: http://www.snwvb.org/. (Gary Fellers, Point Reyes, CA, 415-464-5185 gary_fellers@usgs.gov)

Food Webs: “Top-down regulation,” the idea that organisms tightly linked in food webs can be significantly limited by the things that eat them, is the topic discussed in a new publication by USGS scientist Jim Estes of the Western Ecological Research Center current winter 2002-2003 issue of Wild Earth Journal. On land or at sea, when carnivores near the top of food webs are eliminated or reduced to ecologically ineffective populations, a host of negative effects can ripple through an ecosystem. Estes’ article, titled “From Killer Whales to Kelp: Food Web Complexity in Kelp Forest Ecosystems,” is adapted from a presentation he gave at the Mote Fisheries Symposium in Nov. 2002. Estes will participate in a Wild Earth Journal media briefing for science and environment journalists on Mar. 14. (Jim Estes, Santa Cruz, CA, 831-459-2820, jim_estes@usgs.gov)

Studying Tortoises: Kristin Berry, a USGS desert tortoise expert at the Western Ecological Research Center, described her research for a sidebar to appear in a book titled “The Deserts Biome,” by Lake Street Publishers. Young students (age 9) will be able to learn what a typical field day of encountering tortoises is like for Berry, the challenges a scientist must meet in the harsh Mojave Desert, and a most memorable field experience. (Kristin Berry, Moreno Valley, CA, 909-697-5361, kristin_berry@usgs.gov)

Wildlife Corridors: On March 18, USGS scientists Robert Fisher, Lisa Lyren, and Chris Haas of the Western Ecological Research Center will be filmed by National Geographic Today as part of a story on Missing Linkages, an effort identifying wildlife corridors across California. The scientists highlighted research being conducted in several of the linkage zones and explained how data are used to identify critical connectivity zones and monitor the success of corridors. Several sampling techniques used to evaluate the distribution and abundance of species within reserves and the linkages that connect them will be highlighted during the filming. These include the use of pitfall arrays to document reptiles and amphibians and small mammal species, scent stations and remotely triggered cameras to monitor mammal movement through corridors, and radio telemetry to evaluate bobcat home range sizes and movement patterns. (Chris Haas, Corona, CA, 909-735-0774, chaas@usgs.gov)

Marine Bioinvasions: The Third International Conference on Marine Bioinvasions will convene the world's leading experts in marine invasive species to present their research on this epic problem on Mar. 17-19, 2003, in San Diego at Scripps Institute on Oceanography. Conference topics include: ecological and genetic consequences of bioinvasions, transport vectors, biological control, patterns of invasions in time and space, environmental management and assessment, economic impacts, innovative education and outreach programs, and marine policy and law. USGS marine ecologist Kevin Lafferty of the Western Ecological Research Center is a member of a team of parasitologists studying the role of parasites in ecosystems with particular attention to the role of introduced species, such as the European green crab, which decimates shellfish. Lafferty’s presentation “Fecampia Erythrocephala, a parasitoid natural enemy of the European green crab, Carcinus Maenas” is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Wed., Mar. 19, but will be made by his colleague Armand Kuris of University of California, Santa Barbara. (Kevin Lafferty, Santa Barbara, CA, 805-893-8778, klafferty@usgs.gov)

"Criteria for Categorizing Invasive Plants that Threaten Wildlands": Inventory and monitoring efforts have provided land managers with extensive lists of invasive plants, but they require a standard set of criteria to determine the degree of ecological threat each poses as a first step toward prioritizing them for management. Such a criteria system was recently developed by scientists from USGS, various universities, The Nature Conservancy, and the California Department of Parks and Recreation for use in categorizing wildland weeds in Arizona, California, and Nevada. This system can also be adapted for use at smaller or larger geographic scales. Both printable and electronic versions of the criteria are available at the California Exotic Plant Pest Council website (http://www.caleppc.org/) or at: http://groups.ucanr.org/ceppc/CalEPPC_List_Criteria/. The electronic version provides pull-down menus for the evaluator to record ratings and cite documentation, while the printable version is meant to facilitate note taking while gathering information. (Matt Brooks, Henderson, NV, 702-564-4615, matt_brooks@usgs.gov).

Fire Spreads Cheatgrass in Sierra Nevada Pine Forests: The cover photo on the April edition of the Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America illustrates that following the reintroduction of fire to ponderosa pine forests in the Cedar Grove area of Kings Canyon National Park, burn areas have been invaded by the alien cheatgrass. Because fire restoration appears to have favored this alien invasion, the National Park Service has indefinitely halted prescription burning in these forests. The photo, contributed by USGS fire ecologist Jon Keeley of the Western Ecological Research Center, references an article by Keeley and colleagues in an upcoming issue of the journal Ecological Applications titled "Fire and grazing impacts on plant diversity and invasives in the southern Sierra Nevada." (Jon Keeley, Three Rivers, CA, 559-565-3170, jon_keeley@usgs.gov)

Rare Channel Island Plants: Kathryn McEachern, a USGS research ecologist at the Western Ecological Research Center, presented a seminar on rare plant research in the northern Channel Islands, California, for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff in Sacramento, California on March 3, 2003. She discussed the rare-plant research and monitoring program she developed and implemented on five islands in the Channel Islands National Park. Results of field surveys, demography research and field and greenhouse experiments on Castilleja mollis, soft-leaved island paintbrush, illustrated how the program has been implemented for one endemic plant. (Kathryn McEachern, Ventura, CA, 805/658-5753, kathryn_mceachern@usgs.gov)