WERC Highlights -- March 2008

USGS Fire Presentation at UCLA: USGS scientist Jon Keeley will speak on “Balancing Fire Hazard Reduction and Resource Protection in California’s Fire Prone Ecosystems” on April 7 at the Institute of the Environment’s Environmental Science Colloquium, University of California, Los Angeles. See: http://www.ioe.ucla.edu/colloquium.html. (Jon Keeley, Three Rivers, CA, 559-565-3170)

San Francisco Bay Salt Pond Restoration: On March 27, Steven Schwarzbach, Director of the USGS Western Ecological Research Center, will introduce and discuss a new USGS DVD video product "Wetland Revival" during a public presentation in Menlo Park, California. For the past 150 years southern San Francisco Bay salt ponds have been producing commercial salt in areas once heavily populated by wildlife. In 2003 nearly 15,000 acres of these salt ponds were purchased by a partnership of federal, state, and nonprofit organizations for restoration to more natural wetlands habitat. The new DVD, USGS General Information Product 61, features USGS biologists, hydrologists, and geologists working to provide the science necessary for these unprecedented restoration efforts. Restoration of the Bay fringing salt marsh habitat is assisting endangered species, including the California Clapper Rail and the Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse, to rebound while also providing needed refuge for the migration and wintering of waterfowl and shorebirds. Lecture info: http://online.wr.usgs.gov/calendar; restoration info: www.SouthBayRestoration.org. (Steven Schwarzbach, Sacramento, CA, 916-278-9490)

Bobcat Research: USGS scientist Erin Boydston, featured guest speaker for the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club meeting on March 25 in Mission Viejo, California, will deliver a powerpoint program discussing ongoing research on bobcats in Orange County. The research is contributing to the better understanding of bobcat movement patterns and how wide-ranging species use fragmented habitat in urbanizing southern California. See: http://angeles.sierraclub.org/sage/meetings.htm. (Erin Boydston, Irvine, CA, 714-508-4704)

Desert Tortoise: USGS scientist Ken Nussear was interviewed on March 26 by the Press-Enterprise for an upcoming story about the relocation of desert tortoises that will lose their habitat due to the planned expansion at Fort Irwin.

Bobcat Research: USGS scientist Erin Boydston was one of 25 scientists, managers, and conservationists from around the world featured in “Conservation Connections,” the 2007 annual report of The Nature Conservancy. She was interviewed about bobcat research in southern California for an article on maintaining and restoring Mediterranean landscapes. See page 45, http://www.nature.org/aboutus/annualreport/files/annualreport2007.pdf.

USGS Scientist Mentors High School Student in Botanical Research: USGS scientist Jon Keeley, an expert on fire in chaparral ecosystems, has mentored Connecticut high school student Dorothy Klein in her science projects of the past two years. This year’s project explored using enhanced germination technologies on shrub seeds to mitigate mudslides in southern California and placed 3rd overall in the applied technologies category at the 2008 Connecticut Science Fair, winning recognition from the Office of Naval Research. The protocols she designed have been predicted to stabilize mudslide-prone slopes by 50 percent, and collaboration with USGS to implement these protocols is anticipated in May 2008. This year’s science project builds on the student’s previous analysis of heat-shock germination cues in chaparral seeds, which won 4th place in the senior life science category in the 2007 Connecticut Science Fair. (Jon Keeley, Three Rivers, CA, 559-565-3170)

Desert Tortoises: USGS scientist Kristin Berry was interviewed for a March 15 story in the San Bernardino Sun that reported on outbreaks of Upper Respiratory Tract Disease in desert tortoises, health monitoring of Mojave Desert tortoises by scientists, and the relocation of desert tortoises losing their habitat due to the planned expansion at Fort Irwin. See: http://www.sbsun.com/ci_8589251.

Joshua Trees: USGS scientist Todd Esque was interviewed March 18 and 19 about Joshua trees and filmed with USGS field crew members Bryant Reynolds and Tynan Granberg by filmmakers from Montana State University producing short films for the National Park Service on climate change and parks.

Postfire Invasive Plants: USGS scientist Jon Keeley will be interviewed on March 10 by NPR about postfire invasive plants.

Fire Hearing: A March 8 story in the North County Times about the joint fire hearing held in San Diego by the California Legislature Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee mentioned the participation of USGS scientist Jon Keeley as a panel speaker and his suggestions on ways to help reduce the fire hazard in southern California. See: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/03/08/news/top_stories/23_05_663_7_08.txt.

Disease and Ecosystems: USGS scientist Kevin Lafferty is a contributing author for three chapters about effects of disease on ecosystems in a 504-page book titled Infectious Disease Ecology: Effects of Ecosystems on Disease and Disease on Ecosystems, published by Princeton University Press. The book contains 13 essays by 40 leading experts who convened at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in 2005 and marks the first comprehensive and in-depth exploration of the complex linkages between ecology and disease. See: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8692.html. (Kevin Lafferty, Santa Barbara, CA, 805-893-8778) Citations:
Perkins, S., Altizer, S., Bjornstad, O., Burdon, J., Clay, K., Gomez-Aparicio, L., Jeschke, J., Johnson, P., Lafferty, K., Malstrom, C., Martin, P., Power, A., Thrall, P., Strayer, D. & Uriarte, M. (2008). Infectious disease in invasion biology. In Infectious Disease Ecology: Effects of Disease on Ecosystems and of Ecosystems on Disease (Ostfeld, R., Keesing, F. & Eviner, V., eds.), pp. 179-204. Millbrook, New York: Institute for Ecosystem Studies.
Hall, S. R., Lafferty, K. D., Brown, J. M., Caceres, C. E., Chase, J. M., Dobson, A. P., Holt, R. D., Jones, C. G., Randolph, S. E. & Rohani, P. (2008). Is infectious disease just another type of consumer-resource interaction? In Infectious Disease Ecology: Effects of Disease on Ecosystems and of Ecosystems on Disease (Ostfeld, R., Keesing, F. & Eviner, V., eds.), pp. 223-241. Millbrook, New York: Institute for Ecosystem Studies.
Lafferty, K. D. (2008). Effects of disease on community interactions and food-web structure. In Infectious Disease Ecology: Effects of Disease on Ecosystems and of Ecosystems on Disease (Ostfeld, R., Keesing, F. & Eviner, V., eds.), pp. 205-222. Millbrook, New York: Institute for Ecosystem Studies.

Bobcats: USGS scientist Erin Boydston was interviewed for a March 5 story in the Daily Pilot about bobcats seen in the Newport Beach in Orange County, CA, and for an upcoming story in National Wildlife magazine about bobcats living in urbanizing areas. See: http://www.dailypilot.com/articles/2008/03/05/news/dpt-bobcats030508.txt.

Remote-triggered Cameras: USGS scientist Erin Boydston was interviewed on March 6 for an upcoming story (expected Sunday in outdoor section) in the Hazelton Standard-Speaker about uses of remote-triggered cameras. A wildfire-wildlife photo sequence captured by a USGS remote-triggered camera may appear with the story.

Postfire Vegetation: USGS scientist Jon Keeley was quoted in a March 2 article in the Los Angeles Times about frequent fires replacing native wild lands of southern California with more flammable and prolific nonnative weeds. See: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-greenhills2mar02,1,5321487.story.