WERC Highlights -- October 2005

Rare Plants Monitoring in San Diego County: USGS scientist Kathryn McEachern of the Western Ecological Research Center is conducting a review of the rare plant monitoring program of the San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP). This program was initiated in the early 1990s in an effort to conserve unusual and sensitive habitats and species in the southern part of San Diego County. Multiple jurisdictions are signatory to the plan. Land acquisition, rare plant surveys and monitoring have been accomplished since 1996, generating new information about the status and trends of the 45 rare plant taxa included in the program. McEachern will convene a small working group of agency and academic scientists, to review monitoring results, and draft initial program recommendations. Follow-up will continue through Spring 2006. (Kathryn McEachern, Ventura, CA, 805-658-5753, kathryn_mceachern@usgs.gov)

California Chaparral Postfire Recovery and Succession: Western U.S. shrublands naturally burn at periodic intervals in high-intensity crown fires that kill all above-ground biomass over large portions of the landscape. Postfire recovery is critical to proper management of these ecosystems. In the October issue of Ecological Applications, USGS research scientist Jon Keeley of the Western Ecological Research Center and coauthors report on a five-year study designed to evaluate hypothesized determinants of postfire recovery and succession in California mediterranean-climate shrublands. Postfire succession was driven largely by residual species present at the time of fire, which were predominantly California endemics that survive fire by underground vegetative structures and soil-stored seed banks. Residual species present in the immediate postfire environment dominated early succession. By the fifth year postfire, roughly half of the species were colonizers not present in the first year, but they comprised only about 10% cover. Thus, species present at the time of fire largely determine postfire vegetative recovery. These successional changes were evaluated in the context of four hypotheses: 1) event-dependent, 2) fire interval, 3) self-regulatory, and 4) environmental filter hypotheses. For more: http://www.werc.usgs.gov/pubbriefs/keeleypboct2005.html. (Jon Keeley, Three Rivers, CA, 559-565-3170, jon_keeley@usgs.gov) Citation: Keeley, J. E., C. J. Fotheringham, and M. Baer-Keeley. 2005. Determinants of postfire recovery and succession in mediterranean-climate shrublands of California. Ecological Applications 15:1515–1534.

Frogs: An October 5, 2005, story in the San Diego Union-Tribune reported on the 11 mountain yellow-legged frogs that USGS and USFS biologists recently found in City Creek in the San Bernardino Mountains; story mentions USGS scientists Adam Backlin and Robert Fisher of the Western Ecological Research Center and includes a quote by Fisher: http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051005/news_lz1c05eureka.html. (Adam Backlin, San Diego, CA, 949-636-4269, abacklin@usgs.gov; Robert N. Fisher, San Diego, CA, 858-637-6882, rfisher@usgs.gov)

Sea Otters: USGS scientist Jim Estes of the Western Ecological Research Center was interviewed about the southward expansion of threatened California sea otters and fidelity of otters for areas they know in an October 5, 2005, story in the San Jose Mercury News: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/12826619.htm (Jim Estes, Santa Cruz, CA, 831-459-2820, jim_estes@usgs.gov)

Surf Scoters: In the “Ear to the Ground” section of the October-December 2005 issue of Bay Nature magazine is an item highlighting a USGS study on winter waterfowl populations that recently tracked a San Francisco Bay surf scoter to its nest 2,000 miles away in the Canadian boreal forest: http://www.baynature.com/2005octdec/etg_octdec2005.html (Susan Wainwright-De La Cruz, Vallejo, CA, 707-562-2004, susan_wainwright@usgs.gov; Matt Wilson, Vallejo, CA, 707-562-2004, mwilson@usgs.gov)

Mountain Beavers: In an October 2, 2005, story in the San Francisco Chronicle on the 10-year anniversary of the Vision Fire on Point Reyes, USGS scientist Gary Fellers of the Western Ecological Research Center said the fire killed 98 percent of the mountain beavers living in the burn area and that recovery may take 20 years: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/10/02/MNG5IF1DTH1.DTL. (Gary Fellers, Point Reyes, CA, 415-464-5185, gary_fellers@usgs.gov)