Editor's Note: We're reviving our WERC research roundups in a new biweekly format, complete with PDF version. Check back every two weeks for a run down of new research and events from the USGS Western Ecological Research Center. To add your name to the email distribution list for the PDF newsletter, please contact blandis@usgs.gov.

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HEADLINE

Shearwaters Affected by Fukushima Radiation?
WERC lead scientist Josh Adams was quoted in a December piece by Radio New Zealand about his upcoming research on sooty shearwaters (Puffinus griseus) migrating to that country, which may have accumulated radiactivity from their earlier feeding routes near the Japan-Fukushima nuclear disaster. Also known as “muttonbirds”, sooty shearwaters are also hunted and eaten by local New Zealanders, hence that government’s interest in human health safety risks.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/
2505653/muttonbirds-may-be-radioactive-after-migration-to-japan


NEW REPORTS

JJ Rytuba, RL Hothem, BE Brussee, DN Goldstein. Impact of mine and natural sources of mercury on water sediment, and biota in Harley Gulch adjacent to the Aboott-Turkey Run Mine, Lake County, California. U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 2011–1265, 105 p.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1265/


NEW JOURNAL ARTICLES

Ackerman, JT, CT Overton, ML Casazza, JY Takekawa, CA Eagles-Smith, RA Keister, MP Herzog. Does mercury contamination reduce body condition of endangered California clapper rails? Environmental Pollution 162: 439-448
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=4609

Bateman, HL, SM Ostoja. Invasive woody plants affect the composition of native lizard and small mammal communities in riparian woodlands. Animal Conservation doi:10.1111/j.1469-1795.2011.00517.x
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=4618

Mattsson, BJ, MC Runge, JH Devries, GS Boomer, JM Eadie, DA Haukos, JP Fleskes, DN Koons, WE Thogmartin, RG Clark. A modeling framework for integrated harvest and habitat management of North American waterfowl: case-study of northern pintail metapopulation dynamics. Ecological Modelling 225(1): 146-158
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=4608


NEW BOOKS

Keeley, JE, WJ Bond, RA Bradstock, JG Pausas, PW Rundel. Fire in mediterranean ecosystems: ecology, evolution and management. Cambridge University Press. 515 p.
http://www.cambridge.org/aus/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521824910


NEW BOOK CHAPTERS

Atkinson, A, CJ Rochester, RN Fisher. Chapter 4: Data quality assurance and quality control in McDiarmid, RW, et al. (editors) Reptile biodiversity: standard methods for inventory and monitoring. University of California Press. 424 p.
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520266711

Brown, C, RN Fisher. Chapter 4: Databases, metadata and integrated data management in McDiarmid, RW, et al. (editors) Reptile biodiversity: standard methods for inventory and monitoring. University of California Press. 424 p.
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520266711

Fisher, RN, M Mitrovich. Chapter 3: Study design and sampling overview in McDiarmid, RW, et al. (editors) Reptile biodiversity: standard methods for inventory and monitoring. University of California Press. 424 p.
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520266711

Fisher, RN, CJ Rochester. Chapter 9: Pitfall-trap surveys in McDiarmid, RW, et al. (editors) Reptile biodiversity: standard methods for inventory and monitoring.
University of California Press. 424 p.
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520266711

Fisher, RN. Chapter 9: Reptile sign and camera traps in McDiarmid, RW, et al. (editors) Reptile biodiversity: standard methods for inventory and monitoring. University
of California Press. 424 p.
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520266711

Gardner, SL, RN Fisher, SJ Berry. Chapter 6: Field parasitology techniques for reptile surveys in McDiarmid, RW, et al. (editors) Reptile biodiversity: standard methods for inventory and monitoring. University of California Press. 424 p.
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520266711

Rochester, CJ, RN Fisher. Chapter 4: Handheld computers for digital data collection in McDiarmid, RW, et al. (editors) Reptile biodiversity: standard methods for inventory and monitoring. University of California Press. 424 p.
http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520266711


NEW FACTSHEETS

WERC Outreach Factsheet: Research Support for BLM
A summary of WERC survey, modeling and research projects providing science to the mission of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Nevada and California.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/ProductDetails.aspx?ID=4579


EVENTS

Jan 24, 2012 (Nir Etzion, Israel) WERC lead scientist Jon Keeley gave a keynote speech on California fires at an Israeli conference on Climate Change & Forest Fires in the Mediterranean Basin.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/Event.aspx?ID=89

Jan 25, 2012 (Tiburon, CA) WERC climate change coordinator Tom Suchanek spoke on climate change projections around San Francisco as part of the Romberg Tiburon Center Seminar Series.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/Event.aspx?ID=88

Jan 28, 2012 (Palmdale, CA) WERC lead scientist Kristin Berry spoke at the 37th meeting of the Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee about her 2011 study splitting Gopherus agassizii into multiple species.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/Event.aspx?ID=91

Feb 01, 2012 (Sacramento, CA) WERC researchers will present at The Wildlife Society Western Section Conference on topics such as sage-grouse ecology; alternative energy land use in Mojave Desert landscapes; American pikas; San Francisco salt pond restoration; and climate change effects on waterbirds.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/Event.aspx?ID=87

Feb 07, 2012 (Haleiwa, HI) WERC lead scientist Josh Adams and colleagues will present talks and posters at the 39th Meeting of the Pacific Seabird Group. Topics include marine plastics ingestion; PACSEA marine mammal surveys; hyperspectral radiometry of the Columbia River Plume; and Hawai’ian petrel foraging.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/Event.aspx?ID=90

Feb 17, 2012 (Las Vegas, NV) WERC scientists will present findings at the 37th Desert Tortoise Council Symposium.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/Event.aspx?ID=92


IN THE NEWS

Taking the Measure of Climate Change at Corte Madera Marsh (Bay Nature magazine) features quotes from WERC biologist Karen Thorne at the San Francisco Bay Estuary Field Station, who spoke on sea level rise risks to the endangered California clapper rail.
http://baynature.org/articles/jan-mar-2012/

Once Near Extinction, Sea Otter Survival Rates Boosted by Extensive Research (Capital Public Radio - Sacramento) profiles field research by WERC lead scientist Tim Tinker, Monterey Bay Aquarium, California Department of Fish and Game and other partners, who are comparing the health of Big Sur versus Monterey Bay sea otters to gauge environmental conditions.
http://www.capradio.org/168961


FROM THE BLOG

PHOTOS: Baby Desert Geckos, Lizards and Tortoises showcases closeups of Great Basin whiptail, banded gecko, yellow-backed spiny lizard and other species, taken by WERC field technician Zachary Cava, who is working under Ken Nussear of the Las Vegas Field Station on Mojave Desert field surveys.
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/outreach.aspx?RecordID=117 


This Biweekly Update is produced as a service to USGS/WERC staff, colleagues, partners and the interested public. To add your email address to the mailing list or to report errors/suggestions, please contact blandis@usgs.gov. Download the current issue (1.01)