Robert C Klinger

We assessed the impacts of co-occurring invasive plant species on fire regimes and postfire native communities in the Mojave Desert, western USA by analyzing the distribution and co-occurrence patterns of three invasive annual grasses known to alter fuel conditions and community structure: Red Brome (Bromus rubens), Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), and Mediterranean grass (Schismus spp.: Schismus arabicus and Schismus barbatus), and an invasive forb, red stemmed filaree (Erodium cicutarium) which can dominate postfire sites. We developed species distribution models (SDMs) for each of the four taxa and analyzed field plot data to assess the relationship between invasives and fire frequency, years postfire, and the impacts...

Categories: Data; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: Mojave desert, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), biota, co-occurance invasives, desert ecosystems, All tags... ecosystems, field methods, fire disturbance, fire frequency, fires, geographic information systems, habitat alteration, invasive species, plants (organisms), remote sensing, vegetation, Fewer tags

Niches of three sympatric montane ground-dwelling squirrels: Relative importance of climate, topography, and landcover

Species with different ecological niches will likely exhibit distinct responses to a changing environment. Differences in the magnitude of niche specialization may also indicate which species may be more vulnerable to environmental change, as many life-history characteristics are known to affect climate change vulnerability. We characterized the niche space of three sympatric high-elevation ground-dwelling squirrels, yellow-bellied marmot (Marmota flaviventer), Belding's ground squirrel (Urocitellus beldingi), and golden-mantled ground squirrel (Callospermophilus lateralis), in the alpine and upper subalpine regions of the Sierra Nevada in California. We used 5879 observations of individual squirrels, collected...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation

Our study addresses the general question of the degree to which wildlife species can adapt to, or possibly even modify, effects from climate change. We focused on five species of mammals in the alpine zone of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, including the federally endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep and the American pika, a species recently proposed for listing due to the loss of populations from altered climatic conditions. It was expected that there will be an upward expansion of trees and shrubs from lower elevations and that many or even most alpine meadows will be converted to woody dominated communities. Meadows provide critical habitat for many alpine mammal species, and their conversion could represent...

Categories: Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2009, CASC, Completed, Mammals, Mammals, All tags... National CASC, National CASC, Projects by Region, Sierra Nevada, Wildlife and Plants, Wildlife and Plants, bighorn sheep, pika, Fewer tags

Waterfowl Disturbance in California and Nevada (2018)

Long-term environmental management to prevent waterfowl population declines is informed by ecology, movement behavior and habitat use patterns. Extrinsic factors such as human-induced disturbance can cause behavioral changes which may influence movement, and resource needs, driving variation that affects management efficacy. To better understand the relationship between human-based disturbance and animal movement and habitat use, and their potential effects on management, we GPS tracked 15 dabbling ducks in California over about 4-weeks before, during and after the start of a recreational hunting season in October and November 2018. We recorded locations at 2-minute intervals across three separate 24-hour tracking...

Categories: Data; Tags: California, Colusa, Ecology, Grizzly Bay, Grizzly Island, All tags... Nevada, Reno, Sacramento, Suisun Bay, Suisun Bay, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Wildlife Biology, animal behavior, biological population management, biota, habitats, reserves, telemetry, wetland ecosystems, wildlife, Fewer tags

Predictive Model of Burn Severity (dNBR) in the Mojave Desert

This raster dataset represents spatially explicit predictions of burn severity (dNBRPredict.tif) in the Mojave Desert based on models developed from data on the difference normalized burn ratio (dNBR) within perimeters of fires greater than 405 hectares that burned between 1984 to 2010. Raster resolution equals 30 meters, projection equals UTM Zone 11N.

Categories: Data; Types: Downloadable, GeoTIFF, Map Service, Raster; Tags: Grass-fire cycle, Mojave Desert, Mojave Desert, Predictive models, Random forests, All tags... biota, burn severity, dNBR, desert ecosystems, disturbance, ecosystems, field methods, fire, fire frequency, fire regimes, fires, geographic information systems, heterogeneity, imageryBaseMapsEarthCover, invasive species, plants (organisms), remote sensing, spatial models, vegetation, Fewer tags