Science Brief for Resource Managers: Effects of Biocontrol and Restoration on Wildlife in Southwestern Riparian Habitats

Description: Invasive saltcedar is the third most abundant tree in Southwestern riparian systems. Resource managers must often balance the goals of protecting native wildlife species and habitats with the control of non-native and invasive plants. This project examined the impact of the tamarisk leaf beetle (a biocontrol agent) on amphibian and reptile (herpetofauna) and bird populations and communities along the Virgin River in Utah, Arizona and Nevada.Building on two years of pre-biocontrol monitoring, the researchers tracked changes in herpetofauna communities as the biocontrol entered a system dominated by a non-native plant species. The tamarisk leaf beetle is known to be eaten by several wildlife species....

Categories: Data, Publication; Types: Citation, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2012, AZ-01, AZ-02, AZ-03, AZ-04, All tags... AZ-05, AZ-06, AZ-07, AZ-08, AZ-09, Academics & scientific researchers, Arizona, Arizona, BIOSPHERE, BIOSPHERE, BIOSPHERE, CA-08, CA-36, CA-51, COMMUNITY DYNAMICS, COMMUNITY DYNAMICS, COMMUNITY DYNAMICS, Conservation NGOs, Data.gov Desert LCC, EARTH SCIENCE, EARTH SCIENCE, EARTH SCIENCE, ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS, ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS, ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS, Federal resource managers, INVASIVE SPECIES, INVASIVE SPECIES, INVASIVE SPECIES, Informing Conservation Delivery, LCC Network Science Catalog, Lower Colorado River Basin, NM-02, NM-03, NV-04, Nevada, Nevada, Policy makers & regulators, Population & Habitat Evaluation/Projection, Publication, Publication, UT-02, United States, Utah, Utah, Virgin River, Vulnerability Assessment, amphibians, amphibians, biocontrol, biocontrol, biota, birds, birds, completed, invasive species, invasive species, product, reptiles, reptiles, riparian, riparian, tamarisk, tamarisk, tamarisk beetle, tamarisk beetle, Fewer tags

Implications for Connectivity and Movement of Lotic Great Plains Fishes in the Face of Climate Change.

The potential implications of climate change to fishes in Great Plains rivers and streams could range from drastic shifts in distribution to extirpation. Many lotic systems in the Great Plains are not well suited for direct escape routes for fish to move to more suitable habitats at other latitudes due to the west-east direction of flows rather than north-south. Therefore, we might expect additional climate related stress on fish communities in the Great Plains compared to other regions of North America. Therefore, we will 1) simulate potential water temperature and flow changes within the Great Plains based on extant regional climate models, 2) assess stream connectivity to potential refugia, 3) develop a database...

Categories: Data, Project; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: 2013, CATFISHES/MINNOWS, CO-01, CO-02, CO-03, All tags... CO-04, CO-05, CO-06, CO-07, Climate Change, Climate Change, Colorado, Colorado, FISH, FY 2013, FY 2013, Federal resource managers, Fragmentation Habitat Management, Fragmentation Habitat Management, GPLCC, GPLCC, Great Plains, Great Plains, Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative, KS-01, KS-02, KS-04, Kansas, Kansas, LCC, LCC Network Science Catalog, NE-01, NE-03, NM-02, NM-03, Nebraska, Nebraska, New Mexico, New Mexico, OK-03, OK-04, OK-05, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Plains Fish, Plains Fish, Policy makers & regulators, Population & Habitat Evaluation/Projection, Prairie Rivers and Streams, Prairie Rivers and Streams, Project, RIVERS/STREAM, Report, SD-00, ScienceBase Great Plains LCC, State agencies, TX-11, TX-13, TX-19, TX-23, Texas, Texas, WY-00, Wildlife Management, Wildlife Management, Wyoming, Wyoming, biota, completed, environment, inlandWaters, Fewer tags

Final Report: Metacommunity Dynamics of Gila River Fishes

Executive Summary: Our project combined field surveys of fish communities and habitat characteristics with estimates of population genetic structure to identify and evaluate critical factors influencing fish communities in the Gila River basin of New Mexico. Fish communities were structured along a strong habitat gradient associated with stream size, with distinct differences in the distribution of native and nonnative fishes. Nonnative warm-water species generally occurred in mainstem habitats, whereas coldwater nonnative salmonids occurred in high elevation tributaries. Habitat affinities of native species varied, with some occurring in mainstem habitats and others in tributaries. Several native species, such...

Categories: Data; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2011, AZ-01, AZ-02, Academics & scientific researchers, Applications and Tools, All tags... Arizona, Colorado River Basin, Conservation NGOs, Data Acquisition and Development, Data.gov Desert LCC, Datasets/Database, Decision Support, EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > FISH, Federal resource managers, LCC Network Science Catalog, NM-02, New Mexico, New Mexico, Population & Habitat Evaluation/Projection, Report, Report, Transboundary Madrean Watersheds Pilot Area, United States, Upper Gila River Basin, biodiversity, biota, climate change, completed, fish, product, risk, river, water, water management, Fewer tags

Range-wide Population Estimation and Monitoring for Lesser Prairie-Chickens: Sampling Design and Pilot Implementation

Within the five states of its range (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, and Colorado), the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus, LEPC) remains present on sand sagebrush (Artemesia filifolia), mixed- and short- grass prairies of western Kansas and eastern Colorado, through portions of northwest Oklahoma, the northeast Texas panhandle, and into the shinnery oak (Quercus havardii) and sand sagebrush habitat of eastern New Mexico and western Texas. Agencies in these states monitor LEPC breeding populations annually within the known occupied range of the species, however, monitoring efforts have differed markedly among agencies and inferences have been made about populations using a variety of methods....

Categories: Data, Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2011, BIRDS, CO-04, Colorado, Datasets/Database, All tags... FY 2011, FY 2011, Federal resource managers, GPLCC, GPLCC, Great Plains, Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative, KS-01, KS-04, Kansas, LCC, LCC Network Science Catalog, LEPC, LEPC, Lesser Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus), Lesser Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus), Monitoring, NM-02, NM-03, New Mexico, OK-03, Oklahoma, Policy makers & regulators, Population & Habitat Evaluation/Projection, Project, Report, SAVANNA, State agencies, TX-11, TX-13, TX-19, Texas, Wildlife Monitoring, Wildlife Monitoring, biota, completed, environment, Fewer tags

Understanding the ecology, habitat use, phenology and thermal tolerance of nesting Lesser Prairie-Chickens to predict population level influences of climate change

We found few reports in the literature containing useful data on the nesting phenology of lesser prairie-chickens; therefore, managers must rely on short-term observations and measurements of parameters that provide some predictive insight into climate impacts on nesting ecology. Our field studies showed that prairie-chickens on nests were able to maintain relatively consistent average nest temperature of 31 °C and nest humidities of 56.8 percent whereas average external temperatures (20.3–35.0 °C) and humidities (35.2– 74.9 percent) varied widely throughout the 24 hour (hr) cycle. Grazing and herbicide treatments within our experimental areas were designed to be less intensive than in common practice. We determined...

Categories: Data, Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2010, BIRDS, BREEDING PRODUCTIVITY, CLIMATE INDICATORS, Climate Change, All tags... FY 2010, Federal resource managers, Federal resource managers, Final Report, GPLCC, Grassland Conservation, Great Plains, Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative, LCC, LCC Network Science Catalog, Lesser Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus), Monitoring, Monitoring, NM-02, NM-03, New Mexico, Policy makers & regulators, Policy makers & regulators, Population & Habitat Evaluation/Projection, Population and Habitat Evaluation/Projection, Private land owners, Project, Publication, Report, State agencies, State agencies, TX-19, Texas, Wildlife Management, biota, climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere, completed, Fewer tags

Integrated monitoring within BCR’s: Creating a wildlife monitoring grid for the GPLCC

We used the United States National Grid to develop a sampling grid for monitoring programs in the Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative, delineated by Bird Conservation Regions 18 and 19. Landscape Conservation Cooperatives are science based partnerships with the goal to inform and guide conservation at regional landscape levels. Developing a standardized sampling grid for a LCC is a new endeavor and is designed to reduce program costs, avoid repetition in sampling, and increase efficiency in monitoring programs. This is possible because the grid’s nationwide coverage, uniform starting point, and scalability allow researchers to expand their monitoring programs from a small, local level to a regional or...

Categories: Data, Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2010, Academics & scientific researchers, BIRDS, CO-01, CO-02, All tags... CO-03, CO-04, CO-05, CO-06, CO-07, Colorado, FY 2010, FY 2010, Final Report, Final Report, GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS, GPLCC, GPLCC, Great Plains, Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative, Habitat Modeling, Habitat Modeling, KS-01, KS-02, KS-04, Kansas, LCC, LCC Network Science Catalog, Methodology/Protocol, Monitoring, NE-01, NE-03, NM-02, NM-03, Nebraska, New Mexico, OK-03, OK-04, OK-05, Oklahoma, Project, Report, SD-00, STATISTICAL APPLICATIONS, South Dakota, TX-11, TX-13, TX-19, TX-23, Texas, WY-00, Wildlife Monitoring, Wildlife Monitoring, Wyoming, biota, completed, environment, Fewer tags