Publications
Below is a list of WERC's peer-reviewed publications. If you are searching for a specific publication and cannot find it in this list, please contact werc_web@usgs.gov
Filter Total Items: 3618
Determinants of postfire recovery and succession in mediterranean-climate shrublands of California
Evergreen chaparral and semideciduous sage scrub shrublands were studied for five years after fires in order to evaluate hypothesized determinants of postfire recovery and succession. 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 onl
Authors
J. E. Keeley, C. J. Fotheringham, M. Baer-Keeley
Evaluation of current population indices for band-tailed pigeons
There is no formal population survey specifically designed to index population abundance of band-tailed pigeons (Patagioenas fasciata) throughout their range. Data from the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), Washington and Oregon Mineral-Site (WAORMS) surveys, and Washington Call Count (WACC) survey offer evidence of long-term population decline. We investigated the potential to augment BBS, WACC, and WA
Authors
Michael L. Casazza, Julie L. Yee, Michael R. Miller, Dennis L. Orthmeyer, Daniel R. Yparraguirre, Robert L. Jarvis, Cory T. Overton
Plot shape effects on plant species diversity measurements
Abstract. Question: Do rectangular sample plots record more plant species than square plots as suggested by both empirical and theoretical studies?Location: Grasslands, shrublands and forests in the Mediterranean-climate region of California, USA.Methods: We compared three 0.1-ha sampling designs that differed in the shape and dispersion of 1-m2 and 100-m2 nested subplots. We duplicated an earlier
Authors
Jon E. Keeley, C. J. Fotheringham
Fire management impacts on invasive plant species in the western United States
Fire management practices affect alien plant invasions in diverse ways. I considered the impact of six fire management practices on alien invasions: fire suppression, forest fuel reduction, prescription burning in crown-fire ecosystems, fuel breaks, targeting of noxious aliens, and postfire rehabilitation. Most western United States forests have had fire successfully excluded for unnaturally long
Authors
Jon E. Keeley
Fire and the Miocene expansion of C4 grasslands
C4 photosynthesis had a mid-Tertiary origin that was tied to declining atmospheric CO2, but C4-dominated grasslands did not appear until late Tertiary. According to the ‘CO2-threshold’ model, these C4 grasslands owe their origin to a further late Miocene decline in CO2 that gave C4 grasses a photosynthetic advantage. This model is most appropriate for explaining replacement of C3 grasslands by C4
Authors
Jon E. Keeley, Philip W. Rundel
Influence of water temperature on acetylcholinesterase activity in the pacific tree frog (Hyla regilla)
This investigation evaluated whether acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in Pacific tree frogs (Hyla regilla) from different geographical locations was influenced by different temperatures during early aquatic life stages, independent of pesticide exposure. Tadpoles were collected from both a California coastal pond and a Sierra Nevada mountain range pond, USA. Groups of frogs from each location were rais
Authors
Catherine S. Johnson, Steven E. Schwarzbach, John D. Henderson, Barry W. Wilson, Ronald S. Tjeerdema
Chaparral fuel modification: what do we know --- and need to know?
No abstract available.
Authors
J. E. Keeley
Effectiveness of amphibian monitoring techniques in a Taiwanese subtropical forest
No abstract available.
Authors
Min-Yi Hsu, Yeong-Choy Kam, Gary M. Fellers
NO news is no new news
In the paper ‘NO News’, Preston et al. (2004) make a number of erroneous assumptions regarding nitrogen oxide chemistry. These authors also present some very significant misinterpretations of previous research into the effects of various nitrogen oxides on germination of post-fire followers. Methodological differences between the study by Preston et al. (2004) and previous work are also problemati
Authors
C. J. Fotheringham, Jon E. Keeley
The accuracy of matrix population model projections for coniferous trees in the Sierra Nevada, California
1 We assess the use of simple, size-based matrix population models for projecting population trends for six coniferous tree species in the Sierra Nevada, California. We used demographic data from 16 673 trees in 15 permanent plots to create 17 separate time-invariant, density-independent population projection models, and determined differences between trends projected from initial surveys with a 5
Authors
Phillip J. van Mantgem, Nathan L. Stephenson
Evaluation of ecological risk to populations of a threatened plant from an invasive biocontrol insect
Controversy exists over estimation of ecological risk in biological control. At present, the risk to the rare, federally listed Pitcher's thistle (Cirsium pitcheri) in North America from Rhinocyllus conicus, a biological control weevil now feeding on many native thistles, is unknown. We hypothesized that quantification of host specificity and potential phenological overlap between insect and plant
Authors
S. M. Louda, T. A. Rand, A. E. Arnett, A. S. McClay, A. K. McEachern
The introduced ribbed mussel (Geukensia demissa) in Estero de Punta Banda, Mexico: Interactions with the native cord grass, Spartina foliosa
Introduced populations of Guekensia demissa occur on the west coast of North America. They have been reported in San Francisco Bay, four southern California wetlands, and in Estero de Punta Banda (EPB), Baja California Norte, Mexico. We randomly sampled benthic invertebrates in four habitat types within EPB: marsh, channel, mudflat and pan. Geukensia demissa was the most abundant bivalve in the we
Authors
Mark E. Torchin, Ryan F. Hechinger, Todd C. Huspeni, Kathleen L. Whitney, Kevin D. Lafferty