Data

Each month (except March 2012), we collected detailed data on the infection status of intertidal snails from ten fixed sites as part of a broader effort to understand food webs in California Estuaries. The study site was Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve, California USA, (University of California Natural Reserve System), which comprises 9 Ha tidal channels, 2 Ha salt flats, 17 Ha upland habitat, 6 Ha

The recency of large-scale land conversion in Californias San Joaquin Desert raises the probability that the regions numerous endemic species still retain genetic signatures of historical population connectivity. If so, genomic data can serve as a guidance tool for conserving lands that once supported habitat for gene movement. We studied the genetic structuring of the endangered blunt-nosed leopa

We collected detailed spatial data on birds as part of a broader effort to understand food webs in California Estuaries. The survey area was Carpinteria Salt Marsh, California USA, which comprises 9 Ha tidal channels, 2 Ha salt flats, 17 Ha upland habitat, 6 Ha tidal pans, 52 Ha vegetated marsh, and 2 Ha tidal flats. In 30 surveys, we mapped 21,486 birds comprising 88 species interacting with the

We collected detailed spatial data on the density and size distribution of intertidal snails as part of a broader effort to understand food webs in California estuaries. The survey area was Carpinteria Salt Marsh, California USA, which comprises 9 Ha tidal channels, 2 Ha salt flats, 17 Ha upland habitat, 6 Ha tidal pans, 52 Ha vegetated marsh, 2 Ha tidal flats. Using nearly 4,000 transects in pote

Background - Interest in developing alternative sources of renewable energy to reduce dependence on oil has increased in recent years. Some sources of renewable energy being considered will include power generation infrastructure and support activities located within continental shelf waters, and potentially within deeper waters off the U.S. Pacific coast and beyond state waters (i.e., outside thr

The current study was designed to provide critical information for resource managers (specifically the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, henceforth BOEM, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, henceforth USFWS) about the spatial ecology, population status, and potential population threats to sea otters in Santa Barbara Channel, with particular reference to exposure to manmade structures and sour

Decomposition of plant matter is one of the key processes affecting carbon cycling and storage in tidal wetlands. In this study, we evaluated the effects of factors related to climate change (temperature, inundation) and vegetation composition on rates of litter decay in seven tidal marsh sites along the Pacific coast. In 2014 we conducted manipulative experiments to test inundation effects on lit

We identified five common habitat types in Carpinteria Salt Marsh: channels, pans (flats), marsh, salt flat and upland. We then drew polygons around each habitat type identified from a registered and orthorectified aerial photograph and created a GIS shapefile. Polygons were ground-truthed in the field. From these habitat polygons, one can use GIS applications to estimate the area of each habitat

The Central Valley of California is one of the most important regions for wintering waterbirds in North America despite extensive anthropogenic landscape modification and decline of historical wetlands there. Like many other mediterranean-climate ecosystems across the globe, the Central Valley has been subject to a burgeoning human population and expansion and intensification of agricultural and

Studies of habitat selection can reveal important patterns to guide habitat restoration and management for species of conservation concern. Giant gartersnakes (Thamnophis gigas) are endemic to the Central Valley of California, where more than 90% of their historic wetland habitat has been converted to agricultural and other uses. Information about the selection of habitats by individual giant gart

The California desert occupies the southeastern 27 percent of California (11,028,300 ha, 110,283 km2 or 27,251,610 ac). It includes two ecoregional provinces comprised of five desert regions ("ecological sections"; Miles and Goudy 1997). The American Semi-Desert and Desert Province (warm deserts) includes the Mojave Desert, Sonoran Desert, and Colorado Desert sections in the southern 83 percent of

This dataset was used to summarize and analyze the mortality factors recorded on dead trees in the Sierra Nevada Forest Dynamics Plot Network, which is managed by the Sequoia and Kings Canyon Field station of the U.S. Geological Survey's Western Ecological Research Center. Each row of the dataset represents an individual dead tree. These are dead trees that were recorded in the network from 1998 t