Publications

In 1992 we collected 22 failed California Clapper Rail (Rallus longirostris obsoletus) eggs from four tidal marshes of south San Francisco Bay for organochlorine analysis and determination of eggshell thickness. Mean eggshell thickness of these eggs (262 microns) was not statistically distinguishable from that of pre-1932 museum eggs (271 microns). Total PCB concentrations in eggs ranged from 0.65

No abstract available.

A common response of plants to elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration (CO2) is decreased leaf conductance. Consequently, leaf temperature is predicted to increase under elevated CO2.Diurnal patterns of leaf conductance and temperature were measured for three desert perennials, the C3 shrub Larrea tridentata, C3 tussock grass Achnatherum hymenoides and C4tussock grass Pleuraphis rigida, at the Neva

Review of: Ne'eman, G. & Trabaud, L. Ecology, Biogeography and Management of Pinus halepensis and P. brutia Forest Ecosystems in the Mediterranean Basin. xii + 412 pp. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden. ISBN 90?5782-055-2 (hardcover). Price: USD 120.00.

Microbiotic crusts are important components of many aridland soils. Research on crusts typically focuses on the increase in soil fertility due to N-fixing micro-organisms, the stabilization of soils against water and wind erosion and the impact of disturbance on N-cycling. The effect of microbiotic crusts on the associated plant community has received little attention. We quantified the influence

In this paper we describe an instance of unusual, agonistic behavior in a flock of migrant Short-billed Dowitchers (Limnodromus griseus) . We compare this behavior to that of other flocks feeding at the same time at other locations in the same estuary and then present evidence suggesting that this behavior resulted from the patchy distribution of the probable foraging resource of this flock, eggs

Several species of anuran amphibians have undergone drastic population declines in the western United States over the last 10 to 15 years. In California, the most severe declines are in the Sierra Mountains east of the Central Valley and downwind of the intensely agricultural San Joaquin Valley. In contrast, coastal and more northern populations across from the less agrarian Sacramento Valley are

No abstract available.

Ecologists long have had a fascination with fire impacts, although they have been slow to incorporate this ecological factor into serious thinking about the structure of communities and evolution of species (Bond and van Wilgen 1996).  The remarks by Saha and Howe (2001, in this issue) illustrate some of the problems ecologists have in trying to apply fire to their thinking about natural ecosystem

Some ecosystems, such as yellow pine forests, have had a long history of frequent surface fires, but because of fire suppression policy, fires have been largely excluded from them during the last century (Covington 2000). Unnatural fuel accumulation in these forests has increased the potential for large, catastrophic crown fires, and re-introduction of prescribed fire is one remedy for this critic

Historical variability in fire regime is a conservative indicator of ecosystem sustainability, and thus understanding the natural role of fire in chaparral ecosystems is necessary for proper fire management. It has been suggested that the “natural” fire regime was one of frequent small fires that fragmented the landscape into a fine-grained mixture of age classes that precluded large, catastrophic

It was gratifying to see articles in recent issues of Fire Management Today clarifying the role of Smokey Bear in wildland fire management strategies (Baily 1999; Brown 1999). These articles clearly spelled out Smokey’s importance in reducing unplanned human-ignited wildland fires and rightly criticized attempts to detract from Smokey’s campaign (Williams 1995; see also Vogl 1973).