Publications

During the past century, forest structure on south-facing slopes of Mount Constitution, Orcas Island, Washington, has changed from open-grown Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) mixed with prairie to primarily closed canopy forest. Density of open-grown Douglas-fir was approximately 7 stems/ha in the 19th century, while current density of trees in closed-canopy mature forest is 426 stems...

Mixed conifer and hardwood stands in southwestern Oregon were studied to explore the hypothesis that competition effects on individual-tree growth and survival will differ according to the species comprising the competition measure. Likewise, it was hypothesized that competition measures should extrapolate best if crown-based surrogates are given preference over diameter-based (basal...

The bacterioplankton assemblage in Crater Lake, Oregon (U.S.A.), is different from communities found in other oxygenated lakes, as demonstrated by four small subunit ribosomal ribonucleic acid (SSU rRNA) gene clone libraries and oligonucleotide probe hybridization to RNA from lake water. Populations in the euphotic zone of this deep (589 m), oligotrophic caldera lake are dominated by two

Estimates are presented for the population sizes of 53 species of Nearctic shorebirds occurring regularly in North America, plus four species that breed occasionally. Population estimates range from a few tens to several millions. Overall, population estimates most commonly fall in the range of hundreds of thousands, particularly the low hundreds of thousands; estimated population sizes...

Bromus tectorum is an exotic annual grass that currently dominates many western U.S. semi-arid ecosystems, and the effects of this grass on ecosystems in general, and soil biota specifically, are unknown. Bromus recently invaded two ungrazed and unburned perennial bunchgrass communities in southeastern Utah. This study compared the soil food-web structure of the two native grassland...

Generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) were used to study the effect of vegetation cover, elevation, slope, and precipitation on the probability of ignition in the Blue Mountains, Oregon, and to estimate the probability of ignition occurrence at different locations in space and in time. Data on starting location of lightning-caused ignitions in the Blue Mountains between April 1986 and...

Many plants exploit patchy resources through clonal foraging. Plants established in field plots were used to determine if Elymus lanceolatus ssp. lanceolatus (Scribner et J.G. Smith) Gould (thickspike wheatgrass) showed a clonal foraging response to neighbour densities, as it had previously shown to patchy soil nutrients. Neighbours consisted of the rhizomatous E. lanceolatus ssp...

Piute ground squirrels (Spermophilus mollis) are distributed continuously in habitat dominated by native shrubs and perennial grasses in the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area in Idaho, U.S.A. This habitat is being fragmented and replaced by exotic annual plants, changing it to a wildfire-dominated system that provides poor habitat for ground squirrels. To assess...

To determine the distribution and abundance of wintering plovers in the Laguna Madre of Texas and Tamaulipas, surveys were conducted in December 1997 and February 1998, along a 160 km stretch of barrier islands in Mexico and- 40 km of shoreline on South Padre Island, Texas. Altogether, 5,673 individuals, representing six plover species, were recorded during the surveys. Black-bellied...

Marbled Murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus) are threatened seabirds that nest in coastal old-growth coniferous forests throughout much of their breeding range. Currently, observer-based audio-visual surveys are conducted at inland forest sites during the breeding season primarily to determine nesting distribution and breeding status and are being used to estimate temporal or spatial...

Satellite telemetry was used to determine fall migratory movements of Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) breeding in the United States. Study areas were established along the lower Columbia River between Oregon and Washington; in north-central Minnesota; on Shelter Island, New York; and in southern New Jersey. Seventy-four adults (25 males, 49 females) were tracked from 1995 through 1999...

Electrocution on power lines is one of many human-caused mortality factors that affect raptors. Cost-effective and relatively simple raptor-safe standards for power line modification and construction have been available for over 25 years. During the 1970s and early 1980s, electric industry efforts to reduce raptor electrocutions were very coordinated and proactive, but predictions about...