Publications

Newly discovered populations of Rhyacotritonidae were investigated for taxonomic identity, hybridization, and sympatry. Species in the genus Rhyacotriton have been historically difficult to identify using morphological characters. Mitochondrial (mtDNA) 16S ribosomal RNA sequences (491 bp) and allozymes (6 loci) were used to identify the distribution of populations occurring intermediate...

No abstract available.

From 1999-2002, we attached satellite-received platform transmitter terminals (PTTs) to 40 adult female prairie falcons (Falco mexicanus) on their nesting grounds in the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area (NCA) in southwest Idaho. We used 3 variations of a backpack harness design that had been used previously on raptors. Each radiomarked falcon also received a color leg...

No abstract available.

This report describes the "Program for Regional and International Shorebird Monitoring" (PRISM). PRISM is being implemented by a Canada-United States Shorebird Monitoring and Assessment Committee formed in 2001 by the Canadian Shorebird Working Group and the U.S. Shorebird Council. PRISM provides a single blueprint for implementing the shorebird conservation plans recently completed in...

Disturbance in riparian areas of semiarid ecosystems involves complex interactions of pulsed hydrologic flows, herbivory, fire, climatic effects, and anthropogenic influences. We resampled riparian vegetation within ten 10-m × 100-m plots that were initially sampled in 1992 in 4 watersheds of the Snake Range, east central Nevada. Our finding of significantly lower coverage of grasses...

Often landmark conservation decisions are made despite an incomplete knowledge of system behavior and inexact predictions of how complex ecosystems will respond to management actions. For example, predicting the feasibility and likely effects of restoring top-level carnivores such as the gray wolf (Canis lupus) to North American wilderness areas is hampered by incomplete knowledge of the...

An increase in ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation has been posited to be a potential factor in the decline of some amphibian population. This hypothesis has received support from laboratory and field experiments showing that current levels of UV-B can cause embryo mortality in some species, but little research has addressed whether UV-B is influencing the distribution of amphibian...

No abstract available.

We examined diet of introduced Bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) and three native frog species (Rana limnocharis, Rana nigromaculata, and Bufo bufo gargarizans) co-occurring at a group of ponds on Daishan Island, east of China, to gain insight into the nature of potential interactions between Bullfrogs and native frog species. For postmetamorphic Bullfrogs, aquatic prey items dominated...

We characterized the structure of 91 old-growth forests dominated by Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco), using inventory data from recent (1985–1991) old-growth timber sales in western Oregon. The data were complete counts (i.e., censuses) of all live trees >20 cm diameter at breast height (dbh, measured at 1.4 m above the ground) over a mean area of 17.1 ha at each site...

Northern spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) have been studied intensively since their listing as a threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1990. Studies of spotted owl site occupancy have used various binary response measures, but most of these studies have made the assumption that detectability is perfect, or at least high and not variable. Further, previous...