Data

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

The spring 2016 mainland sea otter count began on 1 May and was completed on 11 May. Overall viewing conditions this year were very good, being more favorable than those during the 2015 spring census (3.1 vs. 2.6, where 0=poor, 1=fair, 2=good, 3=very good, and 4=excellent) and contributed to the relatively short duration of the count. The surface canopies of kelp (Macrocystis sp.) were...

The Kittlitz's Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) is a small, non-colonial seabird endemic to marine waters of Alaska and eastern Russia that may have experienced significant population decline in recent decades, in part because of low reproductive success and terrestrial threats. Although recent studies have shed new light on Kittlitz's Murrelet nesting habitat in a few discrete...

The data are .csv files of tagged sea otter re-sighting locations (henceforth, resights) collected in the field using a combination of VHF radio telemetry and direct observation using high powered (80x) telescopes. Sea otters were tracked by shore based observers from the date of tagging until the time of radio battery failure or the animals death, whichever comes first. The frequency of...

The goal of this project was to primarily assess east-west connectivity across Route 67 and secondarily, north-south connectivity across Scripps Poway Parkway and Poway Road, two highly trafficked roads to the west of Route 67. We collected deer scat piles from both sides of these crossings in spring between March and June of 2015, and again in fall throughout October 2015. Collected...

Successful adaptive management hinges largely upon integrating new and improved sources of information as they become available. Updating management tools for greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus, hereafter referred to as sage-grouse) populations, which are indicators for the large-scale health of sagebrush ( Artemisia spp.) ecosystems in the Great Basin of North America...

Greater sage-grouse ( Centrocercus urophasianus; hereinafter, sage-grouse) are a sagebrush obligate species that has declined concomitantly with the loss and fragmentation of sagebrush ecosystems across most of its geographical range. The species has been considered for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act multiple times, and was most recently ruled to not warrant protection...