Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluation Of New Telemetry Technologies For Research On Island Foxes, Brian Cypher, Elizabeth Drake, Jennifer Savage, Julie King, Katherine Ralls, Timothy Coonan, John Perrine, Calvin Duncan

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

New telemetry technologies have recently become available for research on island foxes (Urocyon littoralis). These include GPS units, which collect location data, and proximity logger units, which record contacts between individuals. We evaluated these technologies on island foxes through 4 field studies. GPS collars were deployed on foxes on Santa Catalina during 2007–2008 (n = 20) and 2010–2011 (n = 5) and on Santa Rosa during 2009–2010 (n = 14). The GPS units had multiple issues including malfunctioning drop-off mechanisms, failure of some units to yield data, low location acquisition rates, improper factory programming, high rates of premature …

A Program To Eradicate Twenty-Four Nonnative Invasive Plant Species From Santa Cruz Island, Coleen Cory, John J. Knapp

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

Santa Cruz Island, California, has been free of nonnative vertebrates since 2007, but nonnative invasive plants remain one of the most significant threats to the recovery of the island’s native ecosystems. Just over one-fourth of the island’s flora is comprised of nonnative, naturalized plant species. In 2007, an island-wide invasive plant survey indicated that several species were candidates for eradication based on factors such as their distribution, abundance, invasiveness, and known or projected harmful impacts on the native biota. In 2008, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Native Range, Inc., initiated a program to eliminate 15 invasive plant species from TNC’s …

Reintroduction Of Historically Extirpated Taxa On The California Channel Islands, Scott A. Morrison, Kevin A. Parker, Paul W. Collins, W. Chris Funk, T. Scott Sillett

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

Most invasive alien vertebrate populations on the Channel Islands of California have been eradicated over the past 30 years. Unfortunately, removal of these introduced herbivores or predators came too late for some native flora and fauna, and numerous populations are now extinct. Here, we describe a systematic approach to reintroducing extirpated native taxa as a means for rebuilding natural communities and enhancing the resiliency of island ecosystems. Reintroduction efforts typically focus on a single species or site. In contrast, we propose that if reintroduction is a shared conservation goal of managers across the islands, the associated planning, implementation, and monitoring …

Changes In Vegetation And Biological Soil Crust Communities On Sand Dunes Stabilizing After A Century Of Grazing On San Miguel Island, Channel Islands National Park, California, Kristine L. Zellman

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

San Miguel Island is the westernmost of the California Channel Islands and one of the windiest areas on the west coast of North America. The majority of the island is covered by coastal sand dunes, which were stripped of vegetation and subsequently mobilized due to droughts and sheep ranching during the late 19th century and early 20^th century. Since the removal of grazing animals, vegetation and biological soil crusts have once again stabilized many of the island’s dunes. In this study, historical aerial photographs and field surveys were used to develop a chronosequence of the pattern of change in …

On The Origins Of The Insect Fauna Of California's Channel Islands: A Comparative Phylogeographic Study Of Island Beetles, Michael S. Caterino, Stylianos Chatzimanolis, Maxi Polihronakis Richmond

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

California’s 8 Channel Islands host a large diversity of insects, the vast majority of which are shared with mainland southern California. The existence of a small number of recognized endemic species, however, suggest that, for some lineages, the islands are isolated enough to have permitted significant differentiation. Here we investigate the phylogeographic relationships of 4 beetle species (Thinopinus pictus, Hadrotes crassus, Hypocaccus lucidulus, and Nyctoporis carinata): all occurring on the mainland and on multiple (up to 6) Channel Islands. Sequences of the cytochrome oxidase I mitochondrial gene (and, for one species, an intron in the …

Space Use And Home-Range Size Of Barn Owls On Santa Barbara Island, Sarah K. Thomsen, Caitlin E. Kroeger, Peter H. Bloom, A. Laurie Harvey

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

Spatial overlap between predators and prey is often a key component of predator-prey interactions. Barn Owls (Tyto alba) are important predators of some species of conservation concern on the Channel Islands in southern California; therefore, understanding patterns of owl space use on these islands could provide insights on variations in predation risk that may be useful for conservation efforts of Barn Owl prey. In this study, our objectives were to investigate home-range size and space use by individual owls on Santa Barbara Island, which at 2.6 km² is the smallest island within the Channel Islands National Park. …

The Implications Of Increased Body Size In The Song Sparrows Of The California Islands, Raymond M. Danner, Russell Greenberg, T. Scott Sillett

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

We investigated morphological divergence between mainland and California Island populations of the Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia). Body size in small terrestrial vertebrates has been hypothesized to be larger in island forms than in their mainland relatives. Previously, we established that although bill size in island populations was similar to that in mainland populations with similar climate, bill-size dimorphism averaged much greater on the islands. In this paper, we compare various measures of structural body size and body mass between the California Islands and the mainland. We found that average body mass is over 10% higher in island Song …

On The Fast Track To Recovery: Island Foxes On The Northern Channel Islands, Timothy J. Coonan, Victoria Bakker, Brian Hudgens, Christina L. Boser, David K. Garcelon, Scott A. Morrison

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

The island fox (Urocyon littoralis) represents an unusual case of a species that achieved virtual recovery a mere 15 years after population declines were first discovered. Island fox subspecies on San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz islands declined precipitously in the mid-1990s due to predation by Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), which had not historically bred on the islands. In 2008, a 10-year period of recovery action implementation ended. The recovery program had included captive breeding and reintroduction of island foxes and capture and relocation of Golden Eagles. Free-ranging fox populations have been monitored to assess …

Status Of The Santa Catalina Island Fox Thirteen Years After Its Decline, Julie L. King, Calvin L. Duncan, David K. Garcelon

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

Santa Catalina Island was home to an estimated 1342 adult island foxes (Urocyon littoralis catalinae) in 1990. Nine years later, fox sightings declined and reports of dead or dying foxes increased. An island-wide trapping effort was initiated after a fox carcass tested positive for Canine distemper virus (CDV). In 1999, only 10 foxes were captured east of the Two Harbors isthmus during 1046 trap-nights. A multifaceted conservation plan was implemented in 2000 to conserve the Santa Catalina population of island fox. Initial recovery actions took place from 2000 to 2005 and resulted in the translocation of 22 juvenile …

Identifying Evolutionarily Significant Units And Prioritizing Populations For Management On Islands, Jeanne M. Robertson, Kathryn M. Langin, T. Scott Sillett, Scott A. Morrison, Cameron K. Ghalambor, W. Chris Funk

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

Islands host exceptionally high levels of endemism compared to mainland regions and are subject to disproportionately high rates of extinction and imperilment. Therefore, the protection and preservation of taxonomic units that are endemic to islands is a key component in mitigating the loss of global biodiversity. However, determining what is “endemic” on islands can be challenging. Conservation units are commonly delineated based on genetic divergence at neutral loci (e.g., genetic differentiation at microsatellite loci or reciprocal monophyly based on mitochondrial genes). Island populations of nonvolant species are expected to meet this criterion, regardless of adaptive differences, due to geographic isolation, …

Strategies For Biosecurity On A Nearshore Island In California, Christina L. Boser, Coleen Cory, Kathryn R. Faulkner, John M. Randall, John J. Knapp, Scott A. Morrison

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

Islands provide refuge for many rare and endemic species but are especially vulnerable to invasion by nonnative species. Invasive alien species are a major factor in the imperilment and extinction of island biota. Biosecurity protocols are designed to prevent or quickly detect the transport of harmful nonnative species, with the goal of eliminating the high economic cost of invasive species removal and the biological cost of damage caused by nonnative organisms. Effective biosecurity protocols require a balanced approach to on-island monitoring, off-island surveillance and prevention practices, rapid response, and educational outreach. Here we use the biosecurity program on Santa Cruz …

Ecosystem Restoration On Santa Catalina Island: A Review Of Potential Approaches And The Promise Of Bottom-Up Invader Management, Denise A. Knapp

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

Restoring large, complex landscapes can be challenging, especially given that some threats to native diversity and ecological function cannot be wholly eliminated. Santa Catalina Island, California, provides a valuable case study because its challenges include a variety of ecosystem threats, legal restrictions, and cultural attachments, as well as a vocal resident human population that often does not agree with conservation actions. Catalina Island has been highly modified by numerous invasive species, fragmentation and erosion from roads, altered hydrology from dams, and increased fire frequency. In this paper, I build on a previously published review of resources and threats and discuss …

Restoration Of A Coastal Wetland At Prisoners Harbor, Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands National Park, California, Paula J. Power, Joel Wagner, Mike Martin, Marie Denn

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

Prisoners Harbor of Santa Cruz Island, California, was historically the site of a 4.86-ha coastal wetland and riparian system—the largest on the California Channel Islands. The site was occupied by native people for 3000 years until the 1830s. During the late 1800s, ranchers filled about half of the wetland area to build livestock corrals and other facilities. They also rerouted the main stream channel, Cañada del Puerto, and built a stone wall and earthen berm along its west bank. This disconnected the stream from its floodplain and inadvertently caused erosion of a Native American archeological site. The National Park Service …

Native Plant Recovery In Study Plots After Fennel (Foeniculum Vulgare) Control On Santa Cruz Island, Paula J. Power, Thomas Stanley, Clark Cowan, James R. Roberts

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

Santa Cruz Island is the largest of the California Channel Islands and supports a diverse and unique flora which includes 9 federally listed species. Sheep, cattle, and pigs, introduced to the island in the mid-1800s, disturbed the soil, browsed native vegetation, and facilitated the spread of exotic invasive plants. Recent removal of introduced herbivores on the island led to the release of invasive fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), which expanded to become the dominant vegetation in some areas and has impeded the recovery of some native plant communities. In 2007, Channel Islands National Park initiated a program to control fennel …

Experimental Planting Of Native Shrubs On Santa Cruz Island From Small Nursery Stock, Matthew L. James, David M. Hubbard, Coleen Cory

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

The natural vegetation of Santa Cruz Island was severely disturbed by nonnative herbivores for well over a century. As the livestock and feral ungulates (primarily sheep, cattle, and pigs) were removed from the island over the last 30 years, many of the native plant communities began to recover naturally. Recovery has been extremely slow in other areas, especially where nonnative annual grasses and fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) dominate several hundred hectares that were under intense agricultural use (pastures and farmed lands). We experimentally tested the feasibility of speeding up the recovery process in a postagricultural area of the island’s …

Importance Of Early Life Stage Limitations On Recovering Populations Of Leptosyne Gigantea, San Miguel Island, California, Catherin A. Schwemm

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

Plant communities dominated by Leptosyne gigantea (tickseed, formerly giant coreopsis) are distributed widely across the California Islands and provide critical habitat for understory plants and vertebrates, especially in landscapes where trees are absent. Leptosyne gigantea populations were severely impacted by nonnative herbivores and by grazing and ranching practices during the last century. Although these impacts have been absent from most of the islands for over 2 decades, extensive spatial heterogeneity exists both within and across the islands in relation to population growth. Many sites support very dense stands of L. gigantea that established postgrazing; whereas others, particularly on Santa Barbara …

Eelgrass Meadows Return To Frenchy's Cove, Anacapa Island: Recovery Ten Years After Successful Transplantation, Jessica Altstatt, Richard Ambrose, Jay Carroll, James Coyer, Joseph Wible, John Engle

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

A large eelgrass (Zostera pacifica) meadow was present at Frenchy’s Cove, Anacapa Island, prior to the late 1980s. Extensive grazing by white sea urchins (Lytechinus anamesus) in the late 1980s eliminated the meadow by 1991, when a 60-m transect (10-m depth) was established; no natural recovery was observed from 1991 to 2002. In 2002, approximately 450 eelgrass shoots were transplanted to Frenchy’s Cove from 2 large meadows at Santa Cruz Island (Smugglers Cove, Prisoners Harbor), and a second transect (7-m depth) was established in 2004. Shoot planting densities ranged from 0.11 m^–2 to 11 m …

Argentine Ant Management In Conservation Areas: Results Of A Pilot Study, Christina L. Boser, Cause Hanna, Kathryn R. Faulkner, Coleen Cory, John M. Randall, Scott A. Morrison

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) have invaded many areas of conservation concern, including half of the California Channel Islands. On Santa Cruz Island, the species has invaded approximately 2% of the island, and the infestations are expanding. Argentine ants displace many other invertebrates, and their expansion throughout the island could lead to the extirpation of native invertebrate species and the disruption of key ecological processes (e.g., plant-pollinator interactions and seed dispersal). We describe a treatment protocol to manage or eliminate Argentine ants on Santa Cruz Island developed by The Nature Conservancy and the National Park Service, in collaboration with …

Laysan Albatross On Guadalupe Island, México: Current Status And Conservation Actions, Julio C. Hernández-Montoya, Luciana Luna-Mendoza, Alfonso Aguirre-Muñoz, Federico Méndez-Sánchez, Maria Maria Félix-Lizárraga, J. M. Barredo-Barberena

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

Guadalupe Island, off the Baja California peninsula, México, hosts the most important growing Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) breeding colony in the eastern Pacific. Since this seabird’s first arrival in 1983, it has been affected by predation from feral cats (Felis catus), present on Guadalupe since the late 19th century. Heavy predation events have been recorded on the island, so we initiated a feral cat control campaign in 2003 and began collecting baseline information for developing an eradication plan. At the same time, we conducted seasonal monitoring of Laysan Albatross reproductive success in order to assess the …

Full Issue, Vol. 7

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

No abstract provided.

Status And Trends Of The Rocky Intertidal Community On The Farallon Islands, Jan Roletto, Scott Kimura, Natalie Cosentino-Manning, Ryan Berger, Russell Bradley

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

The Farallon Islands in the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary (GFNMS) is a 7-island chain located 48 km west of San Francisco, California. Since 1993, GFNMS biologists and associates have monitored algal and invertebrate species abundances on the intertidal shores of the 2 South Farallon Islands. The monitoring occurred 1–3 times yearly in 6 study areas. In each study area, 3–4 permanent, 0.15-m² quadrats located between the upper and midintertidal zones were sampled for algal and sessile invertebrate cover and invertebrate counts. Taxonomic surveys were also completed to document other species in the vicinity of the sampling …

Prioritizing Restoration Actions For The Islands Of Mexico, M. Latofski-Robles, A. Aguirre-Muñoz, F. Méndez-Sánchez, H. Reyes-Hernández, S. Schlüter

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

Science-based planning and prioritization can help achieve greater return on investment of limited conservation funds. We conducted a GIS-based multicriteria decision analysis to prioritize efforts to eradicate populations of invasive alien species that threaten native biota on the islands of Mexico. We evaluated 29 Mexican islands with documented presence of invasive mammals and characterized the following attributes of each island: presence of endemic taxa, presence of threatened species, presence of important seabird nesting areas, species richness, likelihood of reinvasion, eradication feasibility, and economic cost. We categorized the islands into 4 priority categories for eradication action. The highest priority islands where …

Status, Distribution, And Conservation Of Scripps's Murrelet At Santa Catalina Island, California, Darrell L. Whitworth, Harry R. Carter, Tyler M. Dvorak, Linda S. Farley, Julie L. King

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

The small population of Scripps’s Murrelets (Synthliboramphus scrippsi) at Santa Catalina Island, California, has been restricted for at least several millennia to isolated pairs nesting in cliff and shoreline habitats that are mostly inaccessible to island fox (Urocyon littoralis catalinae). Prior to 1994, the only evidence of murrelets breeding at Catalina was a single nest reportedly found on Bird Rock in 1967. In 1994–1995, a larger and more widespread population estimated at 25–75 pairs was indicated through vocal detection surveys of murrelets attending nocturnal at-sea congregations in nearshore waters near breeding areas. Murrelets were heard at …

Stand Structure And Acorn Production Of The Island Scrub Oak (Quercus Pacifica), Mario B. Pesendorfer, Kathryn M. Langin, Brian Cohen, Zachary Principe, Scott A. Morrison, T. Scott Sillett

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

Island scrub oak (Quercus pacifica), a keystone chaparral species on Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, and Santa Catalina islands, provides habitat for a diverse assemblage of plant and animal species. The restoration of oak habitat is a management priority, but little is known about Q. pacifica stand structure and acorn production, 2 parameters that are important in the species’ recovery. To investigate whether species interactions and abiotic conditions have an effect on stand structure and acorn production, we sampled within-stand densities, tree sizes, and acorns in the 3 island populations that have been exposed to different herbivores, seed predators, …

Nocturnal Spotlight Surveys For Monitoring Scripps's Murrelets In At-Sea Congregations At Anacapa Island, California, Darrell L. Whitworth, Harry R. Carter

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

Concealed nest sites, mostly inaccessible breeding habitats, and nocturnal colony visitation have long hindered studies of Scripps’s Murrelets (Synthliboramphus scrippsi); but conspicuous and seasonally predictable at-sea congregations adjacent to nesting areas provide a valuable index for assessing murrelet colony size and population trends at all 12 breeding islands. We developed a boat-based nocturnal spotlight survey for counting murrelets in at-sea congregations at Anacapa Island, California. A high-intensity spotlight was used to count murrelets during standard surveys conducted on 2 parallel transects (1.9 km each) located 200 m (“inshore”) and 500 m (“offshore”) from shore. We conducted 130 standard …

Contributions To An Arthropod Inventory Of Santa Cruz Island, California, Ida Naughton, Michael S. Caterino, Cause Hanna, David Holway

Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist

Arthropods have been understudied on Santa Cruz Island, resulting in an incomplete understanding of these diverse and ecologically important members of island ecosystems. To enhance the current understanding of Santa Cruz Island biodiversity, we sampled arthropods in 2 native plant habitats: island scrub oak (Quercus pacifica) woodland and patches of island morning glory (Calystegia macrostegia ssp. macrostegia). We used 4 standardized sampling techniques to sample arthropods in 16 Q. pacifica woodland plots. We sampled arthropods associated with C. macrostegia by pan trapping within 1 m of blooming morning glory individuals. In total, we sampled over 18,000 …

From The Editor, John W. Welch

BYU Studies Quarterly

I am excited about possibilities. Hamlet's line "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy" (Hamlet 1.5.167-68) invites us to look for answers: What more is there? How do we find it? Probing the possibilities keeps our minds open to helpful prospects. If you thrive on such enrichments, I'm confident that you will enjoy the ideas presented in this issue of BYU Studies Quarterly. Let me point out just a few.

The illuminating article by David Grandy about the latest scientific understandings of the behavior of light offers insightful analogical realizations about …

Physical Light And The Light Of Christ, David A. Grandy

BYU Studies Quarterly

Light is puzzling. For the last century, surprises have repeatedly upended older understandings of light. What is more, these surprises have, among scientists and nonscientists alike, triggered a great deal of philosophical and theological commentary. Physical light resonates metaphysical overtones, some of which may be considered theological or spiritual. Light travels at its characteristic speed only in a vacuum; when moving through air, its speed is reduced. Material bodies can slow, block, and even extinguish light, giving light a seemingly subordinate role in our material world. But special relativity's portrayal of light breaks the frame of mechanistic thought and thereby …

Science As Storytelling, David A. Grandy, Barry R. Bickmore

BYU Studies Quarterly

Much if our modern world revolves around something called "science." But what is science? Interestingly, this turns out to be a very difficult question to answer because every definition seems to include something we don't consider science or seems to exclude something we do consider science. In this essay, the authors present their own definition: Science is the modern art of creating stories that explain observations of the natural world and that could be useful for predicting, and possibly even controlling, nature. They then refine this definition by offering seven rules that scientific storytelling must follow to distinguish it …

Jade Cabbage, Daniel Marriott

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.