Life Sciences Commons^™

Restoration Of A. Fasciculatum At Rocky Canyon Granite Quarry, San Luis Obispo, Ca, Catherine L. Roy

Master's Theses

The objective of this study was to assess the above-ground factors affecting the establishment and recovery of the dominant chaparral shrub Adenostoma fasciculatum (chamise) on the Rocky Canyon granite mine.

Attempts to restore the California chaparral have been challenging and few successful efforts have been documented. However, the California chaparral can fully recover from fire in as little as 10-15 years. Factors affecting chamise seedling establishment were tested by planting chamise seed in forty eight 1square meter plots managed to test the effects of interspecific competition with native postfire vegetation, post-mining volunteer vegetation, and intraspecific only competition. Plots were managed …

Altered Ecological Flows Blur Boundaries In Urbanizing Watersheds, Todd R. Lookingbill, Sujay S. Kaushal, Andrew J. Elmore, Robert Gardner, Keith N. Eshleman, Robert H. Hilderbrand, Raymond P. Morgan, Walter R. Boynton, Margaret A. Palmer, William C. Dennison

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

The relevance of the boundary concept to ecological processes has been recently questioned. Humans in the post-industrial era have created novel lateral transport fluxes that have not been sufficiently considered in watershed studies. We describe patterns of land-use change within the Potomac River basin and demonstrate how these changes have blurred traditional ecosystem boundaries by increasing the movement of people, materials, and energy into and within the basin. We argue that this expansion of ecological commerce requires new science, monitoring, and management strategies focused on large rivers and suggest that traditional geopolitical and economic boundaries for environmental decision making be …