UC Office of the President NRS Transect

Title The NRS Transect 13:2 (winter 1995)

Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1xg9k2ps

Journal UC Natural Reserve System, 13(2)

Author UC Natural Reserve System

Publication Date 1995-12-21

eScholarship.org Powered by the Digital Library University of California Volume 13, No.2 University of California Natural Reserve System Winter 1995

In this issue: .Ancestral wetlands restored (p. 5) .Hastings CIS progresses (p. 6) ."Most Productive Habitat" discovered (p. 7) .Marine mammals monitored (p. 8)

Report of the Director Q: When is a reserve more than a reserve? [A: When it's also a regional field station.]

The mission of the Natural Reserve System is to contribute to the understanding and wise man- agement of the Earth and its natural systems by supporting university-Ievel teaching, research, and public service at protected natural areas throughout Ollifomia. Lordotus pulchrissi,,!us, a be,: fly species, represen~ a single col!1po~en~in the.complex ~ono Basin ecosystem. This furry silver male, perhaps a fierce competitor m his lekking group, IS seen )4 fu NRS does include man y valuable here resting on the fin~er of UC scientist <;atherine Toft, one of many UC researche~ who haye "es, e " .long used the NRS's Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Lab?ratory as a home base while studymg protected natural areas for our study, With Mono Lake and the surrounding region. (Photo by Cathenne Toft) current acreage totaling around 140,(:K:X}. In addition, however, about half of our 32 d h d . sites serve as important field stations for Mono Lake an of. er eco-stu les regional researchthat extends well beyond the property boundaries of each reserve. And still other sites hold the promise of 6 n d h ome swee t 1a b a t SNARL becoming such regional centers. Our lead story in this issue of Transectdis- Eastern California, where the Sierra Nevada, Unquestionably, Mono Lake is the region's cussesthe role that the Valentine Eastern Great Basin, Mojave Iksert, and Modoc one ecosystemthat has received the most Sierra Reserve-primarily, its component, Plateau ecoregions intersect, is characterized attention from the public, scientists, and the Sierra Nevada Aquatic ResearchLabora- by a set of unique regional ecosystemswith policymakers. This body of water is unique tory (SNARL) -has played as facility and complex histories. In this remote area of the globally as well as regionally. Mono evolved think factory for ecologicalresearch at, among state, with the nearestUC campus over 250 from its glacial past as the larger, freshwater, other places,Mono Lake. miles away, the NRS's Sierra Nevada Aquatic pluvial Lake Russell to its present state as the Other reservesnow serving as regional ResearchLaboratory (SNARL) has become shallow, hypersaline, hydrologically closed field stations include, from north to south: the home base for a great deal of highly Mono Lake. Its recent ecological story is a Eagle Lake Field Station, Angelo Coast significant, long-term regional research. dramatic one with decadesof threats from RangeReserve, Bodega Marine Laboratory SNARL's contemporary facilities, which development of California's water resources. and Reserve,Afio Nuevo Island Reserve, ReserveManager Dan Dawson continues to Ironically, these threats have attracted the Younger Lagoon Reserve(with adjacent develop, do much to attract researchersto researchneeded to inform decisionmakers Long Marine Laboratory), Bastings Natural this regional field station.Ukewise compelling about the lake's future. Enter: the University History Reservation, Landels-Hill Big Creek is the presenceof a large group of on-site of California. Reserve,Sweeney Granite Mountains Iksert resident and campus-basedscientists who, UC researchers-including undergrad- ResearchCenter, Reserve, through collaboration and mutual inspiration, uate and graduate students, staff, faculty, JamesSan Jacinto Mountains Reserve,Motte have turned this NRS reserve into what and alumni -have played key roles in Rimrock Reserve,and Boyd Deep Canyon amounts to a "think tank. " Take the well efforts to understand fully Mono Lake's Iksert ResearchCenter. publicized and widely important example of ecosystem.The majority of researchon the Continuedon page 12 Mono Lake. Continuedon page 2 UC Santa Cruz, Stanford, and elsewhere obtained National ScienceFoundation (NSF) funding to conduct researchon the lake's ecosystem.Their data attested to the rapidity of change in this ecosystemand opened the eyes of ecologists,policymakers, and the public. UC researchon Mono Lake has spanned the biological sciences,physical sciences,and environmental policy and law. David Herbst (UC Santa Barbara) and collaborator TIm This aerial shot of Mono Lake and its local region was taken by the U.S. Geological Survey Bradley (UC Irvine) conducted extensive in 1968,midway through the 45-year period of researchon alkali flies, which need hard, diversions and lake-Ievel decline. SNARL, submerged substrates (e.g.,tufa) to complete located south of Mono Lake, lies outside this photo's parameters, just beyond its upper their life cycle. The aquatic ecosystem, lefthand edge. (Photo by USGS) especially effects of Mono Lake's changing salinity, has been the focus of a large body of Mono Lake finds base at SNARL work led by the Santa Barbara group of John Continuedfrom page1 Melack (also faculty reserve manager for SNARL), Gayle Dana, Robert Jellison, Petra aquatic ecosystemand a high percentage of Lenz, and colleagues.This group carried out researchon the entire Mono Basin has been a tremendous amount of researchover the conducted out of SNARL, although the lake last two decadeson the basic lirnnology, lies 26 miles to the north. plankton ecology, and population dynamics Last year UC researchersplayed a signifi- of brine shrimp, which, along with alkali fly, cant role in the September28,1994 decision form the base of Mono Lake's food web. All by the State Water ResourcesControl Board the aforementioned studies helped inform to reduce the Los Angeles Department of the Water Board's decision. Water and Power's diversionsof water from Colleagues from UC and elsewhere have the Mono Basin and to restore Mono Lake to performed comparable researchon migra- the 6,392-foOtelevation, a level not seensince tory and breeding birds (e.g.,California gull, 1964.Mono Lake advocatescheered this eared grebe, WIlson's phalarope, snowy historically and environmentally significant, plover) that feed on the brine shrimp and mandated increasein lake leveL coupled alkali fly. Leading this researcheffort are with a processfor restoring streams,riparian Wmkler, Dave Shuford (formerly UC Davis, communities, and fringing wetlands. The now at Point ReyesBird Observatory), board's decision will promote the health of Joseph JeW(Hubbs ResearchInstitute-Sea the entire ecosystemand all its associated World), and Margaret Rubega (formerly UC organisms. The entire processby which this Irvine, now at University of Nevada, Reno). decision came about can be viewed as one of Meanwhile, the lake's shoreline and up- California's best examples of contemporary land terrestrial ecosystemhave been studied applied ecological science. by various ecologists looking at insects, So large is the scaleof this applied ecolo- mammals, and plants. Key researchers gical researchthat it is a challenge even to include Catherine Toft (UC Davis) and identify the many UC researcherswho have associates,John Harris (formerly UC Davis, worked on the Mono Lake ecosystemover now at Mills College), Deborah Elliott-Fisk the years. We apologize to those whose (UC Davis), and JamesRichards (UC Davis), important researchefforts are not mentioned as well as alumni Dean Taylor (Biosystems) herein: no slight is intended. and Ted Beedy Oonesand Stokes).Their It is apparent now that the tide turned on studies examine basic descriptive ecology, basic researchon Mono Lake's lirnnology as life history; reproductive biology, ecophysiol- more and more scientists realized that the ogy, and mechanisms for adapting to various declining lake levels accompanying the post- stresses. 1940diversion of Mono's tributary waters Among the studies of physical ecology is were impacting the ecology of the aquatic the important long-term researchof Tom and terrestrial ecosystems.Thus, basic Cahill and the UC Davis Air Quality Group. researchconducted during the 19608,by such This work began in 1978,with Air Resources University students as David Mason (UC Board (ARB) funding, and included students Davis), on the lake's lirnnology evolved into Lowell Ashbaugh (formerly ARB, now at UC broad-based researchbent on evaluating all Davis),John Barone(Keystone Research, PA), components of the Mono Basin ecosystem. Bruce Kusko (Franklin Corp, Topeka, KS), This interdisciplinary perspective was first and Tom Gill (USDA and TexasTech). Gill, applied by an undergraduate student group along with Cahill and Otto Raabe(UC led by David Wmkler (formerly UC Davis, Davis), testified in the pivotal hearings now at Comell University). In the summer of before Judge FiIU1eythat terminated diver- 1976,Winkler and students from UC Davis, sions in 1989.This decision was based on the I Transect, Winter 1995 3 I intense and toxic dust storms and air quality Long-term monitoring of Mono Lake, themselves enable work on different biotic at Mono Lake, along with data on impacts of initiated in the late 19708,will continue to assemblagesat different scales. the lake-level decline on gull nesting. infonn scientists, the Water Board, LADWp, SNARL is also home base for extensive Other notable work includes studies on U.S. Forest Service,and others as all watch observation and experimental studies of groundwater by the late Shirley Dreiss and the system's responseto increasing lake animal behavior and physiology. The work, David Rogers (UC Santa Cruz); on the water levels. While the decreasinglake level after both on- and off-site, includes researchon balance of lake and basin by Peter Vorster 1940created one "ecological motion picture" sagegrouse (Robert Gibson, UCLA), on (UC Berkeley); on late Holocene and historic of the responseof aquatic and terresbial ground squirrels (Gwen Bachman,UCLA; lake levels by Scott Stine (fonnerly UC system components to increasing salinities, Warren Holmes, University of Michigan; and Berkeley,now at Ca1State Hayward); and on blowing dust, stream incision, and the de- Mark Chappell, UC Riverside), and on the geomorphology, stratigraphy, and soils by watering of riparian systems and wetlands Great Basin spadefoot toad (SteveMorey, UC Stine and Elliott-Fisk. ill particular, Vorster -now a new eco-movie will be created as Riverside). and Stine's work, which analyzes recent the lake goes back up, causing salinities to While SNARL's 55-acreland base does fluctuations of the lake as related to its water decline, groundwater tables to rise, stream provide a setting for important research,the budget, provided valuable input to the deposition to occur, and stream and wetland site's significance is even greater as the Water Board's 1994decision. SNARL has systems to assume more natural states. University's base for researchtaking place also hosted researchgroups from Lamont- The various long-tenn researchprojects at acrossthe larger region dominated by public Doherty Observatory, University of Southern Mono Lake, the interactions between envi- lands. Through careful development of California, California Institute of Technology, ronmental interest groups and agencies,and facilities and infrastructure on site, with the New Mexico Tech,U.S. Geological Survey, the efforts to educate both the public and use of various intramural, extramural, and and elsewhere-all of them working on decisionmakers on the ecosystem'sstructure, "opportunistic" funding mechanisms, important aspectsof Mono Lake's complex function, and dynaInics brought together the ReserveManager Dawson has created a physical environments. work of faculty, staff, students, consultants, modern laboratory and residential complex, Scientific work often must be framed if it attorneys, and policymakers. As the direction despite the fact that he operates at a distance is to have the greatest impact on decision- of the Water Board's decision became clear, of 375 miles from his administering campus, makersand future public policy; Key in this many fonner opponents in the process to UC Santa Barbara. regard was the work of Harrison Dunning "Save Mono Lake" began working together SNARL currently can provide housing for (UC Davis), in the late 19708and early 1980s, to support a consensusrecommendation and 40, along with a 3,000-square-footcontem- on public trust doctrine and its potential use to discuss how Mono Lake could be restored porary lab and office building, and a unique in protecting Mono Lake resources.Dunning and its water lost to Los Angeles could be system of experimental stream channels for helped develop the legal theory for using the replaced. Scienceas a processto infonn researchat different scales.Aquatic research public trust doctrine to limit the exerciseof management and policy was coming full is also facilitated by a seriesof tanks and tray water rights, a theory adopted unanimously circle -and SNARL, fulfilling the role of a tables with circulating stream water in the by the California SupremeCourt in 1983. regional field station, lay at the hub. lab. SNARL's walk-in freezer and cold Severalof his studentshave been involved in For even an ecosystemso extraordinary as storage provides unusual lab facilities for aspectsof Mono Lake litigation <;iuringtheir Mono Lake does not exist in isolation. It is snow sciencestudies. A full complement of careers,including Dan Frink (StateWater linked to other California ecosystemsand traditional biological labs is also available. ResourcesControl Board), Mary Scoonover large-scaleprocesses, which in turn are the Office spaceat SNARL is about to increase (Land Law Section of the Office of the subjectsof additional regional research dramatically with the addition of a 3,000- Attorney General, representing State Lands based from SNARL. Examples include the square-foot building procured as surplus Commission and California Department of long-tenn, high-elevation watersheds work from CALTRANS and already moved on Parks and Recreation),VIrginia Cahill of Melack, Jeff Dozier, Rick Kattelmann, and site. The 1930s-vintage,two-story bunkhouse (private law firm representing California Roland Knapp (all UC Santa Barbara) on the will become a computing facility that will Department of Fish and Game), and Janet effects of acid rain on these watersheds, enable researchersto link into the Internet Goldsmith and Andy Pollak (private law snow hydrology, and snowpack modeling to and work remotely, yet as effectively as if firm representing L.A:s interests). enable more accurate snowmelt and stream they were back at their home campuses.This dischalge forecasting, infrastructure and SNARL's resident staff and interactions among ably support the University's instructional high-altitude, and public outreach programs as well. introduced fish and SNARL is an excellent example of a native amphibian reserve that has surely found its niche, populations. The within both the University and the region. downstream, It is truly a regional research center of cumulative effects on excellence and an important scientific Mono Lake and other resource for the public of Eastern California, water bodies are the local, state, and federal agencies, and apparent. university researchers interested in this Stream research has ecologically diverse area of California. With also been a focus of eastern California counties projected to see SNARL scientists, dramatic growth over the next half century, including Herbst, our wise stewardship of these resourcesis an Knapp, and Scott important mission worthy of University Cooper (UC Santa research. Mono Lake's famous tufa towers are mineral fonnations created by Barbara), as the freshwater springs bubbling up through carbonated brine and brine- saturated sands. As the lake's waters receded, the towers were ex- SNARL experimental -Deborah L. Elliott-Fisk posed and left marooned along the shore. (Photo by Catherine Toft) stream facilities Director of theNRS Work is underway on a 6.02-acre,wetland students and Peter Bowler reported that restoration and enhancementproject in the gnatcatcherswere using sagescrub restora- SanJoaquin Freshwater Marsh Reserve,a tion projects and wetland shrubs as a 202-acreNRS site adjacentto and administered dispersal corridor. The site lies between by UC Irvine. The project was approved by populations located at the Upper (Newport) the Califomia Coastal Commission as an off- Back Bay Ecological Reserveand the UCI site mitigation required of Hoag Memorial Ecological Preserve.Experiments transplant- Hospital for its development impacts in ing mature sagebrushand other sagescrub nearby Newport Beach. plants have shown that very large plants can The project site lies within an area altered be lifted out of the ground during extended from its original wetland condition over fifty rainstorms and survive when transplanted. years ago, when The Irvine Company con- This mitigation technique allows genetic structed a dam acrossthe marsh to stop sedi- Habitat restoration can require heavy labor. rescueand provides mature plants that ment transport into and (Photo by Peter Bowler) produce seed during the following season. protect commercial salt evaporation ponds Other upland restoration effOrtshave located there. A significant portion of marsh and seededplots. Goodding's willow and attempted to propagate and expand a was buried under more than two meters of mulefat will also be planted along the wet- remnant stand of maritime bluff scrub. This sediment trapped by the dam and was sub- land edge. Students will assist in the plant- includes a small population of California sequently converted into agricultural fields, ing and monitoring. boxthom (Lycium californica),which students cultivated during the 19408and 1950s.Farm- Creation of this new wetland habitat has are using for experiments in propagation ing was later abandoned (probably because also provided a chance to expand species techniques. Students are also reintroducing of water logging and salinity problems), and richness in the marsh by introducing selected gray coast buckwheat (Eriogonumcinereum) during the 1960s,1970s, and early 1980s,the wetland speciesfrom UC Irvme campus in from the UC Irvine Arboretum, where plants areawas reconfigured into perched, shallow, sites likely to be developed. Seedsand trans- from the last patch (now extirpated) along duck-hunting impoundments that were plant material from beanllesswild-rye (Leymus Back Bay were rescued.They are the sole seasonallyflooded with imported water. triticoides),California club-rush (Scripus survivors of the species'ssouthernmost After duck hunting and seasonalflooding cernuus),and southern tarweed (Hemizonia disjunct location. stopped in the mid-1980s,the area became australis,a California Native Plant Society The Irvine campus has recently decided to predominantly an upland habitat. [CNPS] plant 1B) are being collected for use the 6O-acrecapped landfill site adjacent Hoag Hospital's mitigation will exhume introduction to the new wetlands. W1l"erush to the reserve for coastal sagescrub mitiga- the ancestralwetlands and ~blish this (Juncusbalticus), otherwise known only from tion, so when restoration is complete, there degraded area as part of the marsh ecooystem. a single small patch in the reserve,will be will be an extensive, new, upland habitat Fully 39,(XX)cubic yards of sediment will be transplanted to expand its stands in the embracing the wetlands. removed, including 1,100feet of road-topped marsh. The entire 6-acrehabitat restoration dikes that once defined some of the former will be completed in time for the coming -Peter Bowler duck club ponds. Forty percent of the 6.02 rainy season. NRS AcademicCoordinator acresof restored wetlands will be open- fu addition to wetland restoration, the and Bill Bretz water pond habitat more than four feet deep, reserve will seea continued expansion of NRS ReserveManager with an emergent vegetation habitat cover- coastal sagealong the bluffs that surround University of California,Irvine ing the remaining 60 percent of littoral zone the wetlands and along the upper slopes of around the pond edges.Hoag Hospital has the San Diego Creek established an endowment to permanently corridor, which links the maintain the restored site. marsh with the Upper Besidesre-creating new wetlands, this (Newport) Back Bay project has provided a remarkable educa- Ecological Reserve. tional opportunity for UC Irvine students. Experimental "canopy Working with Academic Coordinator Peter projects," which estab- Bowler and ReserveManager Bill Bretz, lished sage scrub shrubs students have collected over 3,(XX)plants using transplanted from other portions of the reservefor use in seedlings from natural establishing the emergent vegetation plant stands on the Irvme community. Target speciesinclude California campus, have been buJrush(Scirpus californicus), olney's bulrush extremely successful: (Scirpusamericanus), coastal bulrush (Scirpus self-seedingproduced robustus),and pale spike-rush (Eleocharis 180 to 200 coastal macrostachya).Experiments have been sagebrush (Artemisia designed that will compare establishment californica)seedings/m2 this spring. The paper grocery bag becomes an important tool for UC Irvine successbetween plants directly transplanted students engaged in collecting seed for the wetlands restoration from the wild, those that have been in pots At a September project at San Joaquin Marsh Reserve. (Photo by Peter Bowler) for several months (with new root growth), conference,two I 6 Transect, Winter 1995 I

and corresponding aerial photography was A 1/ needed in order to create such a project. Yet / / ( the cost of this work was too great for either ~ Hastings or the NRS to bear. /1 Mike Markkula, a private landowner west L)/ \ "" of Hastings, had been allowing the reserve to / ~ -/ \ use part of Rana Creek Ranch for research. Markkula started using Geo/Navigator to --- ,~ \n ~ manage information on his properties. When / / he decided to acquire the baseline aerial photos and new DEMs from those photos for ) Rana Creek Ranch, he offered to include Hastings as well. In spring 1995, Hammon, '-\.-::0 Jensen, and Wallen flew Rana Creek and -G~ Hastings, then provided electronic files that / / )" , /' include a color aerial photo and overlaying --- .,..- maps of topographic lines, vegetation types, (7 r?/ and legal and survey boundaries. These files r7//~ were delivered on compact disks (CDs) in a ~ / / I format that can be read by Arc View 2.1, Goo/Navigator, or any other GIS. --- ~ / / ! --- New data can also now be incorporated into this GIS using a global positioning system This representation of the Hastings Natural History Reservation compound, showing roadways, (GPS). The Hastings GPS and base station vegetation, and elevation contours, is an example of how such information is displayed on the were made possible with funds provided by reserve's geographic information system. For a description of the UCB Museum of Vertebrate. .. Zoology's larger information management project, see MVZ's home page on World Wide Web at the National Science Foundation (NSF), http://www.mip.berkeley.edu/mip/mip_projects.html#mvzinfo. For more information about the partially matched by contributions from our University of Oregon's ISE Research group, see http://shiva.uoregon.edu/. (Map by Eric Rainbolt) neighboring ranches (Oak Ridge, Boekenoogen Hastin g s GIS and GPS p rove a learnin g e xp erience Ranches, ~c.). We p~ a TrlInt:le Commuruty Base Station and a Pathfinder Hastings Natural History Reservation, with development in GIS has been the introduc- Basic plus, a hand-held receiver. Our hand- help from the NRS systemwide office and tion of Arc View v.2.1 from ESRI (Environ- held receiver calculates positions in the field. private donations, is developing a geographic mental Systems Research Institute). We download these field positions back in the information system (GIS) that may serve as a Arc View v.2.1 is part of a suite of ESRI lab and correct them to within a meter or so model for other NRS reserves. This new GIS products centered around Arc/Info, the de in accuracy using base station data. We can fits into a larger data management scheme facto standard in the GIS world. Arc View is then import the corrected field positions into created by UC Berkeley's Museum of significant because it brings the complicated our GIS, where they are portrayed accurately Vertebrate Zoology (MVZ). world of Arc/Info to the desktop computing on maps in our computers. As our researchers' needs range from very environment, allowing non-GIS experts to One of our first projects will be to map simple to very complex, we knew we would work with spatial data with relative ease. and mark mutual boundaries. Most Hastings have to provide software that could meet the Since it is part of ESRI product line, projects boundaries are not fenced nor even marked. most rigorous demands, while still offering a can be moved back and forth from Arc View They occur in areas steep and remote -very system that can be mastered by a begilming to Arc/Info when more complicated analysis expensive to survey with traditional methods. student. We continue to use Macintosh hard- is required. Arc View is available for most By printing out selected parts of our color ware and software, because we find it the platforms (PC, Mac, workstations) and has aerial photos with these points accurately easiest, most maintenance-free platform that its own language (Avenue), which can mapped, we can use trees and elevation to meets most of our daily needs. Our original program almost any data manipulation. locate legal corners and future fenceline software was Geo/Navigator (ViSUal Another program we plan to use is macGIS, locations. We can use the GPS to walk to pre- Solutions, Inc.), a vector-based GIS able to developed by the University of Oregon's ISE determined points. Say, for instance, we import files in a variety of formats. Research group. With macGIS, we can view know that our legal boundary lies along a Geo/Navigator was our initial choice be- our copies of the digital elevation models section line: our maps will give us the cause it is quick and easy to learn and has a (DEMs) provided by the U.S. Geological position (latitude/longitude), we can enter relational database that can generate reports. Survey (USGS). This program can generate the coordinates into the hand-held unit, and The GIS was first designed as a tool for man- various landscape classifications and portray the unit will guide us as we walk the line. agement rather than research, and Geo/ them in three dimensions. We can then mark points, take new data, Navigator was the best option on the Mac Having software is just the first step to correct that data, and relocate the boundary platform. Ability to export data into other building a GIS. Acquiring electronic versions line accurately to within about 1 to 2 meters. programs is essential. Geo/Navigator can of maps and corrected aerial photographs for Other projects at Hastings that will use export files in the most common GIS formats. a site is also necessary. Hastings's first data our GIS include long-term studies of the In the last year and a half, introduction of input was provided by UC Berkeley graduate reserve's vegetation types, individual oak the Pentium and Power PC chips has more student Heather Carlisle, who digitized the trees, social groups of acorn woodpeckers, than doubled the processing speed of desk- existing USGS 7.5" quadrangle. This initial and nesting pairs of western bluebirds. top computers. These faster computers can project was not developed at a fine scale that perform complicated GIS functions more would be most useful to researchers, and it -Mark R. Stromberg quickly than their predecessors. Another would be of limited value for management ReserveManager new, and possibly the most important, purposes. A detailed topographic survey Hastings Natural History Reservation Who would have guessedthat mats of soda pop cans. Mats often accumulate to detritus-decaying kelp and seagrass - more than three feet thick. would prove to be the habitat known to At the ,detrital support the highest densities of animals on mats are believed to extend for several acres earth? It was UC San Diego doctoral student and may also be widespread elsewhere in Eric Vetter who discovered that these dead the ocean.Hot spots can be found at depths mats of seafloor compost are in fact "hot between 45 and 300 feet, and probably much spots," as he calls them, of marine life. For deeper. Between March 1992and March over four years, Vetter has studied these hot 1994,Vetter made hundreds of dives into the spots at the NRS's Scripps Coastal Reserve, cold deep to study hot spots. The invaluable with help from his advisor, Paul Dayton, and help from volunteer divers, mostly UC San a grant from the PAm Foundation. Diego graduate students, made it possible to Vetter found that detrital patches on the collect samples for lab experiments. seafloor are welcome mats for a variety of Even though detrital mats lie on the remote marine fauna. Common residents include seafloor,they are not removed from seasonal mussels,bryozoans, hydroids, ascidians, cycles. During summer, expansive detritus muribund seapansies, and sponges.Also provides habitat for animals that reproduce living there are octop~, crabs, polychaete continually. By late fall and winter, the mats worms, juvenile fishes, isopods, and snails. are reduced by storm waves,as bits and pieces But what really gives the detrital mat its of plant material are carried away. Although current title of "World's Most Productive the detrital mat decreasesin size, it still sup- Habitat" are a few speciesof small scavengers: ports the same high numbers of animals. So, amphipod and leptostracan crustaceans- animals on the mat crowd together,increasing the diminutive relatives of shrimps and their population density. The reduceddetritus beach hoppers. Thesemacroinvertebrates, becomesa life raft for these huddling masses. tiny yet visible to the unassisted eye, popu- With less habitat cover, the tiny invertebrates late the detrital habitat in far greaternumbers become more vulnerable to fish predators. than those known for any other aquatic or Later,as summer approaches,more plant terrestrial animal group. Vetter reported in a material accumulatesand the an!rna1sspread recent paper that, at times, these animals out again. achieve a cumulative density of over three Vetter's original researchgoal was to find million individuals per square meter. out what might be "lurking" in this murky Thesecopious crustaceansfeast primarily habitat and what effect the detritus has on on decaying plant matter and, iI} turn, attract animals in surrounding waters. After two a variety of fish predators, including kelp and a half years, he truly came to appreciate bassand sheephead."This high level of the unparalleled productivity of hot spots; production is subsidizing fish stock," Vetter since then, he has received international explained. "Putting it simply, there are more recognition for his discovery. Dayton says: fishes here than there would be otherwise." "Researchersare starting to realize the What's more, some of the fish exploiting this seafloor is not homogeneous;it's patchy in a food source typically eat other, larger prey. functionalized sense.Eric's dissertation Habitats that are commonly understood to provides important documentation for this." be the world's most productive include trop- ical rain forests and coral reefs.But accordjng -Elaine P.Miller to Vetter:"Nothing else even comes close [to SystemwideSenior Science Writer the productivity of the detrital mat]. In terms of biomass, you might find higher values in a beehive, but then that's a nest,not a habitat. '"-"'"", If, on the other hand, we comparethe detritus mat to the neighboring sandy bottom, the mat is a hundred times more productive." Vetter offers three criteria for the formation of a "hot spot": (1) generally mild surges or currents, (2) a source of plant material, and (3) a seafloor valley or depression.All three of theseconditions exist at the NRS's Scripps Coastal Reserve.For much of the year, ocean conditions are mild along the La Jolla coast, as is typical of most Southern California waters. Abundant plant debris is provided by local kelp beds. Finally, the reserve's submarine canyon provides a natural sink Undersea scientist Eric Vetter, suited up and for anything settling along the sides, includ- ready for work. (Photo by Susan R. Green, ing vegetative debris, animal remains, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography Photo Lab) Searchingfor signs of global warming, UC frequency rumblings would gradually turn Costa's method for monitoring elephant researchersplan to take the temperahlI'es of on over five minutes, reaching a maximum sealsis based on three years of experiments. the world's oceans. volume of 195 decibels. This level is no fu these past studies, scientists (seereview at This international project, called Acoustic louder than other common sounds in the right) transported 79 northern elephant seals Thermometry of the Ocean Climate {ATOC), ocean.At three feet away, the sound's from the Aflo Nuevo rookery to the waters involves the use of low-frequency sound intensity would be similar to that produced off the Big Creek Reserve,where they were waves and is based on the principle that by the loudest blue whale; at 300 feet, it released.Nearly all the sealsreturned sound travels faster through warm water would be no louder than a small freighter; at "home" to Aflo Nuevo in about four days. than it does through cold water. To determine the surface, the sound would approximate fu fact, the routes they followed took them whether ATOC-generated sound mayaffect the intensity of that made by porpoises. past the proposed ATOC sound area. Their the elephant seal {Mirounga angustirostris), Decibel levels in the water differ from those diving behavior en route was identical to UC SantaCruz scientist Daniel Costa will in the air. For example, to maintain the same that of free-ranging seals. monitor its behavior at two NRS sites along sound intensity, a rock singer producing 110 Knowing that elephant sealsreleased from the central California coast:Afio Nuevo decibels in the air would have to belt out 172 Big Creek Reservewill immediately swim lsland Reserve{for which Costa is faculty decibels underwater. back to Aflo Nuevo, Costa started an at-sea reservemanager) and Big Creek Marine The ATOC program has provided about elephant seal monitoring program. He EcologicalReserve. $3 million to evaluate the possible effects of intends to attach acoustic data loggers and Average ocean temperahlI'es can be meas- the sound on marine mammals. These time-depth recorders to the backs of twenty ured by the speed at which sound travels animals have been the focus of concern, elephant sealsfrom Aflo Nuevo. The equip- from its source to a receiver thousands of becausethey rely heavily on their ability to ment enables researchersto relate the miles away. The proposed location for the create and detect sounds. behaviors of seals,as they swim, to their California sound generator lies under 3,000 Marine mammals use sound, becauseit acoustic environment. The sealswill be feet of water on Sur Ridge, about twenty travels far in the sea.Their calls may signal transported individually and at different miles south of Monterey and twenty-five location, intention, age, sex, reproductive times to the Big Creek Reserve.Ten sealswill miles offshore. It is between Afio Nuevo status, and identity. Toothed whales, such as be releasedwhen the ATOC sound source is Island to the north and Big Creek Reserve sperm whales, use echolocation to find prey off; another ten will be releasewhile the to the south. Another sound source is pro- and negotiate the environment. In addition, ATOC source on. posed for the waters off Kauai, Hawaii. all marine mammals use passive listening, Costa will monitor the elephant seals(and Sound waves from these two sourceswould which may help them locate prey, avoid acoutic conditions) as they swim back to Aflo be "heard" by extremely sophisticated predators, and navigate during migrations. Nuevo. The behaviors of sealsexposed to the receiversat eighteen distant oce.tJ\icsites. Elephant sealsand sperm whales are of ATOC sounds will be compared to those of During the thirty-month program, ATOC special interest to scientists, since they dive sealsnot exposed. Costa will look for any sound would be generated no more than 8 the deepest and, thus, the closest to ATOC changes in behavior, including modifications percent of the time. Each period of low- sound generators. in diving or avoidance of the ATOC sound '~~'.~""";; source. Physiological changeswill also be measured. This at-seamonitoring is coupled with the continued collection of baseline data at the Aflo Nuevo rookery. UC San Diego is the state lead agency for the ATOC project, and ATOC's principle investigators are located at UCSD's Scripps Institution of Oceanography.The campus is preparing a joint EIS/EIR with the Advanced ResearchProjects Agency (ARPA). Hurdles remaining to be crossedinclude permits from the California Coastal Commission, the National Marine FisheriesService, the National Marine Sanctuary, and the Army Corps of Engineers.Project approval from ARPA and a leasefrom the State Lands Commission are also needed.

-Elnine P. Miller Systemwide Senior ScienceWriter

The elephant seal colony at ADo Nuevo State Reserve. (Photo by Steve Davenport) Transect, Winter 1995 .9

Many dimensions of the extraordinary Iife- Although ElephantSeals is intended for an ,,"~ ~ style of the world's largest seal are captured audience of elephant seal experts, it is writ- in ElephantSeals: Population Ecology, Behavior, ten in a style that can be appreciated by any- and Physiology,a UC Pressbook edited by one with an understanding of college-level Burney J. LeBoeuf and Richard M. Laws. introductory biology -and a willingness to This 1994volume has forty authors, look up an occasional tenn in a dictionary. including researcherDaniel Costa (seefacing Less than a quarter of the twenty-two chap- page, "Marine mammals from two NRS sites ters would be considered overly technical for monitored in global-warming project") and the layperson. An index helps the reader to is based on presentations made at the first navigate through this 414-pagebook. global conferencedevoted to this massive We are lucky to have such a book devoted pinniped (seeTransect 9(2):7). This confer- to elephant seals-actually, we are lucky to ence,held in 1991,was organized by Burney have elephant sealsat all. Both of the world's LeBoeuf, former faculty manager of the elephant seal species-the northern ele- NRS's Afio Nuevo Island Reserve,who has phant seal (Mirounga angustirostris)and the studied elephant sealsthere since 1%7. southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina)- It is not surprising that the elephant seal have suffered profoundly from relentless has won the attention of researchers.As this hunting. The book recounts the commercial book describes,the seal's physiology and hunting of both speciesand its effects on behavior often run to extremes.It is one of current populations. the most sexually dimorphic of marine During the nineteenth century, northern mammals, with striking differences in the elephant sealswere taken from beachesand appearancesof males and females (take the Continuedon page 10 bull's protuberant proboscis, for example). Adult males can tip the scalesat 4,600 ~ pounds and outweigh mature females by two to seven times. The pinniped is extremely polygamous, and competion for the right to mate is a weighty issue among males. Only a few win enough battles to mate; these few will mate with the majority of available females. More- over, the largest bulls fast for over 100 days during the breeding season;the cows fast while lactating. The elephant seal's diving ability leaves researchersbreathless. Over one-third of ElephantSeals takes an in-depth look at diving. Female elephant sealscan plunge to the greatest depths -nearly 5,000feet! No other marine mammal dives deeper,not even the sperm whale. The elephant seal also spends more time submerged during its sea travels than most whales. Current research suggeststhat the seal dives for forage and that diving behaviors vary with age, sex, reproductive condition, and individual foraging preferences. The study of free-ranging elephant sealsat seais developing fast; part of the impetus for both the conferenceand this book was to sharerelated findings and techniques. Currently, researchersmonitor these marine mammals by sonar or by fitting them with radio transmitters, satellite tags, or time- depth recorders.In the near future, research- ers anticipate that global positioning system (GPS)devices will be attached temporarily to the some seals.This GPStechnology will allow researchersto precisely locate the animals -longitudinally and latitudinally -during their migrations. It is expected the same technology will be used to study other marine mammals. News from Santa Cruz

uc campus now offers Ph.D. in Environmental Studies Last fall, UC Santa Cruz becamethe first campus in the UC system to offer a doctoral program in environmental studies. The field includes environ- mental analysis in land-use planning, environmental policy and planning, environmental regulation, land-use planning and biodiversity, and political economy. This summer, the UCSC program was further enhanced by the estab- lishment of the Pepper-Giberson Endowed Chair in Environmental Studies, made possible by a generous gift from Dr. Alan G. Giberson and Margaret S. Lyons Giberson, of Los Newly weaned northern elephant seal pups at Afto Nuevo Island Reserve. Some of them will one Gatos, California. Funds generatedby day resemble the big bull shown below. (Photo by Steve Davenport) this endowment can be used to support existing faculty research, World news on elephant seals bring in a new faculty member, or Continuedfrom page 9 offer coursesthat the campus would islands along the coast of North and Central Meanwhile, researchersstill struggle to otherwise not be able to offer. America for their blubber and oil. By the late understand why the southern elephant seal, 1800s,the sealhad been presumed extinct which makes its home in Antarctic waters, Marine research lab open three times. It was first thought to be extinct has not recovered as well as its northern in the late 18705. relative. Despite increasesin some southern to visitors (for a small fee) Then, during 1880,a small herd of 335 colonies, the overall population of the Long Marine Laboratory, UC Santa sealswas found lumbering in Baja California southern elephant seal,now many decades Cruz's internationally recognized near Bahia San Cristobal.All were $laughtered after the hunt, remains at hunting-era leyels center for marine mammal research, in four years by the crews of six ships; once and, in fact, appears to be declining. has begun charging a small entry fee moreelephant the sealsspecieswere was seen consideredagain unti11892, extinct. No _0 , for visitors attending its public -Llalne 1'.Mlllt education programs. when nine were discovered at Isla de Systemw;..le Senior Science Writt Entry to the research station now Guadalupe off the Mexican coast.Seven of costs $2 for adults and $1 for students the nine were killed for the Smithsonian's over age 16 and senior citizens. museum collection, with the justification that Children under age 16 and members they were doomed for the sealer's trypot of the Friends of Long Marine Lab are anyhow. A third time, the sealwas presumed admitted free. extinct.Small numbers continued to show up The lab, which is adjacent to the at Isla de Guadalupe through 1911,and NRS's Younger Lagoon Reserve and museum collectors continued to kill them. which provides facilities for research Protection for the elephant sealscame at conducted at the NRS's ADo Nuevo last in 1922,when the Mexican government Island Reserve, hosted 295 organized declaredIsla de Guadalupe a biological tours for 9,939 students during the reserve.In the 70+ years that have since 1994-95 school year. Visitor counts elapsed,the specieshas grown remarkably. rose from 27,000 in 1993 to 32,500 in Nowadays the entire northern elephant seal 1994 and are continuing to increase. population, including Afto Nuevo's colony, Work will soon begin on a $4.4-million increasesby 6 percent annually; currently it Visitor Education Center. standsat about 127,000seals. Researchers Long Marine Laboratory is open to estimatethat the total population of northern the general public on Tuesday through elephant sealsin 1890was as few as twenty. Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m. Tours for groups of No other large vertebrate has come so schoolchildren must be arranged in closeto extinction -and made such a rapid advance. recovery.This rebound, however, comes at For more information, call: the expenseof genetic diversity. Due to the (408) 459-4308. "bottleneck" in survivors a century ago, today's elephant sealsare thoroughly inbred and all nearly genetically identical. Bull elephant seal. (Photo by Steve Davenport) In November 1994,we becamemanagers of ot Lalitomia Londors). Our proximity to In addition to its traditional held science Sedgwick Ranch near Santa Barbara, an NRS these areasbroadens the habitats available to users, Sedgwick has a core of local artists site with final reserve approval pending. students and researchers.Although the UC- who use it as a model and inspiration for After six years on the periphery of the NRS owned portion of Sedgwick cunently has no their work. Much of the art produced by this as managers of the UC (but non-NRS) facilities (except for two port-a-potties!), group has been made available to the Santa SagehenCreek Field Station near Truckee, plans have been made to acquire or begin Barbara County Land Trust for fund-raising we are thrilled to have officially joined the building a field station sometime in 1996. and to the University for use in various NRS at long last. Over the past year, we spent a great deal publications. Sedgwick is very different from Sagehen. of time familiarizing ourselves with this vast Sedgwick has unfunited potential for a However, it bears considerable resemblance piece of land and relaying our discoveries to wide variety of research,educational, and to another NRS site where we both did our classesat all levels and to the docents and community service uses and for a develop- doctoral work: the Hastings Natural History staff of local institutions, such as the Santa ing core of users. We feel fortunate to have Reservationin upper Carmel Valley. In fact, Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa the rare opportunity to assist in the inception the organisms we studied at Hastings - Barbara Botanic Garden, and Lotusland. We and development of a new reserve. including yellow-billed magpies, California have also been facilitating ongoing research poppies, and lace lichen (Ramalinamenziesil) from UC Santa Barbara. As we develop -Mark Reynoldsand -are also abundant at Sedgwick, so we feel facilities, we hope to attract classesand Virginia ("SJwrty") Boucher right at home. researchers from a wider area. NRS-Reseroe Managers Sedgwick Ranch encompasses5,100 acres located in the SantaYnez Valley of northern SantaBarbara County. The area occurs at the conjunction of the northern and southern California biotic provinces, where the north- south Coast Rangesmeet the east-west TransverseRanges. Sedgwick straddles a major fault, the Little Pine Fault, and consists of two very different substrates:one-million- year-old PasoRobles alluvial deposits and 120-million-year-old Franciscanformation with serpentine outcrops. Vegetation varies widely acrossthese geologic backgrounds. In addition to its 5,000+UC-owned acres, Sedgwick offers accessto over 100,000acres of adjacentU. S. Forest Service la.nd in the Los PadresNational Forest and the San RafaelWIlderness (the site of recent releases

Mark Reynolds and Shorty Boucher are .assisted in the development of research developing of GIS maps, and writing a excellent managers and have contributed plans to deal with the effects of livestock natural history of the ranch. greatly to the establishment of Sedgwick grazing on the ranch's terrestrial vegetation, Although Reynolds and Boucher (known Ranch as a valuable resourcefor research, .started terrestrial vertebrate surveys and universallyas "Mark 'n' Shorty") act as a teaching, and public outreach. monitoring programs that deal with stream team to manage Sedgwick Ranch, they have Sincelast fall, Reynolds and Boucher have chemistry and vernal pool fauna, their separateareas of expertise. establishedan office, acquired needed equip- .researched background data and provided Mark Reynolds, trained as a vertebrate ment, and coordinatedwith private and public information and assistance,regarding acquisi- ecologist (Ph.D., UC Berkeley), has been organizations.On an ongoing basis,they: tion and management of the heir's parcel, especially active in developing monitoring .discuss management and policy issues .developed user information brochures and survey programs for terrestrialvertebrates. with adjacent landowners and govermental and packets, and He continuesto perform researchand publish papers in ornithology. VIrginia "Shorty" agency personnel, .helped to develop, set up, and occupy .raise awarenessin the surrounding the NRS booth at Santa Barbara's recent Boucher,trained as a grassland ecologist community of the mission of the NRS, Earth Day event. (Ph.D., University of Oregon, Eugene),has .regularly patrol the ranch for trespassers, Their current efforts are centered on: concentrated on training and/ or researchin .monitor cattle grazing, .developing a site management plan, plant ecology, fire management, equestrian .advertise the ranch and identify .working with local fire officials to develop use of the ranch, and GIS technology. In potential users, a fire management plan, addition, she also serveson the University- .screen applicants and overseeusers, .maintaining a meteorological station, wide NRS Advisory Committee. .advise researchers,and .continuing to survey and monitor local I believe their collective efforts will result .lead field trips for community organiza- fauna and flora, and in Sedgwick Ranch becoming one of the tions, primary and secondaryschoolchildren, .establishing resource databases, jewels of the Natural ReserveSystem. and adults. including the archiving of printed materials, -Scott Cooper They have: entering of existing data onto the computer, NRS Director,UC SantaBarbara Report of the Director Free subscription -and now ReseIVes as regional field stations we're on the Web as well! Continuedfrom page1 tran .sect (tran'sekt), n. 1. Field Science.A line Our reservesthat have the potential to fill along which physical and biological data are a regional role (although perhaps at a smaller collected.2. Tech.Slang. A cross-sectional scale)include, in the north, the McLaughlin slice of the environment under study. Reserveand, in the south, the Bums Pifton Ridge and Stunt Ranch Santa Monica Moun- In a broad sense,the UC Natural Reserve tains Reserves.All await the development of System is also a transect. It encompassesa further facilities and infrastructure. Finally, cross-sectionof our state's natural diversity such pending reservesas Sedgwick Ranch, in a system of natural areasand field stations near SantaBarbara, and the Ft. Ord Reserve, specifically created to support teaching and near Monterey, will undoubtedly become research.Recognizing this, we chose to call regional researchcenters. our award-winning newsletter the Transect. NRS field stations act as guy lines for a For back issuesor a free subscription, write network of California natural resourcesfield or call the systemwide NRS office. stations, with referenceto number of sites, And nowadays anyone with Internet number of users, researchdollars, on-site accesscan view the current Transect-and facilities, and other parameters. Other Uni- much, much more about the NRS -by versity of California units also constitute an linking with our home page on World Wide important part of this matrix: Blodgett Forest Web {WWW). Our Internet address is: ResearchStation, Hopland Field Research www.ucop.edu/DANR/nrs/nrs.htm1. If you and Extension Center, mtermountain have any questions about accessingNRS Researchand Extension Center, Sagehen information through WWW, contact the Creek Field Station, Sierra Foothill Research Home away from home for so many researcheB NRS's Web coordinator, Eric Rainbolt, at and Extension Center, Whitaker's Forest, working in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, SNARL [email protected]. is located at the base of Ml Morrison. (Photo by and White Mountain ResearchStation (see Galen Rowell) map on page 3). Additional agricultural Editor's note:Director of the NRS DeborahL. researchand extension centersmay playa as well as the researchaccommodations Elliott-Fisk thanksCarol CruzanMorton, of the significant role in the near future as agricul- available at some state parks, national forests, uc Davis News Service,for useof information tural and natural resourcesstudies become and national parks. from her article in the Winter 1994issue ofUC more tightly linked, according to Director of Nowadays we are expected to do more Davis Magazine -also, TomCahill, Dan DANR Facilities Plalming and Management with our limited University resources.In this Dawson,Toftfor theirHap review Dunning,ofher John draftMelack, leadarticle and Cat~in . Harry Carlson. context, let us take advantage of the NRS All of these stations support an ongoing field stations as we broaden our field teach- this issueof the NRS Transect. University presence,even in remote parts of ing in many disciplines acrossthe campuses, California. Furthermore, our reservesgreatly work with the public in local watershed f: ' " '-, , r- -- "'9 lOUU/. Kecyclea pape£ p£lllted with soy-Dased ink,; enhancenot only the field stations offered by management and restoration projects, inter- ,Susan Gee Rumsey, Pr. Publications Coordinator other universities around the state (Californja face with our youth and their teachersin IElaine P. Miller, Sr. Science Writer StateUniversity system, Stanford University, primary and secondary school programs, rIn accordance with applicable federal laws ana UruVelSlty~~ pu1JC)'-,. and the University of Southern California, and generally make available the servicesof the University ofCalifornia does not discriminate in any of its pot.,,- des. procedures. or practices on the basis of race. religion. colol among others), but also those of such private our great University to all citizens of our state. national origin. sex. marital stahJS.sexual orientation. age, Vete.~, entities as The Nature Conservancy (e.g., stahJS,medical condition, or handicap. Inquiries regarding this -i VeblJTuh L Lllw , ..T'"-J-IS/( . policy may be addressed to the Affinnative Action Director, UTh,- Kern River Preserve)and the California .rr versity of California. Agriculture and Nabtral Resources, 300 Lak Academy of Sciences(Pepperwood Ranch), Director of the NRS -.-~,(510) 987.{XYT1.

04-UJ14 Natural Reserve System University of California 300 Lakeside Drive, 6th floor Oakland, CA 94612-3560 (510)987-0150