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Desert Tortoise Annotated Bibliography, 1991–2015

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Desert Tortoise Annotated Bibliography, 1991–2015 Desert Tortoise Annotated Bibliography, 1991–2015 Open-File Report 2016–1023 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Cover: Photograph showing an adult male desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) from one of the long-term health and disease research sites in central Mojave Desert, San Bernardino County, California. Photograph by Sara Hanner, U.S. Geological Survey, spring 2012. Desert Tortoise Annotated Bibliography, 1991–2015 By Kristin H. Berry, Lisa M. Lyren, Jeremy S. Mack, L. Arriana Brand, and Dustin A. Wood Open-File Report 2016–1023 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior SALLY JEWELL, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey Suzette M. Kimball, Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2016 For more information on the USGS—the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment—visit http://www.usgs.gov/ or call 1–888–ASK–USGS (1–888–275–8747). For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, visit http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod/. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain, it also may contain copyrighted materials as noted in the text. Permission to reproduce copyrighted items must be secured from the copyright owner. Suggested citation: Berry, K.H., Lyren, L.M., Mack, J.S., Brand, L.A., and Wood, D.A., 2016, Desert tortoise annotated bibliography, 1991–2015: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2016-1023, 312 p., http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/ofr20161023. ISSN 2331-1258 (online) iii Contents Chapter 1.—Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 2.—Paleontology, Paleoecology, Taxonomy, and Genetics .......................................................................... 5 Chapter 3.—Recent Descriptions of Distribution, Habitat Use, and Climate ............................................................. 17 Chapter 4.—Behavior, Shelters, and Home Ranges ................................................................................................ 23 Chapter 5.—Foraging Behavior, Digestion, and Nutrition ......................................................................................... 43 Chapter 6.—Reproduction and Endocrinology .......................................................................................................... 57 Chapter 7.—Physiology ............................................................................................................................................ 75 Chapter 8.—Health and Disease .............................................................................................................................. 83 Chapter 9.—Population Attributes .......................................................................................................................... 137 Chapter 10.—Anthropogenic Impacts to Desert Tortoise Habitat with Management Recommendations: Part 1 .... 167 Chapter 11.—Anthropogenic Impacts to Tortoises: Part 2. Subsidized Predators, Predator Ecology, and Implications for Tortoise Recovery and Management ............................................................................................. 245 Chapter 12.—Managing Desert Tortoises and Their Habitats ................................................................................ 253 Chapter 13.—Literature Cited ................................................................................................................................. 290 iv Conversion Factors International System of Units to Inch/Pound Multiply By To obtain Length centimeter (cm) 0.3937 inch (in.) millimeter (mm) 0.03937 inch (in.) meter (m) 3.281 foot (ft) kilometer (km) 0.6214 mile (mi) kilometer (km) 0.5400 mile, nautical (nmi) meter (m) 1.094 yard (yd) Area square meter (m2) 0.0002471 acre hectare (ha) 2.471 acre square hectometer (hm2) 2.471 acre square kilometer (km2) 247.1 acre square meter (m2) 10.76 square foot (ft2) square hectometer (hm2) 0.003861 section (640 acres or 1 square mile) hectare (ha) 0.003861 square mile (mi2) square kilometer (km2) 0.3861 square mile (mi2) Volume milliliter (mL) 0.03382 ounce, fluid (fl. oz) liter (L) 33.82 ounce, fluid (fl. oz) Pressure kilopascal (kPa) 0.2961 inch of mercury at 60°F (in Hg) Mass nanogram (ng) 3.52739 gram (g) 0.03527 ounce, avoirdupois (oz) kilogram (kg) 2.205 pound avoirdupois (lb) Temperature in degrees Celsius (°C) may be converted to degrees Fahrenheit (°F) as °F = (1.8 × °C) + 32. Chapter 1 1 Desert Tortoise Annotated Bibliography, 1991–2015 By Kristin H. Berry, Lisa M. Lyren, Jeremy S. Mack, L. Arriana Brand, and Dustin A. Wood Chapter 1.—Introduction Agassiz’s desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizii, was considered a single species for 150 years after its discovery by James Cooper (1861), with a geographic range extending from southeastern California, southern Nevada, and southwestern Utah southward into northern Sinaloa, Mexico (Murphy and others, 2011). What was once G. agassizii is now recognized as a complex composed of three sister species, G. agassizii, G. morafkai, and G. evgoodei (Murphy and others, 2011; Edwards and others, 2016) (fig. 1). The geographic range of Agassiz’s Desert Tortoise (G. agassizii) is now limited to north and west of the Colorado River (Murphy and others, 2011), with the exception of a small population in northwestern Arizona (Edwards and others, 2015). This annotated bibliography is based on peer-reviewed journal articles published between January 1991 and December 2015 on Agassiz’s Desert Tortoise, with the geographic range as defined by Murphy and others (2011). Studies pertaining to other species of Gopherus (e.g., G. morafkai), were included only when associated with G. agassizii. In addition to articles pertaining directly to desert tortoises, we compiled articles concerning threats to desert tortoises and the habitats they occupy. Similarly, we only included studies that encompass other habitat types when they were directly compared with habitats of G. agassizii. Agassiz’s Desert Tortoise (hereinafter called desert tortoise) is a state- and federally-listed threatened species (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1990; California Department of Fish and Game, 2015). The first population federally listed as threatened occurred on the Beaver Dam Slope, Utah (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1980). In 1990, the entire geographic range north and west of the Colorado River was federally listed as threatened (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1990), with the exception being a small population in northwestern Arizona. The purpose of this annotated bibliography is to support recovery efforts for the species, because populations have continued to decline in spite of designation of critical habitat and publication of a recovery plan (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1994). For example, between 2005 and 2014, populations in critical habitats declined about 50% (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2015). We obtained articles in this compilation through keyword searches applied within search engines available through the U.S. Geological Survey Library. Search criteria included the keywords Mojave, desert tortoise, and Gopherus agassizii in combinations with the following keywords: alien, burro, cattle, climate change, disease, exotic, fire, highway, invasive, livestock, mining, road, sheep, soil erosion, renewable energy, utility line, or vehicle. In an effort to be complete, search results were compared against known publications and additional references provided by research scientists who were or are working on the species or its habitats. Our focus was on published papers in the peer- reviewed literature, and includes both research articles and reviews. While we recognized that additional information is contained in proceedings, technical reports, agency reports, theses and dissertations, and the gray literature, these sources were beyond the scope of this annotated bibliography. 2 Desert Tortoise Annotated Bibliography, 1991–2015 Figure 1. The geographic range of Agassiz’s desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) once extended from southeastern California, southern Nevada, and southwestern Utah in the north through Arizona and into the states of Sonora and Sinaloa, Mexico, in the south (Murphy and others, 2011). This area is now occupied by three sister species: G. agassizii, G. morafkai, and G. evgoodei (Edwards and others, 2016). Agassiz’s desert tortoise retains approximately one-third of its former geographic range in the north, where it occurs in the Mojave and western Sonoran or Colorado Deserts. Chapter 1 3 In an effort to provide an unbiased representation of findings or interpretation from a given study, we have often compiled the author’s own words or phrases, spelling, or have summarized or paraphrased their original words for accuracy and brevity. We have not included such statements in quotation marks. For example, where authors used the spelling of Mohave for the place name Mohave Desert, we used the authors’ spelling, even though the correct spelling is Mojave Desert. This document is intended only for reference. While the annotations can provide an overview of relevant, available materials on a given topic for the period 1991–2015, we discourage direct citation from the summaries
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