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Mammals of Great Basin National Park, Nevada: Comparative Field Urs Veys and Assessment of Faunal Change Eric A Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist Volume 4 Article 3 10-3-2008 Mammals of Great Basin National Park, Nevada: comparative field urs veys and assessment of faunal change Eric A. Rickart Utah Museum of Natural History, [email protected] Shannen L. Robson University of Utah, [email protected] Lawrence R. Heaney Field Museum of Natural History, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/mwnan Recommended Citation Rickart, Eric A.; Robson, Shannen L.; and Heaney, Lawrence R. (2008) "Mammals of Great Basin National Park, Nevada: comparative field surveys and assessment of faunal change," Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist: Vol. 4 , Article 3. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/mwnan/vol4/iss1/3 This Monograph is brought to you for free and open access by the Western North American Naturalist Publications at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Monographs of the Western North American Naturalist 4, © 2008, pp. 77–114 MAMMALS OF GREAT BASIN NATIONAL PARK, NEVADA: COMPARATIVE FIELD SURVEYS AND ASSESSMENT OF FAUNAL CHANGE Eric A. Rickart1, Shannen L. Robson1,2, and Lawrence R. Heaney3 ABSTRACT.—Great Basin National Park in east central Nevada encompasses most of the southern Snake Range including Wheeler Peak, which at 3980 m is the highest peak in the interior Great Basin. The original detailed surveys of the mammals of this region were made between 1929 and 1939 by field crews from the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley. Between 2000 and 2003, we conducted additional field surveys of mammals in the park region in conjunction with the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program. Here, we provide a com- prehensive report on the mammal fauna of the park and its immediate surroundings based on a review of historical records and recent field surveys. We document 48 native species of mammals in the region. In addition, there are 7 species that potentially occur within the park, 4 species of questionable occurrence, 6 species formerly present but now extirpated, and 4 nonnative species. We provide a short account for each species that summarizes ecology and local dis- tribution and lists both historical and recent records of occurrence. Through comparative analysis of historical and recent data, we examine faunal changes in the park region during the past 70 years. Based on our results, we make some general recommendations for future resource management. Key words: mammals, Great Basin National Park, Nevada, Mammalia, faunal survey, faunal change. The Great Basin is a vast interior drainage summit of Wheeler Peak, which at 3980 m is system of more than 500,000 km2 bounded by the 2nd-highest peak in Nevada and the high- the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Moun - est point in the central Great Basin. Most of tains to the west, the Wasatch Range to the the park’s 31,195 ha encompasses mid- and east, and by the Columbia and Colorado river high-elevation habitat, including more than drainages on the north and south, respectively 2800 ha above 3000 m elevation (National (Grayson 1993). The complex geography of the Park Service 2001). Great Basin has resulted in great biological The earliest historical reference to mam- diversity, which has fostered investigations into mals of the park region is from the Simpson the natural history, ecology, and conservation military expedition of 1859, which passed of the region’s biota (Hall 1946, Brown 1971, through the area while mapping an overland 1978, Grayson 1993, Chambers and Miller route from Utah to California (Simpson 1876). 2004). During the past century, ecological com - The 1st comprehensive zoological surveys were munities in the Great Basin have undergone conducted between 1929 and 1939 by field dramatic change due, in large measure, to crews from the University of California, Berke- direct human activities. The region is now rec- ley, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (MVZ) and ognized as one of the most threatened ecosys- involved extensive collections from the Snake tems in North America (Noss et al. 1995). Range and adjacent Spring and Snake valleys Established in 1987, Great Basin National (Hall 1946). In subsequent years, other zoolo- Park is the only national park located entirely gists made minor collections or produced brief within the physiographic Great Basin. Located reports on regional mammals. in White Pine County in east central Nevada, During the summers of 2000, 2002, and the park includes much of the southern por- 2003, we surveyed nonvolant mammals at sites tion of the Snake Range (Fig. 1). It encom- in the southern Snake Range, including areas passes one of the most dramatic elevational throughout much of Great Basin National Park gradients within the interior Great Basin, from and adjacent areas in the Snake Valley. The about 1770 m on the eastern boundary to the 2000 survey was conducted in the same general 1Vertebrate Collections, Utah Museum of Natural History, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112. E-mail: [email protected] 2Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112. E-mail: [email protected] 3Department of Zoology, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL 60605. E-mail: [email protected] 77 78 MONOGRAPHS OF THE WESTERN NORTH AMERICAN NATURALIST [Volume 4 Fig. 1. Map of Great Basin National Park, Nevada, and immediate surrounding areas, with localities for historical (filled circles) and recent (open circles) faunal surveys. Polygon encloses localities included in the landscape-level analysis of faunal change. area surveyed in the 1920s and 1930s by field 2001) to develop a comprehensive list of the crews from the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology mammals occurring in the park, to gather basic (Hall 1946) to obtain a more complete assess- information on their conservation status, and ment of patterns of species richness and rela- to establish a basis for future management tive abundance along the entire elevational efforts (Rickart and Robson 2005). habitat gradient (Rickart 2001). Surveys in the Herein we provide a comprehensive sum- following years were conducted as part of the mary of available information on the mammals National Park Service Inventory and Monitor- of Great Basin National Park based on a ing Program (National Park Service 1999, review of published records, historical museum 2008] MAMMALS OF GREAT BASIN NATIONAL PARK 79 specimens, and our recent field surveys. We vermiculatis), shadscale (Atriplex confer- discuss the present-day fauna in the context of tifolia), saltbush (Atriplex canescens), historical biogeography and the Quaternary black brush (Coleogyne ramosissima), and fossil record of the region. We also conduct a big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata); and comparative analysis of records from the early riparian habitat dominated by willows MVZ surveys with results from our surveys to (Salix spp.); investigate historical changes in local mammal (2) mid-elevation woodland and shrub, communities during the past 70 years. Finally, 1951–2450 m, consisting of communities we discuss factors relating to long-term man- dominated by piñon pine (Pinus mono- agement of biodiversity in the park. phylla), juniper ( Juniperus osteosperma and J. scopulorum), curlleaf mountain- STUDY AREA mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius), quak- ing aspen (Populus tremuloides), and Great Basin National Park is located en - sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata); and tirely within the southern portion of the Snake riparian areas dominated by willows (Salix Range, in White Pine County along the east- spp.), narrowleaf cottonwood (Populus ern border of Nevada (Fig. 1). As with most angustifolia), and water birch (Betula mountain ranges of the Great Basin, the Snake occidentalis); Range is oriented along a north–south axis. It (3) high-elevation forest, 2451–3200 m, con- is divided into northern and southern seg- sisting of subalpine forests of Engelmann ments by Sacramento Pass (elevation 2180 m). spruce (Picea engelmannii), white fir Because the drainage divide is nearer the (Abies concolor), and Douglas-fir (Pseudo- western flank, the transverse profile of the tsuga menziesii); and montane meadows range is asymmetric: the western flank is steep dominated by perennial grasses, sedges, and lacks foothills, whereas the eastern slope and forbs; is less abrupt and has extensive foothills. The (4) alpine forest and tundra, above 3200 m, range exhibits a nearly complete stratigraphic consisting of forest, krumholtz, and tundra series of early Cambrian to Pennsylvanian communities near treeline and above, rocks (principally shale, limestone, dol omite, with limber pine (Pinus flexilis), bristle- and quartzite). Orogeny involved initial cone pine (Pinus longaeva), dwarf juniper thrust-faulting during the late Mesozoic or ( Juniperus communis), currants (Ribes early Tertiary, followed by granitic intrusion spp.), and herbaceous perennials. and subsequent faulting in the middle and late During the Pleistocene, cycles of climate Tertiary. During the Pleistocene, glaciers de - change in the Great Basin caused elevational veloped at higher elevations along with a plu- shifts in vegetation (Grayson 1993). Presumably, vial lake in adjacent Spring Valley. Quaternary this produced cycles of relative connectivity
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