We investigated how large carnivores, herbivores, and plants may be linked to the maintenance of native species biodiversity through trophic
cascades. The extirpation of wolves (Canis lupus) from Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1920s and their reintroduction in 1995 provided the
opportunity to examine the cascading effects of carnivore–herbivore interactions...
Like most ecological communities, aspen (Populus tremuloides) forests are influenced by a synergy of bottom-up (resources-driven) and top-down (predator-driven) processes. Since the 1920s, ecologists have observed the decline of many aspen communities throughout the Intermountain West. The extent and possible drivers of this decline are topics of much recent scientific...
Body size is known to correlate with many aspects of life history in birds, and this knowledge can be used to manage and conserve bird species. However, few studies have compared the wintering ecology of sympatric subspecies that vary significantly in body size. We used radiotelemetry to examine the relationship...
Diets of juvenile coho Oncorhynchus kisutch and Chinook O. tshawytscha salmon
are made up primarily of winter-spawning fish taxa in the late-larval and early juvenile stages that
are undersampled in plankton and larger trawl nets. Although we have no direct measure of the
availability of fish prey important to juvenile...
Introduction: Biotic soil crust communities contribute valuable ecosystem services and biodiversity in steppe ecosystems. The uncommon crust lichens Acarospora schleicheri, Fuscopannaria cyanolepra, Rhizocarpon diploschistidina, and Texosporium sancti-jacobi are associated with fine-textured soils along rivers of the Columbia Basin. A. schleicheri and R. diploschistidina indicate late-successional habitat and may serve as...
The Lewis and Clark journals contain some of the earliest and most detailed written descriptions of a large part of the United States before
Euro-American settlement.We used the journal entries to assess the influence of humans on wildlife distribution and abundance. Areas with
denser human population, such as the Columbia...
Herein, we posit a link between the ecological extinction of wolves in the American West
and the expansion in distribution, increased abundance, and inflated ecological influence
of coyotes. We investigate the hypothesis that the release of this mesopredator from wolf
suppression across much of the American West is affecting, via...
Explaining restoration failure can be as important as touting success. We used a series of studies to understand the failure of techniques commonly used to restore wetland prairies in the Willamette Valley of western Oregon. Burning, fallowing, and solarization (covering tilled plots with plastic sheeting to heat the soil) had...
This document partially addresses the Wetlands component of Island County’s Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO). It presents the results of a year-long collaborative project to compile, analyze, and summarize existing data pertinent to Island County wetlands. Similar in concept to the “report card” issued periodically for Puget Sound, this compilation attempts...
Published March 1991. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog