Treesearch

Riparian habitats and wetlands represent less than 2 percent of the land area of the Southwest, but they support the highest density and abundance of plants and animals in that region (Dahms and Geils 1997). Since the latter part of the 19th century, riparian and wetland ecosystems have been severely impacted by human activities such as woodcutting, mining, livestock grazing, and water diversion and pumping (Phillips and Monson 1964, Johnson and Carothers 1982, Tellman and others 1997). In this paper, we examine the likelihood of species endangerment in obligate and preferential riparian-ne...

We compared abundance of migrating Willow Flycatchers and Wilson's Warblers to the abundance of arthropods in exotic and native vegetation at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. We trapped arthropods using glue-boards in 1996 and 1997 in the same cottonwood, saltcedar, and willow habitats where we mist-netted birds during spring and fall migration. There were fewer arthropods, particularly flies, in saltcedar. We have mixed evidence that Willow Flycatchers and Wilson's Warblers respond to variation in insect numbers. Wilson's Warblers appear to be more abundant in willow than in...

We compared diversity, abundance and energetic condition of migrant landbirds captured in four different vegetation types in the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. We found lower species diversity among migrants caught in exotic saltcedar vegetation than in native willow or cottonwood. In general, Migrants were most abundant in agricultural edge and least abundant in cottonwood. There were no consistent patterns in energetic condition of common species among vegetation types. Ninety percent of statistical tests for variation in mass and fat score among vegetation types showed no...

Between 1994 and 1997, research was conducted on three native, montane species of the Middle Rio Grande Ecosystem, in the Carson and Santa Fe national forests. The focus of study was on abiotic and biotic factors that affected status, distribution, biology and habitat of these species. Results of study suggest negative interactions with non-native species and, secondarily, habitat loss as the main factors contributing to the decline of these three native species. An inverse relationship in relative abundance between Rio Grande cutthroat trout and brown trout, extirpation of Rio Grande...

Because decisions made today about the Middle Rio Grande will influence future conditions, symposium participants - the stakeholders - collaborated in a final session to plan improvements for the watershed and river corridor. The result included several action plans focusing on desired future conditions and actions to achieve them.

Flood control, irrigation structures, and flow control practices on the Middle Rio Grande have prevented the deposition of sediments and hydrologic conditions conducive to the germination and establishment of Rio Grande cottonwood (Populus fremontii S. Wats.). The Los Lunas Plant Materials Center has been investigating the use of micro-irrigation systems on xeric flood plain sites to promote regeneration from natural cottonwood seed dispersal. The initial study showed no establishment benefits resulting from organic–rich substrates versus indigenous mineral surface soil. In the second...

Extensive regulation of the Middle Rio Grande's natural flow regime, together with the effects of introduced tree species, landscape fragmentation, and increasing wildfires, are obstacles for any level of restoration of its native riparian forest (bosque). However, carefully monitored partial restoration is possible and greatly needed to prevent the bosque's serious decline. Monitoring can reveal temporal and spatial changes in the bosque's ecological dynamics. The Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program, which currently uses volunteers to synchronously record changes in biological populations...

The purpose of this paper is to describe the research program of the Sevilleta Long-Term Ecological Research Program (LTER) at the University of New Mexico. Details and data for each of the research topics described can be found in the Sevilleta LTER Internet Homepage (http://sev.lternet.edu/).

Mycorrhizal fungi are crucial elements in native plant communities and restoring these fungi to disturbed sites is known to improve revegetation success. We tested the seedball method of plant dispersal for restoration of plants and mycorrhizal fungi to disturbed ecosystems. We tested the seedball method with a native mycorrhizal fungi inoculum, and a commercial inoculum. We found that the native culture and commercial inoculum were not viable sources of mycorrhizae.

A Cibola National Forest wet meadow restoration was implemented as part of the Forest Road 49 enhancement near Grants, New Mexico. An Arc/View 3.0 Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to track the recovery of this ecosystem. Layers on topography, hydrology, vegetation, soils and human alterations were compiled using a GPS and commonly available data. Cartographic information allows visual interaction of natural features that could not be interpreted from tabular data sets. First results indicate that stream confinements by the railroad trestle, old channel fill, old two-track...