Treesearch

Humans are a major component of the environment, and all human activities impact the environment, which includes other humans. Researchers have only recently focused on spatial and temporal impacts of historic human activities on the land and water of the Middle Rio Grande Basin. Interrelationships of these and the effects of periodic severe cold periods, early or late frosts, droughts, insect infestations, and other "natural disasters" such as epidemic diseases, earthquakes, fires, and floods have been minimally explored but not systematically studied. Furthermore, the equally complex...

The Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Basin, which drains a 355,500 square mile area in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico (Fig. I), encompasses numerous land ownership boundaries, vegetation types, desert and woodland ecotones and edges, and urban and rural cultures, forming a complex array of interactive ecological systems. Historically known as the Southwest's "River of Life," the Rio Grande has lately become a subject of controversy over water resources and biological diversity. It earned the name in 1993 of "The Most Endangered River in North America" as proposed by the environmenta...

This book synthesizes existing information on the ecology, diversity, human uses, and research needs of the Middle Rio Grande Basin of New Mexico. Divided into nine chapters, the volume begins with reviews of the environmental history and human cultures in the Basin, followed by an analysis of the influences and problems of climate and water. Later chapters focus on ecological processes, environmental changes, management problems, and current conditions in Basin ecosystems identified as being especially susceptible to damage: pinyon-juniper woodlands, grasslands and shrublands, and the...

Northbound and southbound movement along major waterways is characteristic of migratory birds nesting in North America. It is likely that river corridors are more important to migrating birds in arid parts of North America than in humid, more heavily vegetated areas (Wauer 1977). Although quantitative analyses of landbird migration along the Rio Grande corridor are not reported in the literatUre, the use of the Rio Grande as a migratory route by landbirds is a wellrecognized behavior of southwestern birds. The riparian habitats along the Rio Grande are potential stopover sites for migratory...

Numerous recent articles and books on the population declines and conservation of neotropical migratory landbirds herald a new interest by university researchers. governmental agencies, and private organizations in inventorying, monitoring, and managing populations of bird species in North America. Dobkin's book, written under contract to the Northern Region of the USDA Forest Service, contributes to a growing body of literature that summarizes population status and natural histories of migratory landbird species on managed lands. The purpose of the book was to summarize effects of...

Neotropical migratory birds are major components of the avifauna in most North American terrestrial ecosystems. Over 150 species of Neotropical migratory birds are known to breed in North America (Finch 1991a). Given the large number of species, developing effective management strategies for Neotropical migratory birds is a monumental task because each species exploits a unique niche, and thus requires different considerations for the management of its habitats and populations. Management is complicated further by temporal and spatial variations in resource-use patterns by many species....

Neotropical migrants have been affected by the loss and fragmentation of forests in the eastern United States (Askins et al. 1990). Changes in western forests and the effects of these changes on birds may be different from those in the East. While timber harvesting is widespread in the western United States, the purpose of silvicultural systems on public land is to perpetuate forests, not to convert forests to agricultural land or residential areas. Western logging has resulted in landscapes that are primarily composed of forests of different ages and treatments, rarely isolated forests....

Includes 62 papers dealing with wildland shrubs and restoration of arid lands. The key topics include: overview, restoration and revegetation, ecology, genetic integrity, management options, and field trip.

The purpose of this symposium was to assist the USDA Forest Service, other federal land management agencies, and the Arizona State Land Office in managing pinon-juniper ecosystems in the Southwest. Authors assessed the current state of knowledge about the pinon-juniper resource and helped develop desired future conditions.

This conference brought together scientists and managers from government, universities, and private organizations to examine the biological diversity and management challenges of the unique "sky island" ecosystems of the mountains of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. Session topics included: floristic resources, plant ecology, vertebrates, invertebrates, hydrology and riparian systems, aquatic resources, fire, conservation and management, human uses through time, and visions for the future.