Serpent in the Garden: Environmental Change in Colonial California

Preston, William L.

doi:10.2307/25161669

Cited by 16 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…These results support the idea that controlling yellow starthistle without establishing a plant community that also utilizes this deep soil water will not provide a long-term solution to its invasion. believed to have been brought to the state during the century of Spanish occupation (Jones and Love 1945;Preston 1997). Information from Minnich (2008) indicates that the explorer Fremont noted the presence of wild oat around San Francisco and Suisun bays in 1848.…”

Section: Interpretive Summarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Superior Competitive Ability Explain Yellow Starthistle's (Centaurea solstitialis) Successful Invasion of Annual Grasslands in California?

Spencer¹,

Enloe²,

Liow³

et al. 2011

Invasive plant sci. manag.

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Yellow starthistle represents one of the most spectacular examples of biological invasion in the western United States. However, the mechanisms leading to its success have not been clearly elucidated. Although its success has been attributed to superior competitive ability, few competition studies have been performed with yellow starthistle to test this assertion. Yellow starthistle and wild oat (a dominant component of California annual grasslands) were grown in monocultures and mixtures to assess the strength of competitive interactions between them. For either species, intraspecific competition exerted a greater influence over mean plant weight than did interspecific competition. A companion study revealed temporal separation in the phenology of these plants, explaining the weak role of interspecific competition. Additional measurements of growth and soil moisture dynamics in large 270-cm-tall by 50-cm-diam polyvinyl chloride columns also showed a lack of interspecific competition and confirmed that water use patterns differed between these species, indicating niche partitioning. Wild oat reduced soil moisture to 5% but only to a depth of approximately 150 cm. Yellow starthistle depleted soil moisture to less than 5% throughout the column to a depth of at least 270 cm. These patterns were present when wild oat and yellow starthistle were grown individually or together in the columns, indicating that yellow starthistle had a greater impact on soil moisture and to greater depths. Yellow starthistle's invasion of grasslands in California does not appear to be due to superior competitive ability, but may be due to its ability to access deeper soil moisture. These results support the empty niche hypothesis that implies that invasive species are successful in new habitats because they access resources not available to resident species.

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Section: Interpretive Summarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Superior Competitive Ability Explain Yellow Starthistle's (Centaurea solstitialis) Successful Invasion of Annual Grasslands in California?

Spencer¹,

Enloe²,

Liow³

et al. 2011

Invasive plant sci. manag.

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“…It has long been known that native people in the Americas had no immunological resistance to European diseases, but only recently has it been learned that those diseases had a significant impact on native people prior to direct European contact (Dobyns 1983), or how this, in turn, caused abnormal increases in wildlife populations (Neumann 1985;Preston 1996Preston , 1997Preston , 2002Kay 1998Kay , 2002Kay and Simmons 2002). European dis eases, for instance, preceded Lewis and Clark.…”

Section: Native Populations and European Diseasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, if Lewis and Clark had journeyed west in 1775 instead of 1804-1806, they would have met more native people and correspondingly there would have been even less wildlife (Geist 1998: 4-5;Kay 1998Kay , 2002. Furthermore, European diseases may have decimated native populations throughout western North America as early as 1550-1600 (Ramenofsky 1987;Campbell 1990;Kornfeld 1994: 198;Preston 1996Preston , 1997Preston , 2002, which suggests that pre-Columbian wildlife populations were likely much lower than even what Lewis and Clark experienced. Butler (2000), who studied resource depression in the Columbia Basin, reported that highranked diet items, such as ungulates, increased only after epidemic diseases decimated native populations ca.…”

Section: Native Populations and European Diseasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Were Native People Keystone Predators? A Continuous-Time Analysis of Wildlife Observations Made by Lewis and Clark in 1804-1806

Kay

2007

Can Field Nat

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It has long been claimed that native people were conservationists who had little or no impact on wildlife populations. More recently, though, it has been suggested that native people were keystone predators, who lacked any effective conservation strategies and instead routinely overexploited large mammal populations. To test these hypotheses, I performed a continuous-time analysis of wildlife observations made by Lewis and Clark because their journals are often cited as an example of how western North America teemed with wildlife before that area was despoiled by advancing European civilization. This included Bison, Elk, Mule Deer, Whitetailed Deer, Blacktailed Deer, Moose, Pronghorn Antelope, Bighorn Sheep, Grizzly Bears, Black Bears, and Grey Wolves. I also recorded all occasions on which Lewis and Clark met native peoples. Those data show a strong inverse relationship between native people and wildlife. The only places Lewis and Clark reported an abundance of game were in aboriginal buffer zones between tribes at war, but even there, wildlife populations were predator, not food-limited. Bison, Grizzly Bears, Bighorn Sheep, Mule Deer, and Grey Wolves were seldom seen except in aboriginal buffer zones. Moose were most susceptible to aboriginal hunting followed by Bison and then Elk, while Whitetailed Deer had a more effective escape strategy. If it had not been for aboriginal buffer zones, Lewis and Clark would have found little wildlife anywhere in the West. Moreover, prior to the 1780 smallpox and other earlier epidemics that decimated native populations in advance of European contact, there were more aboriginal people and even less wildlife. The patterns observed by Lewis and Clark are consistent with optimal foraging theory and other evolutionary ecology predictions.

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“…The viewpoint that all livestock grazing is damaging to ecosystem health is being replaced by a better understanding of the way climate, grazing, soils, and other factors interact to shape rangeland environments. 13,14 The use of livestock as a stewardship tool blending conservation with viable ranching on western rangelands is exemplifi ed by the efforts of organizations such as the Malpai Borderlands Group, the Quivira Coalition, The Nature Conservancy, and other nongovernmental organizations. In light of the physical and biological limits of the public lands, conservation plans that do not incorporate private lands are only half a loaf.…”

Section: Conservation Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It can be used for fi re fuel reduction, restoring native plants, promoting biodiversity, and enhancing wildlife habitat, including habitat for special status species. [14][15][16] Nevertheless, despite much research documenting the benefi ts of grazing for conservation goals, there are widespread negative perceptions of public land grazing due to historical mismanagement, controversial politics, a shift in public lands goals to emphasizing "pristine nature," and confl icts with recreation and wildlife management. Whatever the reason, livestock grazing on public lands has declined in recent decades.…”

Section: By Adriana Sulak and Lynn Huntsingermentioning

confidence: 99%

Rangelands, Volume 29, Number 3 (June 2007)

2007

Rangelands

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Serpent in the Garden: Environmental Change in Colonial California

Cited by 16 publications

References 8 publications

Does Superior Competitive Ability Explain Yellow Starthistle's (Centaurea solstitialis) Successful Invasion of Annual Grasslands in California?

Does Superior Competitive Ability Explain Yellow Starthistle's (Centaurea solstitialis) Successful Invasion of Annual Grasslands in California?

Were Native People Keystone Predators? A Continuous-Time Analysis of Wildlife Observations Made by Lewis and Clark in 1804-1806

Rangelands, Volume 29, Number 3 (June 2007)

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