Today it is raining in the desert. I feel it must be a sign of some sort; things are changing. The summer monsoons have begun. The once parched wash nearby now brims and glistens. Thunder booms.

Not only is the desert transitioning but so am I. Today is also the last day of the internship, of course it is a day like no other this summer yet! Like the rain, I’ll travel away from here, soaking in the landscape as I stream across the countryside.

Today though, I am still here, still and able to reflect.

My season here at USGS began as the spring annuals bloomed after the winter rains. I characterized juvenile desert tortoise forage in the Mojave, observing the phenology shift from one phase to another, and analyzed our data. My skills in ArcGIS markedly improved – creating random points, maps, buffers, polygons – the list goes on! My plant ID skills also improved, helped along by the tiny desert annuals here that are difficult, yet thrilling, to identify – even more so when senesced!

I dove deep in Utah, unearthing and exposing insights into the murky mystery of oil well vegetation regeneration. The project demanded sifting through site selection, soil, and data, rooting around perennial shrubs, and uncovering and bringing to light the story of oil well land disturbance in Black brush plant communities of eastern Utah. Unfortunately, these wells are not ones the rain can fill with sediment and erase from the landscape, even after decades. A quick glance at the survivors will tell you this. The real mystery of course is which species regenerate and under what conditions.

In all, my experience at USGS has been incredible. From a Pediocactus survey to Night-time Golden Eagle prey surveys, increasing my knowledge of tortoises and herps in general, discovering the marvelous Mojave; this internship has been phenomenal.

Thank you so much to everyone at USGS and CBG who played a part!!

Amanda Cooke

USGS, Henderson NV

What great things will happen now, after the summer rains?

A long echoing hello again from canyon country. The past week took us to the Virgin River area near Zion Canyon. We sampled abandoned oil well sites dating back to the late 1920’s with some as recent as the early 80’s. The oil drilling scene there was very different from those near Bluff or Moab, UT. In those two areas drill sites are flat, expansive, and far apart. However, the sites near Zion are clustered together wherever there was a flat space to be found, no matter how tiny. The wells are everywhere! Sometimes right next to each other.

A fun vegetation survey to me means lots of plants to ID! Which is exactly what we got! Our team was unfamiliar with many of the species found, so we have been spending lots of times pouring over Utah Flora and Intermountain Flora and debating over glumes, phyllaries and various bracts, and of course the many wonderful types of plant hairs (Ilovestellateplanthairs). We have been IDing so much that I dreamed about IDing Sphaeralcea. “It’s all about the leaves,” my dream-self recommended.

Here’s to dreaming of plants and spectacular Utah!

Cheers,
Amanda

USGS Henderson, NV

Typical well cap

Vegetation Transect

Oil Well turned Campsite

Hello again!

Post-storm

Since the last update, we have been working diligently on data organization and analysis. Note-worthy trends have revealed themselves, such as vegetation differences between the open and shrub covered quads, the plant communities at different sites, and presence of non-native plants, some of which, for example Bromus rubens, are not very beneficial to tortoises. However, we must leave the tortoise forage project on the table for a short time while we begin a new one!

I just returned from our first week sampling vegetation in abandoned oil drilling sites on the Colorado Plateau in eastern Utah. We are sampling in Coleogyne ramosissima (black brush) and Artemisia spp. plant communities in different climate zones and lengths of time since abandonment. The more recent sites tend to foster more Salsola (Russian thistle – typical tumbleweed) than the older sites, and the older sites foster different perennials than undisturbed sites. Restoration efforts employed more recently will definitely add an interesting component. Very fascinating findings so far!

Just look at all that Salsola! Note – oil drill site cap in center

In addition to vegetation sampling and learning a plethora of new plants, fieldwork in southeastern Utah consists of riding out brief but intense lightning storms and heavy rain, watching flash floods as they flow by, and camping among hoodoos (precariously eroded pillars of multiple different layers of sedimentary rock). Driving through Monument Valley (igneous intrusions – Alhambra formation) was definitely a highlight!

Monument Valley – ignenous Alhambra formations

Amanda

USGS, Henderson, NV

Langloesia setosissima (Lilac sunbonnets)

We spent our last week in the field collecting data for the juvenile desert tortoise forage characterization project. So sad to leave the desert for a bit but also a bit thankful as it is now getting into the 100’s! Even the Eriogonum inflatum, which has been going strong all season even in the burned site (maybe better to say especially in the burned site!), is starting to fade. Not everything though, Mammillaria tetrancistra is still blooming! Named after its spines, the Fish Hook Cactus always makes me smile when I pass by!

Beautiful blooming Mammilaria tetrancistra  – Fish Hook Cactus

We have spent this week weighing biomass, entering data, and cleaning and organizing our field gear and vehicle so it is ready for our next project. We finished weighing our last biomass sample a couple days ago, which now allows us to enter the species frequency, phenology, and other field data. It is amazing to see all our hard work of the past few months coming together!

I am excited to begin the data analysis to see at each site how the climate may be influencing the species composition and phenology, to answer questions about the species richness, and in the end of course how the biomass and plant species might be influencing juvenile tortoise mortality. Luckily, since USGS released the juveniles last fall, there have only been a few mortalities. I have used R in the past, but one can always use more practice with R!  I cannot wait for those awesome R graphs.

Another addition to the scat project – we’re going to try and grow out the seeds that may be stored in the scat samples we collected! That way we will begin to understand which plants are dispersed by tortoises! Do tortoises modify the plant community surrounding their burrows or in their territories via dispersal???

And time for this month’s Mojave Mystery: What type of grasshopper mates in Scutellaria mexicana (Mexican Bladdersage)?? This shrub was hopping with them! Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Can you spot them?

Mojave Mysteries to be explored and answered next time,

Amanda Cooke

USGS Henderson, NV

Beavertail Cactus (Opuntia basilaris)

Greetings from the sunny desert of the Mojave! Our juvenile desert tortoise forage characterization project is going well!

The temperature has been steadily increasing over the last few weeks. The tortoises have been spending less time outside (more time in their burrows), which is well-timed, as the forage is beginning to senesce. As a result, I have greatly improved in my ability to identify senesced plants (and tiny desert annuals at that!), a practice also known here as “forensic botany.”  One USGS researcher observing juvenile tortoise forage behavior noted that the tortoises select certain senesced plants to eat. The forage available for the juveniles this time of year is critical information to obtain as the wind begins blowing away the senesced forage material. Even after a short desert rain we noticed many small annuals had washed away.

Allium nevadense (prior to senescing!)

We have begun weighing forage biomass samples, and as you know when working with tortoises – slow and steady wins the race!

I have also met a number of hares running around, but perhaps the tortoises accomplish more in the end?

Black-tailed Jackrabbit (Lepus californicus) on the go!

Another neat component of the project has been collecting samples of known juvenile tortoise forage species for genotyping. We will then be able to analyze scat samples for the plants they eat. This of course means collecting scat samples! It is always exciting to encounter scat in the field, especially if it is directly related to one’s project!

A couple weeks ago we had the great opportunity to help out on another researcher’s Joshua Tree pollination project! Searching Joshua Tree flowers for their obligate pollinators, the moth species Tegeticula synthetica and T. antithetica, was a fascinating experience!

Notes about our upcoming project next time!

Amanda

Henderson, NV

The Mojave Desert continues to surprise me every day! Around every creosote shrub or Ambrosia dumosa bush there is a new wonder to behold: a wild desert tortoise slowly reaching for a bite of bright orange Spheralcea ambigua flower with its beak, a graceful Calochortus flexuosus mariposa lily purple-hued and magnificent waving in the wind, the desert pavement varnished dark rusty black crackling underfoot. A cobble lined wash no longer full of flowing winter rain but a symphony of perennial golden asters, blossoming buckwheat, and fragrant Phacelia.

Blooming Yucca

For the last few weeks, I have been working with USGS in Henderson, NV collecting data on annual plant species in juvenile desert tortoise habitat. What do the juveniles eat, where, and when? Based on forage availability, where are suitable locations for desert tortoise to be translocated? Translocation often occurs when someone constructs a building or otherwise disturbs an area where the endangered desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizii, lives. This project represents a component of the ongoing research of the USGS Western Ecological Research Center related to the desert tortoise (See http://www.werc.usgs.gov/Project.aspx?ProjectID=110).

Desert Tortoise!

I have been enjoying getting to know my new business partners: the cryptic Cryptanthas, the peculiar Pectocaryas, and the always exciting Eriogonum. The plants here truly amaze me with their abilities to survive in this extreme environment. For example, the retractable Pediocactus bradyi, a small cactus which retracts into the earth when stressed by dry and cold conditions! 

My new winged neighbors: Say’s Pheobe, Costa’s Hummingbird, Verdin, Black-throated Sparrow, Rock Wren, and yes, The Greater Roadrunner. Nothing is as thrilling as hearing a female roadrunner’s coo-cooing bark ringing out through a Joshua Tree and Yucca woodland and reverberate against fossil-laden cliffs. Though the area is pretty parched now, about 660 million years ago a sea existed here leaving behind layers of shells and other remnants of marine life!

Joshua Tree

That’s all for now – we are about to help another team studying Joshua Tree pollination!

-Amanda