[ banner image: 4 photos of Palos Verdes vegetation ]

Geography 640 Readings

==========

Week 1: California Vegetation and Mediterranean Environments De Rome, Danielle. 1997. Plant communities, Ch. 6 of Poly Land Revisited: A Field Guide. San Luis Obispo, CA: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Thesis, Department of Biological Sciences. Available at http://polyland.calpoly.edu/overview/Archives/derome/communities.html. Read all links grouped in the green box (plant communities).

Week 2: Grassland and CSS Interactions

Cox, Robert D., and Allen, Edith B. 2008. Stability of exotic annual grasses following restoration efforts in southern California coastal sage scrub. Journal of Applied Ecology 45, 2: 495-504. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2007.01437.x. Moderator: Mr. Brennan.

Barry, Sheila; Larson, Stephanie; and George, Melvin. 2006. California native grasslands: A historical perspective. A guide for developing realistic restoration objectives. Grasslands 16, 1: 7-11. Available at http://californiarangeland.ucdavis.edu/Publications%20pdf/CRCC/California%20Native%20Grasslands%20-%20A%20Historical%20Perspective.pdf. Moderator: Ms. Vaughan.

The County of Orange, CA. 2007. What is a noxious weed? Noxious weeds and native vegetation. Weed Abatement and Vegetation Hazard Reduction. Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer of Weights and Measures. Orange County, CA. Available at http://www.ocsd.org/ocgov/Agricultural%20Commissioner/Weed%20Abatement%20&%20Vegetation%20Hazard%20Reduction/Noxious%20Weeds%20&%20Native%20Vegetationd

Week 3: Comp Time off for Palos Verdes Field Trip

Week 4: Overview of Challenges to CSS Restoration

Allen, Edith B.; Eliason, Scott A.; Marquez, Viviane J.; Schultz, Gillian P.; Storms, Nancy K.; Stylinski, Cathlyn Davis; Zink, Thomas A.; and Allen, Michael F. 2000. What are the limits to restoration of coastal sage scrub in Southern California? In 2nd Interface between Ecology and Land Development in California, ed. Jon E. Keeley, Melanie Baer-Keeley, and C.J. Fotheringham. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 00-62: 253-262. Article available at http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~eallen/allenetal_2000.html (full anthology available as a 118 meg PDF at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2000/of00-062/of00-062.pdf). Moderator: Ms. Mills.

Additional resources to visit: Bring notes on the content they let you access and how the site works.

Week 5: Nitrogen Hypothesis

Allen, Edith B.; Padgett, Pamela E.; Bytnerowicz, Andrzej; and Minnich, Richard. 1998. Nitrogen deposition effects on coastal sage vegetation of Southern California. USDA Forest Service General Technical Report PSW-GTR-166: 131-139. Available at http://gis.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr166/psw_gtr166_002_allen.pdf. Moderator: Mr. Winslow.

Taking a look at some GDEP 2010 data on soil taken on transects across the CSS-grassland boundary in stable and in CSS-recovery zones in La Jolla and Serrano valleys in the western Santa Monicas:

Week 6: Mycorrhizæ, Soil Texture, Slope and Aspect, and Disturbance

Callaway, Ragan M. and Davis, Frank W. 1993. Vegetation dynamics, fire, and the physical environment in coastal Central California. Ecology 74, 5: 1567-1578. Available at http://www2.bren.ucsb.edu/~fd/Pubs/callaway_davis_93.pdf.

Vogelsang, Keith M., and Bever, James D. 2009. Mycorrhizal densities decline in association with nonnative plants and contribute to plant invasion. Ecology 90, 2: 399-407. Moderators: Messrs. Diminutto and Santana. Background information on mycorrhyzæ and GDEP's exploration of fire and plowing disturbance.

Week 7: Chemical Warfare among Plants

Bell, David T., and Muller, Cornelius H. 1973. Dominance of California annual grasslands by Brassica nigra. American Midland Naturalist 90, 2: 277-299. JSTOR URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2424453. Moderator: Ms. Tabag.

Stinson, Kristina A.; Campbell, Stuart A.; Powell, Jeff R.; Wolfe, Benjamin E.; Callaway, Ragan R.; Thelen, Giles C.; Hallett, Steven G.; Prati, Daniel; and Klironomos, John N. 2006. Invasive Plant suppresses the growth of native tree seedlings by disrupting belowground mutualisms. PLOS Biology 4, 5: e140. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0040140. Available at http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.0040140. Moderator: Ms. Avelar Portillo. GDEP's data on black mustard allelopathy

Week 8: Fire and GDEP/GEOG 442 Data

Keeley, Jon E.; Fotheringham, C.J.: and Baer-Keeley, Melanie. 2005. Determinants of postfire recovery and succession in Mediterranean-climate shrublands of California. Ecological Applications 15, 5: 1515-1534. Moderators: Messrs. Nesbit and Santana.

Most of the Keeley et al. paper analysis is based on straightforward simple linear regressions (sometimes with log transforms to straighten them out), t-tests, and one-way ANOVAs. Table 4 is based on two-way ANOVA (or comparable Kruskall-Wallis). Here's a nice link that very succinctly explains what's going on in a two-way ANOVA:

I've gone through tons of GDEP and GEOG 442 data and put together a collection of graphs to visualize findings. Poke around in here and come to the seminar prepared to discuss how these findings reïnforce or contradict our readings thus far: Week 9: Comp Time off for La Jolla Valley Field Trip

Please familiarize yourselves with the plants we are likely to encounter: https://home.csulb.edu/~rodrigue/geog640/fieldtrips/LJVspecieschecklist.html

Especially become very familiar with the seven species you're to become the local expert in identifying out in the field: https://home.csulb.edu/~rodrigue/geog640/fieldtrips/LJVsppbystudent.pdf

I've booked one campsite for Thursday night at Sycamore Canyon off PCH for anyone in GEOG 640 or 586 to use to get there early Friday to meet Dr. Laris somewhat refreshed. I've also booked two campsites there on Friday the 2nd of November for GEOG 640 (and any strays from GEOG 586 who want to stay on), so we can get up into La Jolla Valley bright and early on Saturday and put in a full day of data collection. I will be staying over in my car on the Friday. Each site is permitted up to three vehicles and up to eight campers. So, the Friday can accommodate five of your cars and sixteen of us.

Week 10: La Jolla Valley Field Trip Debriefing

No readings for this week: We'll talk about the data we collected and try to relate them to the various hypotheses we've discussed in the seminar so far, in order to pick topics that can feasibly be turned into conference presentations.

Week 11: Hypothesis Picking ... and a Very Contrarian Point of View

Please read through one of the USDA publications Mr. Brennan found on how to dispose of chaparral. What a find! I've picked the shorter of the two:

Bentley, Jay R. 1967. Conversion of chaparral areas to grassland: Techniques used in California. U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Agriculture Handbook 328. Available at http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/33505 Moderator: Ms. Tabag.

Also, please go through this list of hypotheses and questions about CSS restoration and stability: https://home.csulb.edu/~rodrigue/geog640/CSShypotheses.html. Of the eleven, please rank the five that you find most interesting, with A for the most intriguing one and F for the least interesting of your top five. Please share your rankings with everyone in the seminar using Reply-All to the e-mail I sent you on Sunday. Do feel free to suggest other lines of work you'd be interested in or archival work you'd rather do than lab work.

Also be sure to download a copy of the consolidated field data spreadsheet from GDEP work in the La Jolla and Serrano valleys back in 2010: https://home.csulb.edu/~rodrigue/geog640/data/FieldDataConsolidatedNewNames.xls.

==========
GEOG 640 Home |   Dr. Rodrigue's Home |   Geography Home |   EMER Home |   ES&P Home

BeachBoard |   CSULB Home |   Library |   Bookstore

==========

Last revised: 11/11/12
Dr. C.M. Rodrigue