jaymee marty the nature conservancy...change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in...

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Using Big Science to Manage Vernal Pool Grasslands Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy

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Page 1: Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy...Change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in ungrazed pools (Marty 2005)-2.50-2.00-1.50-1.00-0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

Using Big Science to Manage Vernal Pool Grasslands

Jaymee MartyThe Nature Conservancy

Page 2: Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy...Change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in ungrazed pools (Marty 2005)-2.50-2.00-1.50-1.00-0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

Cosumnes River

Page 3: Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy...Change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in ungrazed pools (Marty 2005)-2.50-2.00-1.50-1.00-0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50
Page 4: Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy...Change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in ungrazed pools (Marty 2005)-2.50-2.00-1.50-1.00-0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

We own it, now what?

• Change Current Management – Seasonal Grazing (Oct – June): change to no

grazing in wet season• Rotational grazing MUST be better• Political reasons

– Add fire to control weeds• Science based?

– No replicated studies on either subject– Keep guessing or set up robust monitoring

Page 5: Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy...Change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in ungrazed pools (Marty 2005)-2.50-2.00-1.50-1.00-0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

Valley SpringsFormation

LagunaFormation

Page 6: Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy...Change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in ungrazed pools (Marty 2005)-2.50-2.00-1.50-1.00-0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

Grazing Treatment Layout

Ungrazed

Dry season grazed

Continuously grazed

Wet season grazed

Page 7: Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy...Change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in ungrazed pools (Marty 2005)-2.50-2.00-1.50-1.00-0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50
Page 8: Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy...Change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in ungrazed pools (Marty 2005)-2.50-2.00-1.50-1.00-0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

Native species richness in ungrazedpools: doing fine?

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Pool Edge Upland

Nat

ive

s 2001

2002

2003

Page 9: Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy...Change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in ungrazed pools (Marty 2005)-2.50-2.00-1.50-1.00-0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

Change in native richness positive in grazed poolsnegative in ungrazed pools

(Marty 2005)

-2.50

-2.00

-1.50

-1.00

-0.50

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

pool edge upland

Cha

nge

in s

(03

- 01)

CG

DG

UG

WG

n.s. ***

n.s., not significant; * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001

Page 10: Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy...Change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in ungrazed pools (Marty 2005)-2.50-2.00-1.50-1.00-0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

7665

78

115

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

cg dg ug wg

Max

imum

pon

ding

per

iod

(# d

ays)

Average maximum ponding period 50 days less in ungrazed poolsvs. continuously grazed pools

a

b bb

Page 11: Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy...Change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in ungrazed pools (Marty 2005)-2.50-2.00-1.50-1.00-0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

HYPOTHESIS: Fire occurred historically in the system,

so it must be good

Page 12: Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy...Change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in ungrazed pools (Marty 2005)-2.50-2.00-1.50-1.00-0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

Valensin Ranch (Riverbank)

Jepson Prairie Preserve(Northern Claypan)

Vina Plains Preserve (Tuscan)

Howard Ranch (Valley Springs)

Page 13: Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy...Change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in ungrazed pools (Marty 2005)-2.50-2.00-1.50-1.00-0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

5 pools

5 pools

5 pools

5 pools

Page 14: Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy...Change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in ungrazed pools (Marty 2005)-2.50-2.00-1.50-1.00-0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

One year post burn results

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

edge pool upland

% c

over

exo

tic a

nnua

l gra

sses

burnedunburned

n.s

*

**

Exotic annual GRASS cover declines in burned plots at 2003 burned sites

Page 15: Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy...Change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in ungrazed pools (Marty 2005)-2.50-2.00-1.50-1.00-0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

Exotic annual FORB cover increases in burned plots at 2003 burned s

05

101520253035404550

edge pool upland

% c

over

exo

tic a

nnua

l for

bs

burnedunburned

n.s

n.s

***

Page 16: Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy...Change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in ungrazed pools (Marty 2005)-2.50-2.00-1.50-1.00-0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

edge pool upland

% c

over

nat

ives

burnedunburned

Burning increases native cover and richness at Jepson Prairie(and Valensin Ranch)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

edge pool upland

Nat

ive

spec

ies

rich

ness

burnedunburned

+

**

***

n.s.

**

***

Page 17: Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy...Change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in ungrazed pools (Marty 2005)-2.50-2.00-1.50-1.00-0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

No effect of burning on native diversity at Vina and Cosumnes Foothills sites

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

edge pool upland

Nat

ive

s

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

edge pool uplandN

ativ

e s

burned

unburned

n.s.

n.s. n.s.

n.s. n.s.

n.s.

Page 18: Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy...Change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in ungrazed pools (Marty 2005)-2.50-2.00-1.50-1.00-0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

• Don’t change management regime unless you have a very

compelling science-based reason to do so

• Sometimes politics get in the way

• When you do make a change, MONITOR

• ALWAYS include a control

• Know why you’re monitoring and keep it simple

• Stats heads may know numbers, but may not

understand biology or monitoring efficiency

• Analyze your data!

What have we learned?

Page 19: Jaymee Marty The Nature Conservancy...Change in native richness positive in grazed pools negative in ungrazed pools (Marty 2005)-2.50-2.00-1.50-1.00-0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

HelpersCRP Interns and staffVolunteer naturalistsCRP Hard Corp crewSac Co. Sheriff work crewsCDF

Generous funding support:Osher foundationAnderson Grassland Research fundThe McCammantsPartnership FoundationThe Bechtel Foundation