[RWG] ECOSYSTEM Dynamics of disturbance and recovery Megatransects Brassica tournfortii etc. Re: Any Ecological Megatransect, is extremely valuable?

[Wayne Tyson]

Craig and Forums:

Oops!  I left out an "if" in the offending paragraph.  My tendency 
toward irony has got me into trouble again.  Note the "quotes."  I 
quite agree with you.  I was referring to my own work, not yours.  I 
meant that "real" scientists don't like anything that varies from 
their uptight version of what's "proper."  I both agree and disagree 
with them.  Some, of course, are more perceptive.  As to 24K gold, 
it's in the eye of the holder.

I have done some "barnyard" transects along highways with a tape 
recorder keyed to mileposts and single species of interest and 
general observations, but never got around to writing them up; 
they're "worthless" as "real" scientific research anyway. I hope you 
have, or will, set a standard of methodology so others can take this 
up and the research will be repeatable and statistically respectable. 
Even IF it ain't the latter, it should be useful as a "changing mile" 
type record.

You are an even bigger hero than I realized!  I offered to do a 
demonstration of the effectiveness of aerial photography in 
mapping/tracking the "progress" of B. tournfortii a year or two ago, 
but my offer was ignored by CAL-IPC and the state park official I 
contacted.  This true invader is popping up in a lot of small 
populations that could be extirpated, but you can expect a continued 
problem because it's distributed by vehicles.  The idea behind the 
areal survey is that you can map "progress" year-by-year and are not 
restricted to the roads, as well as being more complete.  The best 
time is when the desert first "greens up" and the dried mustard stems 
are still tan-colored.  At least that's the theory I wanted to 
test.  The mustard does, however, exist in areas where the it can't 
be surveyed that way (scattered stands and individuals that remain 
green, such as in mesic areas), and good old-fashioned road- or 
foot-work is essential.  It's being dispersed along roadways, but 
it's marching inexorably across the deserts, such as in Anza-Borrego 
State Park.  It travels slowly by itself, but when you add the tires 
of off-road vehicles and yes, even the feet of desert lovers, its 
march accelerates.

Where are you depositing your records?  Mine are just scribbled in 
notebooks, squirreled away in some box somewhere.

I hereby appoint (or is it anoint?) you King of the Megatransect and 
authorize you to contact National Geographic.  I know an 
ecologist-photographer who works for them, and if you would like to 
put together a good pitch, I'll ask him what he thinks of it the next 
time I see him.  Yes, it would wonderful to have a centralized 
integrated system.  Even if the points aren't random or perfectly 
regular, they could accumulate over time.  Preferably, however, there 
would be at least some locations that would be pinned to solid 
locations like mile-posts.  Odometers simply are not accurate enough, 
and locating photo points from photographs simply takes too much time 
and is subject to inaccuracy.  However, this is where standardization 
of procedures could help a lot.

WT


At 03:16 PM 9/15/2006, Craig Dremann wrote:
>Dear Wayne and All,
>
>Thanks for your email.
>
>NEVER, EVER consider that any ecological transect, especially a
>Megatransect that can be retraced to particular geographic points, is
>ever worthless--actually it's worth its weight in 24K gold, because it
>may be the only record that exists for that area, at that time.
>
>For example, last year I drove 10,000 miles to map over 1,900 miles of
>the California desert's roadsides, for the occurrance of a new weed, the
>Sahara mustard, Brassica tournefortii, that is rapidly taking over the
>roadsides of the arid West---you can see some examples of those
>mile-by-mile transects marked with a "+" sign, linked to
>http://www.ecoseeds.com/mustards.contents.html
>
>In the 2005 California Desert Megatransect I was looking for that exotic
>mustard, plus noting where there were good examples of the pristine
>native ecosystem, at every post mile on the highways.
>
>Where there were no post miles along the roads, like along the Old US
>Route 66, I used odometer miles, and also linked the data to highway
>junctions, towns, etc.
>
>In the 1997 Great Basin/Rockies Megatransect I was looking for native
>grasses, exotic grasses, and the general ecological conditions that I
>encountered at every odometer mile-point, and the data is also linked
>with Post Miles on the highways, highway junctions, towns, etc.
>
>For the various North American Roadside Megatransect
>ecological-conditions data, that investigators around the country might
>be able to accumulate, wouldn't it be nice to have a central place to
>eventually store all this great roadside information?
>
>If you search at http://www.google.com for "megatransect" you will see
>that National Geographic has sponsored at least three Ecological
>Megatransects in Africa---so why should our fine and beautiful continent
>of North America be left out of the fun?
>
>Sincerely,  Craig Dremann, Redwood City, CA (650) 325-7333

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