The research plan, funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, outlines to use extensive databases compiled for the terrestrial and aquatic systems of the interior Columbia River Basin to investigate relationships among multi-scaled biophysical variables and biological features of terrestrial and aquatic systems of critical value in the use of ecological assessment data. The project involves collaborators from across the country, with participation by staff in the UCSB Biogeography Lab.

Fragmentation and population declines jeopardize the survival of many species. Excessive reproductive isolation can cause a loss of valuable alleles, decrease genetic variation, induce inbreeding depression, reduce demographic fitness, and lead to reproductive failure. When tree populations are reduced to scattered and clustered individuals, pollen movement is critical to connectivity. This project develops a novel approach that can cover landscape-scale areas and can be integrated into spatially explicit simulation modeling of landscape changes.

Overview

The Big Sur area is one of the most ecologically diverse regions in California. Although the forests of Big Sur are protected by numerous preserves, state parks, county parks and the Los Padres National Forest, they are still threatened by exotic species, climate change and alterations of key ecosystem processes such as a fire. At this time, one of the most significant threats is the invasive pathogen Phytophthora ramorum, the causal agent of the forest disease sudden oak death.