A natural resource condition assessment for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks: Appendix 15a – animals of conservation concern
The Ecology Graduate Student Project Collective and Schwartz MW. 2013. A natural resource condition assessment for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks: Appendix 15a – animals of conservation concern. Natural Resource Report. NPS/SEKI/NRR—2013/665.15a. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
This chapter is an assessment of a park-identified collection of non-native, extinct, rare, endangered, threatened, and species of conservation concern. Species of conservation concern may be such because of a perceived vulnerability to global change or because of poor ecological and taxonomic understanding. For clarity, we treat condition assessment of non-native taxa separately from the suite of sensitive native animals. The focal non-native animals are considered because they are known to be invasive in some habitats. The concern is not for non-native species generally, but for those that are considered invasive because of their capacity to change ecosystem structure, composition and functioning. Park biologists established the priority list of sensitive animal taxa and the UC Davis student conservation assessment team focused on these taxa (Table 1). This collection of sensitive native animals include three types of species: (a) at risk or locally extinct taxa; and (b) species for which there is relatively little knowledge, but which are considered at risk species. As a consequence of ecological similarity, native and non-native fishes were tackled simultaneous by the SEKI fishes sub-team (Table 1). A subsequent request to cover the park chipmunk taxa was also met by this team, although in less detail. Our process for assessing sensitive animals was to commission small groups of students to conduct a stand-alone evaluation of individual taxa (Table 1). Groups overlapped in order to gain some consistency of treatment. Students met on numerous occasions to build uniformity among sub-reports. We then aggregated this information into a synthetic report with each individual report as supplemental information. There is a large range of variation in available information across these taxa. As a consequence, it was not possible to standardize approaches among taxa. Nonetheless, each assessment prioritized describing the focal taxa with respect to six critical questions: 1) taxonomic description; 2) life history; 3) distribution; 4) conservation status; 5) data gaps and research priorities; and 6) summary and recommendations. Individual species assessments are included in their entirety under the ―Supplemental Information‖ portion of this report. An exception is made for fishes, native and non-native, which were treated in unison. The fish constitute a single supplemental report. The main body of the report synthesizes this information into a comprehensive assessment addresses the status and condition of sensitive animals generally in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Given that non-native taxa (where more is worse) and at risk taxa (where more is better) are substantively different, we treat these as separate groups within each section. ―At risk taxa‖ simply refers to the aggregation of extinct, rare, threatened, or little known taxa listed in Table 1. Throughout the chapter we refer to species by their common names.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- The Ecology Graduate Student Project Collective; Schwartz, Mark
- Date of Issue
- 2013-06
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- NRSS , SEKI
- Keywords
- american pika, at-risk or locally extinct animals, Brook Trout, Brown Trout, brown-headed cowbirds, Bullfrogs, California bighorn sheep, California condor, Cattle, feral pigs, Fisher, golden trout, Grizzly Bear, high-elevation fish, Invasive Species, Kaweah slender salamander, Kings River slender salamander, Little Kern golden trout, little known taxa, mountain yellow-legged frogs, New Zealand mud snail, NRCA, Rainbow Trout, SEKI, Sierra Nevada chipmunks, Sierra Nevada red Fox, Wolverine
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Invasive Species | Invasive/Exotic animals , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Fishes , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Amphibians and Reptiles , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Birds , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Mammals , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | At-risk Biota | T&E Species and Communities