During a long-term study at the Desert Tortoise Research Natural Area in the western Mojave Desert of California, factors affecting the decline of desert tortoises were evaluated inside the protective fence vs. outside. During the five-survey years, 1,645 sightings of 13 species of avian predators were collected. Eleven species occurred both inside and outside the fenced Desert Tortoise Research Natural Area, and two species, the short-eared owl and great horned owl, occurred only inside the fence. The most abundant predator was the common raven with more observations outside the fence than inside the fence in most years. Ravens are hyper-predators of the desert tortoise and, at the Desert Tortoise Research Natural Area, are one of four drivers of population decline. This species also inhibits recovery because of the high numbers (Berry et al. 2020, Wildlife Monographs 205:1-53). References: Berry, K.H., Yee, J.L., Shields, T.A. and Stockton, L., 2020. The Catastrophic Decline of Tortoises at a Fenced Natural Area. Wildlife Monographs, 205(1), pp.1-53.

Monitoring population connectivity to inform management is especially important in regions at the very edges of wilderness where native fauna and flora face habitat reduction, degradation, and fragmentation. One such region is the Ivanpah valley along the California/Nevada border, where development (i.e., solar facilities, recreational utility vehicle use) continues to encroach on the habitat of its inhabitants, including the iconic Mojave Desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizi. A long-lived, elusive animal, this species poses an array of challenges to monitoring direct movement, including the challenging terrain in which it resides and the fact that individuals can spend as much as 95 percent of their time in burrows. Thus, genetic monitoring of gene flow and population structure can be an ideal complement to direct monitoring of tortoise movement. Our group has previously evaluated the spatial population genetic structure of the tortoise in the Ivanpah region using a dataset of 299 individuals sampled between 2011 and 2019 and genotyped at 20 microsatellite loci (Dutcher et al., 2020). We found support for historical gene flow with isolation-by-resistance and suggested that connectivity may have been reduced by a railway and highway bisecting the region. We continued to follow up on these findings, collecting additional samples and developing a set of 125 high-throughput microsatellite loci designed specifically for G. agassizi. This data release contains multilocus genotypes collected by high-throughput genotyping for 722 tortoises collected in the region and will be used to explore fine-scale population genetic dynamics, reconstruct pedigrees, and infer movement patterns.

This dataset provides spatial predictions of clustering and the genotype association index for the Mojave genotype in local species-environment relationships of Desert Tortoises (Gopherus agassizi and Gopherus morafkaii) for individuals in the subregion encompassing the genetic sampling locations used by Edwards et al. (2015). This region offered an opportunity to explore habitat selection across the ecotone between the Mojave and Sonoran deserts and the secondary contact zone between G. agassizii and G. morafkai, and is referred to as the focal study area. The raster layers contained here accompany the manuscript Inman et al. 2019 and were used to identify multivariate clusters and map them back to geographic space. Inman et al. 2019. Local niche differences predict genotype associations in sister taxa of desert tortoise. Diversity and Distributions. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12927

This dataset provides the environmental explanatory variables used to explore spatial patterns in species-environment relationships in Gopherus agassizii and Gopherus morafkai across the subregion encompassing the genetic sampling locations used by Edwards et al. (2015). This region offered an opportunity to explore habitat selection across the ecotone between the Mojave and Sonoran deserts and the secondary contact zone between G. agassizii and G. morafkai, and is referred to as the focal study area. The raster layers contained here accompany the manuscript Inman et al. 2019 and were used to identify multivariate clusters and map them back to geographic space. Inman et al. 2019. Local niche differences predict genotype associations in sister taxa of desert tortoise. Diversity and Distributions. xxx.xxx

This data release includes new, sub-annual Strontium/Calcium (Sr/Ca) and annual linear extension rates covering a period between 1980 and 2012 for five colonies of the massive coral, Orbicella faveolata (O. faveolata). All five coral colonies were collected live by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists from the Dry Tortugas National Park (DTNP), Florida (FL) in August 2008 and May 2012.

Inventory project as-delivered dataset. Material samples by site for future possible use.

"Two different PIs, working separately, took permits to seek specimens of the stonefly genus Zapada for a taxonomic study. A new species (Z. fumosa n. sp.) is currently being described from Walker Camp Prong in GRSM (Grubbs et al., in preparation). While this species appears to be somewhat well-distributed across the high Southern Appalachian Mountains, it is now apparent that Z. chila, coincidentally also described from Walker Camp Prong over 60 years ago is amongst the rarest of stonefly species in eastern North America. Zapada chila is known from only five specimens collected between 1944 and 1979. This permit would serve two purposes: to assess if Z. chila is still present in Walker Camp Prong and provide needed fresh material to complete the taxonomic study of eastern Zapada. Z. chila was relocated from two locations on Walker Camp Prong in 2014 for the first time in 35 years. The new species was found there and also near the top of Noland Creek. Three additional stonefly species were searched for by one of the PIs (Scott Grubbs). Leuctra monticola and L. nephophila (Plecoptera, Leuctridae) were described from Cades Cove and Andrews Bald, respectively. Both species are endemic to the high southern Appalachian Mountains and very uncommon in collections. Along with four others, these two species has been placed in the Leuctra biloba species group. He seeks to assess if an unassigned species fits into this group using the current morphologically-based character traits. The third species, Acroneuria filicis (Plecoptera, Perlidae) was described from southeastern Kentucky ca. 70 years ago. A paratype series was also designated from ""Chimneys Camp Grounds."" Recent SEM work in my lab with eggs of this species has shown the GRSM specimens to be distinctive from A. filicis from the Type Locality in Kentucky and elsewhere from several localities throughout eastern North America. He anticipates that the GRSM A. filicis represents an undescribed species. Grubbs collected in summer of 2015, but needs to collect for L. monticola in the spring. Grubbs was able to locate Z. chila from Walker Camp Prong and L. nephophila from Noland Creek. Specimens of additoinal species were collected."

,This data package contains termite activity data in plots with a range of herbivore exclusion treatments on Jornada Experimental Range (JER) and Chihuahuan Desert Rangeland Research Center (CDRRC) lands. Study sites were established in 1995; one in black grama grassland and the other in creosotebush shrubland to compare the impact of herbivores on ecosystem processes between these vegetation types. Parallel studies were established at the Sevilleta LTER site (New Mexico, USA) and Mapimi Biosphere Reserve (Durango, Mexico). Each study site is 1 km by 0.5 km in area. Four replicate experimental blocks were randomly located at each study site to measure vegetation responses using exclusion treatments including a) all mammalian herbivores, including cattle, lagomorphs, and rodents, b) lagomorphs and cattle only, c) cattle only, and d) control accessible to all herbivores. Thirty-six sampling points were positioned at 5.8-meter intervals on a systematically located 6 by 6 point grid within each plot. A permanent one-meter by one-meter vegetation measurement quadrat is located at each of the 36 points. Each spring and fall from 1995-2005, a tape measure was used to measure the length, diameter, and height in centimeters of each termite casing in these vegetation quadrats. This study is complete.,,