Chorizanthe robusta var. hartwegii (Scotts Valley spineflower, Polygonaceae) is a narrow endemic plant restricted to a specialized microhabitat (exposed bedrock in California prairie) in Santa Cruz County, California. This taxon and the nominate variety were listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 1994. Three occurrences of C. robusta hartwegii exist on four properties in a recently urbanized area at the northern edge of the city of Scotts Valley. Ten of 80 known colonies are now likely extirpated. In 2014 the primary threats are habitat alteration due to adjacent land uses and developments, and invasive plant species (non-natives) and accumulation of thatch. Using international standards, C. robusta hartwegii is critically endangered: area of occupancy, 0.39 ha; extent of occurrence, 1.3 km²; landscape, severely fragmented; and quality of the habitat, continuing to decline. With these attributes, C. robusta hartwegii faces an extremely high risk of extinction. As a matter of urgency, we recommend reducing and controlling invasive plant species and thatch using a combination of methods: mowing with biomass removal, cutting by hand tools with biomass removal, pulling by hand with biomass removal, controlled grazing, prescribed mini-burns (testing 1 m²), and spot-treating invasive grasses with a grass-specific herbicide.

Blubber progesterone levels were measured in biopsy samples and used to predict the pregnancy status of 507 female common dolphins (204 long-beaked common dolphins, Delphinus capensis, and 303 short-beaked common dolphins, D. delphis). Samples were collected in the coastal waters of the eastern North Pacific between central California, USA and the southern end of Baja California, Mexico. The percentage of females pregnant was similar between the two species: 22.1% (n  =  45) of D. capensis and 28.1% (n  =  85) of D. delphis. For both species we found strong geographic patterns in pregnancy, suggesting that some areas were more conducive for pregnant females. A sizable drop in percent pregnant from early (38.8%, n  =  133) to late (25.3%, n  =  91) autumn was found in D. delphis but not in D. capensis. The potential for sample selectivity was examined via biopsies collected either from a large research ship or from a small, rigid-hull inflatable boat (RHIB) launched from the larger ship. An analysis of “Tandem Biopsy Sampling”, replicate biopsy effort on the same schools from each vessel/platform, yielded little evidence that disproportionately more pregnant female common dolphins were biopsied from one platform versus the other. This result plus an analysis of pregnancy status relative to the duration of biopsy operations failed to uncover strong evidence of unaccounted sampling bias with respect to pregnancy state. In total, these results demonstrate the utility of blubber progesterone concentrations to assess pregnancy status in free-ranging cetaceans and they highlight potential factors associated with population-level variation in dolphin pregnancy rates.

Wildfires are becoming more prevalent in montane conifer forests of the San Bernardino Mountains of southern California. The effects of fire on stand structure and composition of these forests has been extensively studied but there are far fewer studies on how wildfires affect the fauna. For five years after a wildfire in 2007, we live-trapped small mammals in three burn types: unburned, moderate-severity and high-severity. A primary objective of this study was to document the response of the small mammal community to high-severity fire. Pinyon mice were consistently more abundant in unburned forests and declined by 69–76% between unburned forests and moderate-severity and high-severity burns. In contrast, deer mice responded positively to fire. Their numbers increased by 72%–87% between unburned forests and moderate-severity and high-severity burns. Compared to unburned forests, chipmunk numbers were 43%–64% lower in moderate and high-severity burns. California ground squirrels were unaffected by either severity. Using ordination analysis, we examined the distributions of the four small mammal species in relationship to stand structure and microhabitat variables that changed after fire. When the three burn types were analyzed together, small mammal composition was significantly related to burn type (unburned vs. high-severity), years-after-fire, litter cover and cover of bare ground. When the moderate and high-severity burn types were analyzed without unburned grids, four variables were significant: years-after-fire, rock outcrop cover, bare ground cover, and the combined covers of oak resprouts and shrubs.