ARRA Vegetation Monitoring of Tamarisk Beetle Impacts

archived

The Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program Office (LCR MSCP), is proposing to fund a study with the Utah Division of Wildlife as a cooperative agreement with funding provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (Public Law 111-5). The purpose of this study is to monitor vegetation and tamarisk beetle (Diorhabda elongata ) dynamics, to contribute toward assessing the impact of the beetle on nesting southwestern willow flycatchers.Most studies involving Tamarisk beetles to date have been structured to assess and/or improve the efficacy of the beetles as a suppression tool for saltcedar management and vegetation community restoration. This study is fundamentally different in that it is intended is to determine the indirect impact of the beetles on the federally listed southwestern willow flycatcher by means of defoliating the saltcedar plants they nest in. The focus of this project on the relationship between beetles/defoliation and nesting success is of primary concern at this point because it poses the greatest potential threat to the recovery of flycatcher populations.

High