California Islands Research Articles

EVOLUTION IN PERIPHERAL ISOLATED POPULATIONS: CARPODACUS FINCHES ON THE CALIFORNIA ISLANDS.

The effect of being isolated on an island is seen as an important factor in the evolution of insular populations. An island population may be very different phenetically and genetically from a presumed conspecific population living in a similar environment on the mainland, whereas conspecific populations on a mainland may be very similar to one another even though occurring in widely distant localities and under different ecological conditions (Mayr, 1954). The reason for this is in part that rapid evolution may occur in small peripheral populations (Carson, 1959; Cook, 1961). However, an opposite effect, centrifugal speciation, has also been described wherein peripheral forms of a species may show more primitive traits, not having received the advanced character states which spread from centers where a species is best adapted and where neighboring forms come together and increase genetic heterogeneity (Brown, 195 7). A related problem is that of genetic variation in marginal and peripheral populations. Soule (1973) has reviewed data on reduction in the diversity of coadapted gene combinations in novel environments, the advantages of preserving allelic polymorphism, and the loss of alleles at geographic margins because of genetic drift, and reduced immigration. Recently, the importance of geographic isolation, and especially of populations on the periphery of a species' range, also appears in arguments supporting the view that speciation is primarily by punctuated equilibria (Eldredge and Gould, 1972; Gould and Eldredge, 1977). If our understanding of the way evolution works is correct, there is a great potential for peripherally isolated populations to break from the genetic cohesiveness of the parent species and become genetically independent. A potential for speciation and genetic distinction can be demonstrated when relatively large phenetic differences exist among populations separated by short distances but imposing physical barriers. This situation is often found with populations on fringing islands. The present paper is an analysis of phenetic similarity among populations of the house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) from the California Islands and the western U.S. (Fig. 1). I want to concentrate on barriers to dispersal and the accumulation of morphological differences among populations. Details of character variation, systematics, and population variability on the islands will be included in later papers (e.g., Power, in press). The house finch is a widespread passerine species of western North America. The genus Carpodacus originated in the Old World; most of the adaptive radiation (about 18 species) has been in Asia. Three species-the house finch (or linnet), purple finch (C. purpureus), and Cassin's.,finch (C. cassini)-are in the New World. Purple and Cassin's finches prefer forested areas, whereas the house finch breeds in desert and scrub vegetation from British Columbia south to central Mexico (Salt, 1952). It is also common in suburbs and around farm buildings, gardens, and orchards. Range expansion into eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Oklahoma, and the successful, man-aided establishment of this species in Hawaii (Hirai, 1975) and on the east coast of the U.S. (Gill and Lanyon, 1965) may be due to the presence of human alteration of the habitat, but it also demonstrates the bird's

Close Relationship between the Lizard Genus Sator and Sceloporus utiformis (Reptilia, Lacertilia, Iguanidae): Electrophoretic and Immunological Evidence

Horizontal starch gel electrophoresis was employed in analysis of lactic dehydrogenase isozymes for two species of Sator, 22 species of Sceloporus, and representatives of all other sceloporine genera. Sator was compared electrophoretically to 12 species of Sceloporus for six additional presumptive gene loci. Albumin of Sator was compared immunologically to 38 species of Sceloporus and representatives of all other sceloporine genera. The findings indicate a close genetic relationship between the two insular species of Sator and the mainland Mexican Sceloporus utiformis. * * * The lizard genus Sator is comprised of two species restricted to three islands in the Gulf of California: Sator grandaevus on Cerralvo, and Sator angustus on Santa Cruz and San Diego islands. Sator is the only recognized endemic genus of terrestrial vertebrates restricted to the Gulf of California islands. Clarification of its phylogenetic relationships is important to furthering our understanding of the historical and ecological biogeography of the Baja California peninsula and its associated islands. Its present distribution suggests that it is a relict, and there are strong implications of competitive exclusion. On the three islands where it occurs, Uta, Urosaurus, and Sceloporus are all absent, although at least one member of these three genera occurs on virtually all other Gulf islands (Soule and Sloan, 1966). Since the description of Sator by Dickerson (1919), the taxonomic and biogeographic status of this genus has aroused interest. Dickerson believed that the affinities of Sator were with mainland Mexican Sceloporus of the utiformis group. Subsequent analyses of the relationships of Sator have dealt with morphological characters (Etheridge, 1962, 1964; Larsen and Tanner, 1975; Mittleman, 1942; Savage, 1958). This study provides additional evidence based upon independent sets of characters, electrophoretic mobilities of proteins and immuno- logical distances of serum albumins.

PRACTICAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR OIL SPILL DEBRIS DISPOSAL

ABSTRACT Many oil spill cleanup efforts include the disposal of a significant quantity of unusable oily organic and inorganic debris. Because spills are emotion-charged events, debris disposal is often impeded by the somewhat exaggerated fears of local inhabitants. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency retained SCS Engineers, Inc. to prepare a detailed, practical how-to-do-it manual for oil spill debris disposal and to make an accompanying film for state and local officials. The work included a literature search, interviews with both researchers and practitioners, and limited field studies in California, Utah and Rhode Island. Because aerobic conditions result in relatively rapid microbial degradation of the bulk of the hydrocarbons, the land-spreading process is recommended where debris size characteristics and access to suitable land permit. Anaerobic disposal in individual burial sites or existing sanitary landfills is acceptable, though definitely less desirable because of the greatly extended period for groundwater pollution potential and monitoring.

"Informed consent": when good medicine may not be good law.

As recently as 1970 a legal commentator felt certain enough of his ground to say about informed consent: Good medical practice is good Iaw.' Whatever the validity of that statement then, reliance on it in 1973 is dangerous at best. Three opinions in the last year, in the District of Columbia, California and Rhode Island. have specifically repudiated this view and put the medical profession on notice that they can no longer rely on self. imposed standards to determine what constitutes informed consent.In Canterbury v. Spence, the defendant doctor had informed both his 19 year old patient who suffered back pain and the patient's mother that a laminectomy was no more serious than any other operation. He did not mention that the procedure carried a 1% risk of paralysis. Following surgery, the patient suffered total paralysis from the waist down. Tho court decided specifically that the physician was under an affirmative obligation to disclose this risk information regardless of what was medically customary. The court held that the law, not medical custom, defines the standard of disclosure according to the patient's needs.

Experimental sea salt profiles

A series of determinations was made of the concentration of airborne chloride particles at heights between approximately 1 and 15 meters above the ocean surface, using the sloop Nis Randers as the sampling platform. Analyses were done by the membrane filter technique of J. P. Lodge (1954), which yields both number concentration and particle size. Samples were taken in the general area between Santa Barbara, California, and Santa Catalina Island. As Y. Toba (1965) predicted, there is no clear gradient in concentration over the height interval measured. Number count, geometric mean, and geometric standard deviation were all extremely similar at all heights. Geometric standard deviation was small, rarely exceeding 2.0, and was often as low as 1.5. Geometric mean diameter, expressed as the diameter of an equivalent sphere of pure sodium chloride, was approximately 2 μm. Concentrations ranged over a wide span from a few thousand to a few million particles per cubic meter. Because of the complex geography of the San Pedro channel and adjacent waters, there was no obvious relationship between local wind velocity and particle concentration. A contributing factor may be the difficulty in making measurements in a small boat at wind velocities that cause significant local surface generation of salt particles. Simultaneous collections of smaller particles for electron microscopy showed phosphate to be a consistent minor ingredient, and sulfuric acid and sulfates to be a surprisingly predominant one numerically.

Numbers of Bird Species on the California Islands

Numbers of Bird Species on the California Islands

Proceedings of the Symposium on the Biology of the California Islands Ralph N. Philbrick

Proceedings of the Symposium on the Biology of the California Islands Ralph N. Philbrick

A Comparative Study of Endoparasitism among some Southern California Lizard Populations

A total of 1485 lizards from southern California, Mexico, Baja California, and nearby islands along the Pacific Coast and in the Gulf of California was examined between March 1962 and May 1964. Of these, 738 were collected from three plant communities in the San Jacinto Mountains. The lizards represented 7 families, 18 genera, and 26 species. The results suggest that differing prevalences of parasites at different altitudes may be attributed to: '(1) specificity to altitudinally zoned definitive or intermediate hosts; (2) presence of single or multiple poten- tial host species; (3) possible influence by humidity and temperature ranges of air and substrate, as indicated by altitudinal changes in plant communities. Significant differences in infection rates between the sexes occur only in haemosporozoan infections. There are two age group distributional patterns of parasites: high initial infection rates in young animals that show little or no decline with age, and a progressive increase of infection rates with host age. Hatchling lizards often acquire multiple protozoan infections almost immediately following hatching. Distributional patterns probably depend upon trans- mission sites, host behavioral changes with age, and vector seasonality. Certain flagellates show decreased infection rates in correlation with concurrent infection by pharyngodont nematodes, possibly dependent upon number of worms present. Seasonal fluctuation, where present, seems related to distributional patterns among host age groups, vector seasonality, changes in host phys- iology associated with reproduction, or the parasites' reproductive cycle. Host specificity exists at infraordinal, familial, generic, and specific levels, with coccidians, oxyurid nematodes, and some cestodes showing the most limited host distribution. Restriction to certain hosts is influ- enced by phylogeny, diet, habits, and habitat of hosts. The following parasites were found: at least seven flagellates Proteromonas, Monocercormonas, Hexamastix, Tritrichomonas, Chilo-

Biology of the California Islands

Biology of the California Islands

Proceedings of the Symposium on the Biology of the California Islands. Ralph N. Philbrick

Previous articleNext article No AccessNew Biological BooksProceedings of the Symposium on the Biology of the California Islands. Ralph N. Philbrick Robert I. BowmanRobert I. Bowman Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Quarterly Review of Biology Volume 44, Number 2Jun., 1969 Published in association with Stony Brook University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/406121 PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The California Islands

The California Islands off the Pacific coast of southern and Baja California display almost diagrammatically the insular phenomena that characterize fringing archipelagos. To a lesser extent they also illustrate some of the insular features associated with oceanic islands. Several of these islands have been much studied and are relatively accessible. The location, size, elevation, and geological history of the islands are described. To determine the degree of disharmony of the island floras, they are analyzed in comparison with selected California mainland floras. The degree of richness of the island floras is discussed in relation to size of the islands, proximity to the mainland, and other variables. Such phenomena of island life as the immigrant pattern of vertebrate distribution, relict versus autochthonous endemism of plants and animals, insular gigantism, continuous flowering, high degree of hybridization, vulnerability, and loss of dispersibility in island species are considered in reference to the California Islands. Some suggestions as to available facilities on the islands and persons or institutions to contact are given in an epilogue. Off the Pacific coast of southern California and Baja California, Mexico, lie the islands variously called the Channel Islands or California Offshore Islands and the Baja California Islands or, collectively, the California Islands. Although they are in no sense tropical, they are worthy of mention in this symposium because they are a good example of a fringing archipelago and because they illustrate many of the insular phenomena that one might otherwise have to travel far to tropical areas to study. Some of them are quite accessible from the heavily populated areas of southern California, and some of them have been rather thoroughly studied by biologists. Although they are, thus, rather well known to California biologists, they are surprisingly little known to non-Californians. It is hoped that this short discussion of them and of some of their insular characteristics will create more interest in them among those biologists concerned with evolutionary and environmental phenomena. The Southern California and Baja California Islands consist of 16 major islands or island groups spread over some 500 miles between Point Conception, California, and Punta Eugenia, Baja California, Mexico (Fig. 1). From east to west the Northern Channel Islands are Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel. The Southern Channel Islands are San Nicolas, Santa Barbara, Santa Catalina, and San Clemente Islands. The Baja California Islands include Los Coronados just south of San Diego, Todos Santos off Ensenada, San Martin off San Quintin, San Geronimo south of El Rosario, the San Benitos, Cedros, and Natividad off Punta Eugenia, and Guadalupe 157 miles off the Baja California peninsula. In order of size, with area in square miles, the islands are: Cedros (134), Guadalupe (98), Santa Cruz (96), Santa Rosa (84), Santa Catalina (75), San 11 am grateful to Dr. Reid Moran for critically reviewing the manuscript, for making many valuable suggestions, and for supplying useful unpublished information. 2Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont, California 91711. ANN. MISSOURI BOT. GARD. 56: 391-408. 1969. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.247 on Wed, 27 Apr 2016 05:48:03 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms [VOL. 5 6 392 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN Clemente (56), San Nicolas (22), San Miguel (14), Natividad (2.8), San Benito (2.5), Anacapa (1.1), Santa Barbara (1.0), Los Coronados (1.0), San Martin (0.9), Todos Santos (0.5), and San Geronimo (0.2). Their distances from the mainland, in statute miles, are: San Martin (3), Todos Santos (4), Natividad (5), San Geronimo (6), Los Coronados (8), Anacapa (13), Cedros (14), Santa Cruz (19), Santa Catalina (20), San Miguel (26), Santa Rosa (27), Santa Barbara (38), San Benito (41), San Clemente (49), San Nicolas (61), and Guadalupe (157). All these figures are from a summary by Philbrick (1967). The highest elevations on the largest islands, in feet, are: Guadalupe (4,257), Cedros (3,950), Santa Cruz (2,165), Santa Catalina (2,069), San Clemente (1,965), Santa Rosa (1,574), and San Nicolas (907).

Proceedings of the Symposium on the Biology of the California Islands

Proceedings of the Symposium on the Biology of the California Islands

Proceedings of the Symposium on the Biology of the California Islands

Proceedings of the Symposium on the Biology of the California Islands Get access Proceedings of the Symposium on the Biology of the California Islands.— R. N. Philbrick. Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, 1967, 363 pp. Price $10.00. Daniel Janzen Daniel Janzen Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Systematic Biology, Volume 17, Issue 1, March 1968, Pages 93–94, https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/17.1.93 Published: 01 March 1968

Proceedings of the Symposium on the Biology of the California Islands.

Proceedings of the Symposium on the Biology of the California Islands.

Hirstiella pyriformis sp. n. (Acari, Pterygosomidae), a New Parasite of Lizards from Baja California

Hirstiella pyriformis sp. n. is found on a number of lizards of the genus Sauromalus. It appears to be generally distributed on islands in the Gulf of California, and also on the mainland of Baja California. Ecological conditions under which the mite and its hosts live are described briefly. Lewis and Wagner (1964) recently showed that a mite parasite of Sauromalus varius Dickerson, 1919 is a vector of a hemogregarine of that lizard. Bonorris and Ball (1955) described Schellackia occidentalis from Sceloporus occidentalis and Uta stansburiana and showed that these lizards become infected by ingestion of the mite Geckobiella texana (Banks) 1904. The mite serves as a passive vector of the hemogregarine; no developmental stage is passed in the mite. Cunliffe (1949) described Hirstiella pelaezi and intimated that it might be the vector of a disease of lizards. Evidently this is the Hirstiella sp. referred to by Pelaez and Barrera (1948) as a potential, but unproved, vector of Plasmodium mexicanum Thompson and Huff, 1944, a parasite of Sceloporus ferariperezi and S. microlepidotus in Mexico. Thus, transmission of blood Sporozoa from one lizard host to another by Pterygosomidae is emerging as a phenomenon which should be examined more fully. The present paper describes a new species of Hirstiella which Lewis and Wagner (1964) implicated as the vector of the hemogregarine of Sauromalus varius. The specimens on which the following description is based were collected in a laboratory colony of S. varius at Loma Linda University in February 1963. The lizards had been collected in May 1962 on San Esteban Island in the Gulf of California. Since mites taken from the lizards at the time of collection belonged to the same species, there is no reasonable doubt about either the host or the locality from which the type Received for publication 2 August 1963. material was originally obtained. Specimens collected from Sauromalus obesus at Las Arrastras, on the mainland of Baja California, also agreed with the material described here. The genus Sauromalus (chuckwalla lizards) is confined to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. At present seven species are recognized. Sauromalus obesus (including three subspecies) is geographically the most widespread of the group, occurring in Baja California, California, Nevada, Arizona, and Sonora. The other six species are quite restricted in their distributions, occurring in isolated populations on Baja California and several islands in the Gulf of California. It is interesting to note that mites taken from precinctive populations of chuckwallas on Angel de la Guarda I. and from San Esteban I. are not morphologically distinguishable from those collected on the mainland. It would thus appear that the mite parasite has not changed morphologically, while precinctive populations of the host have changed rather markedly. Chuckwallas are vegetarian lizards usually found frequenting dry washes and rocky outcroppings. Near Las Arrastras, in Baja California Norte, Sauromalus obesus was quite abundant on rocks during the early morning hours in May 1962. This region affords excellent protection for lizards due to the fact that many of the rocks and boulders have fractured extensively, resulting in numerous cracks and crevices. S. hispidus inhabits burrows along dry washes, boulder piles, and former gas pockets (vesicles) in volcanic rocks. A burrow some 6 ft in length was excavated in consolidated soil and gravel on southeastern Angel

Origin and Distribution of Glauconites and Related Clay Aggregates on Sea Floor off Southern California: ABSTRACT

Studies have been made of about 1,300 glauconitic samples from the sea floor off southern California, in Monterey Bay, California, and off Cedros Island, Baja California. The principal depositional environments are continental terraces, banks, ridges, and basin slopes. Clay aggregates that probably would be designated as glauconite, according to contemporary field usage of the term by geologists, grade from relatively soft, pale yellow-green, highly expandable montmorillonitic types to dark green, illitic types. As lattice thickness [d(001)] of these different types increases, the refractive index and potassium content decreases. The organic nitrogen content is greatest in highly expandable varieties. Glauconite may compose from less than 1 per cent to about 80 per cent of the upper few centimeters of sediment. Maximum concentrations occur in the sediments from the outer shelf and upper slope areas, but the distribution is patchy, both areally and vertically, within these sediments. Glauconite is rare in water depths of less than 100 feet. Off southern California, glauconites that probably have been deposited from turbidity currents occur in near-surface sediments from the continental rise and on the abyssal floor. Living benthonic Foraminifera of the same species as those that are filled with expandable glauconite occur in water depths that range from approximately 100 feet to 6,000 feet. Specimens of the genus Cassidulina are common in Foraminiferal faunas that contain abundant glauconite-filled tests. Glauconite replaces argillaceous sedimentary rock, mineral grains, organic carbonate, and probable fecal pellets. Some spheroidal-ellipsoidal and irregular-papillate forms appear to be of accretionary origin. The mineralogy and morphology of fillings in Foraminifera indicate that they are probably deposited by direct precipitation. Distinctive morphological varieties of glauconite are not everywhere randomly distributed, but are commonly concentrated in localized areas, which indicates that variations in morphology may be caused by local conditions of origin. Glauconites have been recognized that are reworked from Pliocene, and perhaps Miocene, submarine outcrops. Foraminiferal tests that are filled with glauconite range in age from Pliocene to Recent and from Pleistocene to Recent. No direct evidence of present-day formation of glauconite has been found. End_of_Article - Last_Page 275------------

Winter Population of Pinnipeds about Guadalupe, San Benito, and Cedros Islands, Baja California

Between January 27 and February 10, 1950, as guests of Joseph W. Sefton, Jr., a scientific party, including the authors, visited Guadalupe, San Benito, and Cedros islands aboard the Research Ship Orca of the Joseph W. Sefton Foundation. The primary purposes of this trip were to determine if there still exists on Guadalupe Island a population of the Guadalupe fur seal, Arctocephalus townsendi Merriam, of which a single adult male had recently been seen on San Nicolas island, California (see below), and to study further the numbers and biology of all the pinnipeds on these Baja California islands. Records were made of all individuals seen at sea and censuses were taken of the pinniped populations on each island. These observations yielded a hitherto unavailable picture of the winter population in this area. No harbor seals, Phoca vitulina geronimensis Allen, were seen on any of the islands, although according to Goldman (1951: 407) they still occur on Guadalupe Island. We have found no confirmation of this report.

The New York Disability Benefits System. I. An Appraisal of the New York Disability Benefits Law

New York was the fourth state to enact a disability benefits law, following California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. The New York statute has created controversy, and the discussion herewith presented points up the nature of that controversy. The dispute as to the merits of the New York law will hardly be settled by the discussion herein presented, and the editors expect the discussion to be continued in the pages of this periodical. Robert Tilove is research director of Martin E. Segal & Co., consultants on group health, group insurance, and pension programs, with offices in the City of New York. M. William Zucker is director of the Governmental Affairs Department of the Commerce and Industry Association of New York. Comments are by Herman A. Gray, member of the faculty of New York University and formerly chairman of the New York State Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council; Solomon Barkin, director of research, Textile Workers Union of America (CIO); Lazare Teper, director of the Research Department, International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union; Martin F. Hilfinger, president of Associated Industries of New York State; Charles W. Rivoire, assistant secretary of W. T. Grant Company; and Harold R. Elliot, comptroller of Wellington-Sears Company. The statements made by the writers are entirely their own and do not necessarily represent the views of their organizations. EDITOR preserve maximum scope in private enterprise. A compulsory disability benefits law is an extension into new territory of the state's interest in public welfare. In our earlier forms of social insurance, the responsibility of the state was more apparent. Workmen's compensation substituted for the existing liabilities of emp loyers. Unemployment compensation and the old-age and survivors insurance program cover risks for which the responsibility of society can readily be established. Disability insurance laws cover a different sort of hazard. They compensate for wage loss due to temporary nonoccupational disability, a risk attributable neither to the employment nor especially to society. Moreover, the hazard is one against which many individual groups are able to protect themselves. Nevertheless, compulsory legislation is increasingly regarded as necessary if comprehensive coverage is to be assured. Four American jurisdictions preceded New York in enacting such a law: Rhode Island (1942), Congress in its legislation for railroad workers (1946), California (1946), and New Jersey (1948). In all of these instances, a pre-existing tax for unemployment insurance was converted to use for disability benefits, a relatively painless process. New York's enactment,

THE COLEOPTERA OF SANTA CRUZ ISLAND, CALIFORNIA

The “List of the Coleoptera of the Southern California Islands—” published by the senior author in 1897 (Can. Ent. 29, 1897, 233-244) was the result of more or less sporadic collecting upon the Channel Islands by several parties, few of them trained collectors of insects.

The Fur Seal of the California Islands with new descriptive and historical matter

The Fur Seal of the California Islands with new descriptive and historical matter