8/14/2019 Waucoba News Vol. 7 No. 4 Autumn 1983

1/2

'Waucoba GJVewsSponsored by The Bishop Museum & Histor ical Society, Bishop, Ca. 93514 Volume VI I No. 4Founded and Edited by Enid A. Larson, Box 265, Big Pine, Ca. 93513 AUTUMN 1983Subscription: Four 9 t1 long stamped self-addressed envelopes 4 issues per year

or a m e m b e r s h i p ~ $ 5 . 0 0) in Bishop Museum

Yellow-bel l iedMarmot

(Marmo1a f lav iven t r i s ) ., .

Sketch byDian R. Mawby

__ Hannah c.arey+-llC-Dilllj s has ' i l a n e ~ M~ : s t t i d ; ' ; ' ~ l ~ i e f lin the--White Mountainsin Inyo County Cal i forn ia .

Her study invest igated the inf luence of predator vigi lance on the feeding behavior ofyel low-bel l ied marmots (Marmota f lav iven t r i s ) in the White Mountains o f Californiao Shediscovered tha t marmots spent 10.2% of t he i r foraging time looking up, a behavior whichi s necessary fo r predator avoidance but reduces t he i r ra te of food in take . She foundtha t more t ime was spent looking up when alarm ca l l s were emit ted by others of t h e i rspecies than in the absence of c a l l s . Vigilance time was reduced when marmots fe d in

groups, and in areas with many sa fe ty burrows and open vegetat ion. These r e su l t ssuggested tha t the cos t of ant i -preda tor behavior in reduced feeding ra tes may be minimizen by adjust ing the time spent in vigi lance re la t ive to the r i sk of predat ion.Juveni les and yearl ings spent more time looking up while feeding than did adul t s . Juveni les also appeared to be more sens i t ive to the fac tors t ha t inf luenced vig i lance thanwere older animals; t h i s may be due to the grea te r nu t r i t i ona l demands of young, growinganimals coupled with a higher suscept ib i l i ty to predat ion. The importance of behaviortha t reduced the cos t /benef i t r a t i o of vig i lance during foraging may l i e in the se lect ive value of a t ta in ing adequate fa t s tores as rapidly as possible during the hibernat o r ' s ac t ive season,

Hannah CareyUniv. Nevada, Reno

An Update on the Junipers of California

Science i s a process in which new information i s constant ly being added. Here i s whatJohn Thomas Howell. Cal i forn ia Academy of Science in San Francisco has wri t ten :

tlln the Spring1983 i s sue of the Waucoba News you wri te tha t " in Cal i forn ia there are3 species of jun iper. " Actually there are 4 species by present-day count--you omittedth e Dwarf Juniper tha t i s with us as a subprostrate creeping shrub. I know of i t a tsca t te red s ta t ions in the northern Sierra only as fa r south as Mono Pass eas t of TuolumneMeadows (not th e southern Mono Pass a t th e head of Mono Creek, Fresno Co.) . There was af ine specimen draped over rocks on th e Tioga Pass Road j u s t eas t of the pass in Mono Co.;

hope i t i s s t i l l there , though i t was precariously close to tha t much-traveled highway.

According to Sudworth (Forest Trees of the Pacif ic Slope, p. 176) the "Dwarf Juniperi s

more widely dis t r ibu ted than any other t ree inhabi t ing the northern ha l f of the globe"- - a noteworthy fac t repeated by L i t t l e (Checklist of United Sta tes Trees, 1979, p. 154)0In i t s dis t r ibu t ion nlany loca l races have developed and numerous names, spec i f ic an dva r i e t a l , have been given to them. The name L i t t l e accepts for our Paci f ic (Oast var ian ti s Juniperus communis varosaxa t i l i s ( the va r i e t a l name used by Munz, Cal i f . Flora p. 63).

I

http:///reader/full/membership~$5.00http:///reader/full/membership~$5.00

8/14/2019 Waucoba News Vol. 7 No. 4 Autumn 1983

2/2

I

In i t s dis t r ibu t ion many loca l races have developed and numerous names, spec i f ic andvar i e t a l , have been given to them. The name L i t t l e accepts for our Paci f ic coast var ian ti s Juniperus communis var. s axa t i l i s ( the var i e t a l name used by Munz, Cal i f . Flora p.63).However, with the ey e of a botanical h o r t i c u l t u r a l i s t , James Roof would recognize 3named va r i e t i e s and severa l unnamed forms as growing in Cal i forn ia and adjacent Oregon(The Four Seasons vol . 4, no. 3, pp . 1-9. 1973):

' ~ h i l ewe are wri t ing about var ian ts in the Dwarf Juniper, we might mention two othervar ian t jun ipers in California tha t have been given names. The magnificent venerableSier ra Juniper i s d i s t inc t enough from the typ ica l Western Juniper to warrant subspecif ic recognit ion, J . occ iden ta l i s s s p . a u s t r a l i s o I t ranges south from the vic in i ty ofSusanvil le , whereas the typical ssp. occ iden ta l i s ranges northward to Washington andIdaho.

"In the California Juniper i s a d i s t i nc t ive columnar form tha t Ernest Twisselman andnamed for i t s discoverer, Robert Luthey of Kernvil le . Juniperus ca l i fo rn ica forma

Luthegana i s of rare sporadic occurrence in the Sonoran h i l l s bounding the va l ley ofthe South Fork of the Kern River in Kern Co. One of these columnar individuals may beseen near the road from Bodfish to Havilah j u s t south of the Bodfish Gap.

"The common name, jun iper, tha t we use i s taken direc t ly from the c l a s s i ca l Latinname for the plant , Juniperus . The common name in I t a l i an i s "ginepro" and in Frenchi s "genevrier." From these common names comes the English word gin ( the l iquor, notth e cot ton-gin!) and the name of the Swiss c i t y, Geneva. The word Juniper appeared inEnglish writ ings in th e 14th and 15th centuries when i t was variously spel led G y n e p ~ e ,Iunipere, or Iunyperis (according to the Oxford English Dict ionary) . In A l ! 1 ~ i ( ! E ; t t .!"twas spel led Juniper in the 1700' s . " - - J . T. Howell. "Pc'

KIT FOX

Vulpes macrot is

Sketch by Dian R. Mawby

,'"

A small desert res ident that feeds on evening. Within one week th e pai r changedrabbi t s , rodents , and insec ts . I t ha s locat ion of th is densi te and moved. Theslender legs and l a rge ears . This mammal adul t male as well as the female foragei s nocturnal , with dens on h i l ly slopes. and bring food to t he i r young.I t produces as many as 8 young in a l i t t e r .The dens have mUltiple entrances. I t l ivesin Death Valley, Eureka Valley and DeepSprings. Pensteman f lor idus ssp aus t i n i i was

blooming along the Loret ta Mine Road j u s tThis animal i s fu l ly protected in eas t o f the summit of Inyo mountains.

Cal i forn ia . Department of Fish and Game (below the summit)placed i t s dis t r ibut ion in Owens Valleyas fa r north as the southern end of I t was an apparent second blooming withTinemaha Reservoir. 2- 3 fee t long stems with many fu l l bloom

flowers and many buds yet to bloom -In April , 1983, a pai r was sighted weather wil l ing .along the Westgard road by Steven Fos te r,

Bi g Pine. Derham Giuliani confirmed the I s t h i s second blooming usual?den loca t ion and 8 young were seen each - - Mary Ann Henry

Ridgecrest, CA