CNDDB News Blog

The hot summer days have not stopped people from going out into the field and exploring the great outdoors. Here are a couple of great Online Field Survey Form photos that were submitted to us in July:

Antrozous pallidus – pallid bat

Submitted by Veronica Wunderlich

Veronica found this pallid bat in a sticky situation – clinging to branches in a pond, unable to get out. She helped relocate it to a safe and dry spot. The pallid bat is an insectivore and typically catches insects found on the ground. CNDDB currently has 420 occurrences in 49 counties across California for this Species of Special Concern. Thank you, Veronica for this submission and the cool story behind the photo!

Castilleja ambigua var. humboldtiensis – Humboldt Bay owl’s-clover

Submitted by Crystal Welch, Botany Technician with BLM office in Arcata, CA

Crystal, a Humboldt State University grad, professes her good fortune in being able to explore the diverse botanical communities that Humboldt County has to offer, and attributes her love of the natural world to the experiences she has had in Humboldt. A word straight from Crystal, “I love every minute of being outside and contributing to the greater scientific community!”

This amazing little annual was found in a salt marsh in Humboldt County. It is endemic to California and is commonly found in coastal salt marshes and swamps along the northern coast. Castilleja ambigua var. humboldtiensis more commonly goes by the name Humboldt Bay owl’s-clover. It is listed as a 1B.2 (rare throughout its range) in the California Rare Plant Ranking system and you can see these amazing little flowers from April through August, perfect for those summer hikes! Thank you, Crystal, for all the hard work you do and the love you hold for our beautiful world.

Do you have some great photos of rare plants or wildlife detections? Submit them along with your findings through our Online Field Survey Form and see if your photos get showcased!

Left: Orobanche parishii ssp. brachyloba (CRPR 4) by Katie Ferguson; Middle: Orobanche bulbosa, (common) by Kristi Lazar; Right: Orobanche fasciculata (common) by Katie Ferguson

These fascinating parasitic plants are always a treat to find in the wild with their alien-looking flower stalks emerging straight from the ground and no leaves to be seen.

The genus Orobanche is home to parasitic plants that lack chlorophyll, and therefore completely depend on their host plant for nutrition. Some species are only able to parasitize a single host species, while others can survive on a wide variety of hosts. If you spot one, be sure to note the other plant species growing nearby so you can identify potential hosts.

Orobanche are often referred to by their common name “broomrape” which comes from the English word broom (referring to the shrubby plants in the pea family that broomrapes often parasitize) and the Latin word “rapum” (which roughly translates to “tuber”). Although recent phylogenetic studies now place all broomrapes found in California into the genus Aphyllon, for now CNDDB still uses the former genus name Orobanche.

CNDDB currently tracks four species of Orobanche, including Orobanche parishii ssp. brachyloba (California Rare Plant Rank 4.2). O. parishii ssp. brachyloba is found in coastal bluff scrub and coastal dunes on the Channel Islands and southern coast of California, with its range slightly extending into Mexico. It is most commonly found near Isocoma menziesii, which is presumed to be the preferred host plant for this species. The few remaining mainland populations are highly threatened by coastal urban development; however it is found to be widespread on several of the Channel Islands. If you see O. parishii ssp. brachyloba or any other rare broomrapes in the wild, be sure to submit your observation with our CNDDB Online Field Survey Form!

Tony McKinney is the Branch Chief for the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Information Technology divisions at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office (CFWO). His GIS Team, which includes Emilie Luciani and Ed Turner, maintains a continually-updated geospatial database of federally threatened and endangered species occurrences within the Carlsbad office’s area of responsibility – which encompasses 12.9 million acres, 28 Congressional districts, and 29 federally recognized tribes across southern California.

Rapid development occurring in southern California in the mid-1990s spurred federal, state, and local stakeholders to initiate planning programs to help conserve threatened and endangered species. These planning tools included federal Habitat Conservation Plans (HCP), and the state’s Natural Communities Conservation Program (NCCP). As the HCP/NCCP processes began, CFWO staff realized that tracking biogeographical observations of at-risk species would be essential to the planning process.

To keep up with the ESA Section 10A(1)a survey reports that poured in, the CFWO initiated an in-house mapping program modeled after CNDDB, except observations are kept as individual records rather than combined into spatio-temporal summaries. The CFWO species observations database currently contains over 26,000 records, and is regularly shared with CNDDB, as well as numerous consultants, agencies, and other stakeholders. The CFWO database is used in conjunction with CNDDB to inform the HCP/NCCP planning process, which is on track to conserve areas of important biological diversity across 12,500 square miles in southern California over the next 50 to 75 years. Together, the federal and state databases are also used to help determine if native species warrant federal Endangered Species Act protection, and to delineate critical habitat for listed species.

The GIS Team at the CFWO has nearly 100 years cumulative GIS experience, with nearly 75 of those years at the Carlsbad Office. They come from diverse backgrounds, and have worked on numerous conservation projects, including greater sage grouse listing, the San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Program, San Bernardino kangaroo rat critical habitat, Laysan albatross on Midway Atoll assessment, coastal California gnatcatcher critical habitat, and the Western Riverside Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan. CNDDB is indebted to Tony and his team for their continuing contributions to CNDDB. We look forward to growing interagency partnerships for the advancement of conservation throughout the state!