Remote sensing is increasingly being used to quantify vegetation biomass across large areas, often with algorithms based on calibrated relationships between biomass and indices such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). To improve capacity to evaluate grassland dynamics over time, we examined the influence of phenological changes on NDVI–biomass relationships in annual grasses. Our findings support the use of NDVI throughout early growth and the beginning stages of canopy maturation, but suggest caution for later stages. In contrast, measurements of fractional photosynthetically active radiation (fAPAR) absorbed by the canopy and leaf area index (LAI) served as good season‐long surrogates for canopy biomass. Canopies reached maximum biomass approximately 40 days after maximum greenness, with biomass increasing by approximately 20% during senescence. For multi‐year studies of management impact (i) avoid using seasonal comparisons from dates much after the point of maximum greenness or (ii) consider non‐NDVI‐based approaches.

Background: Carrizo Plain National Monument (San Joaquin Desert, California, USA) is home to many threatened and endangered species including the blunt-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia sila). Vegetation is dominated by annual grasses, and shrubs such as Mormon tea (Ephedra californica), which is of relevance to our target species, the federally listed blunt-nosed leopard lizard, and likely also provides key ecosystem services. We used relatively nonintrusive camera traps, or trail cameras, to capture interactions between animals and these shrubs using a paired shrub-open deployment. Cameras were placed within the shrub understory and in open microhabitats at ground level to estimate animal activity and determine species presence. Findings: Twenty cameras were deployed from April 1st, 2015 to July 5th, 2015 at paired shrub-open microsites at three locations. Over 425,000 pictures were taken during this time, of which 0.4 % detected mammals, birds, insects, and reptiles including the blunt-nosed leopard lizard. Trigger rate was very high on the medium sensitivity camera setting in this desert ecosystem, and rates did not differ between microsites. Conclusions: Camera traps are an effective, less invasive survey method for collecting data on the presence or absence of desert animals in shrub and open microhabitats. A more extensive array of cameras within an arid region would thus be an effective tool to estimate the presence of desert animals and potentially detect habitat use patterns.

Species distributions are known to be limited by biotic and abiotic factors at multiple temporal and spatial scales. Species distribution models, however, frequently assume a population at equilibrium in both time and space. Studies of habitat selection have repeatedly shown the difficulty of estimating resource selection if the scale or extent of analysis is incorrect. Here, we present a multi-step approach to estimate the realized and potential distribution of the endangered giant kangaroo rat. First, we estimate the potential distribution by modeling suitability at a range-wide scale using static bioclimatic variables. We then examine annual changes in extent at a population-level. We define “available” habitat based on the total suitable potential distribution at the range-wide scale. Then, within the available habitat, model changes in population extent driven by multiple measures of resource availability. By modeling distributions for a population with robust estimates of population extent through time, and ecologically relevant predictor variables, we improved the predictive ability of SDMs, as well as revealed an unanticipated relationship between population extent and precipitation at multiple scales. At a range-wide scale, the best model indicated the giant kangaroo rat was limited to areas that received little to no precipitation in the summer months. In contrast, the best model for shorter time scales showed a positive relation with resource abundance, driven by precipitation, in the current and previous year. These results suggest that the distribution of the giant kangaroo rat was limited to the wettest parts of the drier areas within the study region. This multi-step approach reinforces the differing relationship species may have with environmental variables at different scales, provides a novel method for defining “available” habitat in habitat selection studies, and suggests a way to create distribution models at spatial and temporal scales relevant to theoretical and applied ecologists.

Environmental factors shape the distributions of organisms and their underlying patterns of genetic variation. When climate changes rapidly, organisms that are adapted to current environments may become maladapted to future climates. Long‐lived tree species are especially susceptible to climate maladaptation due to their sessile nature and long generation times. Understanding how foundational tree species will respond to future climate, both in adaptive ability and distribution shifts, is imperative for effective management and conservation of tree populations and the ecosystems they comprise. Here, we used whole genome sequences from 163 individuals of blue oak ( Quercus douglasii ) to determine predicted adaptedness, the degree to which an organism can survive and reproduce in future climate, based on landscape genomic models, compare those genomic predictions with ecological niche model predictions, and propose seed sourcing and restoration site strategies to increase the adaptedness of stands at preserves managed by The Nature Conservancy. Both ecological and genomic models predict that blue oak stands will be more susceptible to future climate along the Sierra Nevada basin, with patches of higher climate adaptedness along the central coast of California. To test whether management practices could increase adaptedness of blue oak stands, we examined the impact of seed source and restoration site choice on future stands. Regardless of restoration site category, our expectation held true that future maladaptation risk is reduced the most when using seed sources preadapted to the future climate of the restoration site. However, restoration sites containing stands with high habitat suitability and high climate adaptedness always did best. We conclude that strategic conservation and management strategies utilizing seed transfer from climate‐adapted stands may improve the future health of blue oak stands susceptible to future climate.