The 2008 Joint Meeting of the Society for Range Management and the America Forage and Grassland Council. |
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
37
Determining Habitat Preferences and Site Potential of Fremontodendron californicum in the southern Mazatzal Mountain region, Arizona
Theresa L. Price and William Miller. Applied Biological Sciences, Arizona State University Polytechnic, 7001 E. Williams Field Road, Mesa, AZ 85212
The goal of this study was to identify several environmental and habitat conditions occuring at sites where the chaparral shrub Fremontodendron californicum (California flannelbush) is located within the southern Mazatzal Mountains of central Arizona . This species has been found infrequently in Arizona, chiefly in the Mazatzal and Superstition Mountains of Maricopa and Gila Counties , with scattered occurrences in Yavapai and Pima Counties as well. It is hypothesized that F. californicum habitat may not be as readily available in Arizona than in California, where this shrub is more common, which may contribute to the limited distribution found in Arizona . By utilizing GIS tools several environmental components have been identified at known F. californicum sites within this area and were used to create a mathematical expression of habitat potential. This mathematical expression was used to explore a larger region surrounding the southern Mazatzal and Superstition Mountains to determine additional potential habitat sites for this shrub species. This evaluation determined whether the specified environmental parameters of the GIS model were greatly influencing the distribution of F. californicum in central Arizona. These results may assist in explaining the limited distribution of this shrub in Arizona.