NH Dragonfly Survey

Posted on May 17, 2012 by MadelineBodin

Five years, 100 volunteers and more than 18,000 records of dragonflies and damselflies went in to the completion of the New Hampshire Dragonfly Survey.

The survey shows exactly what a good long look can do for the understanding of species population levels and distribution. The NH Fish and Game press release says:

“The good news is that most of the rarer species turned out to be far more common than previously believed,” said Dr. Pamela Hunt, who coordinated the project for NH Audubon. “We even doubled the number of sites for the state’s only endangered dragonfly – the ringed boghaunter – from 8 to 15.” Particularly impressive was the increase in sites known to support the scarlet bluet, a small red damselfly that likes lily pads. “This species was unknown in the state until 2002, and at the start of the dragonfly survey there were only five sites,” says Hunt. “Now they’re known from over 40 sites.

Read the NH Fish and Game press release on the dragonfly survey here.
Read the 54-page dragonfly survey final report here. (PDF)

Photo: Paddle-tailed darner, not a NH dragonfly, but what a photo. Photo by Tom Kogut, courtesy of the US Forest Service

ESA Truce Is Tested Already

Posted on May 16, 2012 by MadelineBodin

When two environmental groups reached an agreement with the US Fish and Wildlife Service last year, pending court cases on the endangered species status of hundreds of species were settled as well.

An article last week in the Washington Post says that the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s decisions on dozens of freshwater snails, and some other 500 species so far was the easy part.

Now a decision is needed on two species that could have significant impact on development in the West, the article says: the dunes sagebrush lizard and the lesser prairie chicken. With oil wells and wind turbines at stake, any decision is likely to mean some angst for the Obama administration, the article says, and may threaten the fragile legal settlement with the environmental groups.

Read the entire Washington Post article, here.

Photo: Lesser prairie chicken, courtesy of the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture

Red Fox: Wanderer or Introduced?

Posted on May 15, 2012 by MadelineBodin

IUCN Species Survival Commission Invasive Species Specialist Group listed the red fox among its 100 worst invasive species.The question in North America has long been: Where has the red fox been introduced and where has it expanded its range naturally?

A recent paper in the Journal of Mammalogy attempts to winnow the wanderer from the introduced by comparing mitochondrial DNA. The study didn’t find any European haplotypes in wild red fox populations in North American.

(You’ll need to read the paper yourself to determine whether the methodology was sufficient to truly determine Eurasian lineage.)

In the southeastern US, the study found the foxes originated in eastern Canada and the northeastern US. Out West, the genetic picture was muddier, with evidence of translocations from across the continent as well as more local expansion of mountain populations.

Read the Journal of Mammalogy paper here. (Open access.)

Photo: Red fox by Jim Thiele, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

Red Fox: Wanderer or Introduced?

Posted on May 15, 2012 by MadelineBodin

(You’ll need to read the paper yourself to determine whether the methodology was sufficient to truly determine Eurasian lineage.)

Read the Journal of Mammalogy paper here. (Open access.)

Photo: Red fox by Jim Thiele, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

Be Bear Aware in May

Posted on May 14, 2012 by MadelineBodin

The California Department of Fish and Game sent out a press release reminding people to act responsibly in bear country, and offered tips for bear-proofing a camp site. The New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife is offering a free DVD of an hour-long documentary entitled “Living with New Jersey Black Bears.” Another press release was issued by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

May is “Be Bear Aware” Month. Other activities include Bear Awareness Week at the Detroit Zoo, which features polar bears and seems to be a little outside of the original theme for the month, which has a focus on safety.

The bear-themed month appears to be the brainchild of the Center for Wildlife Information. There was even a Congressional declaration about four years ago, proclaiming May as bear awareness month.

The state of Alaska declared its bear awareness week to be in April.

California Department of Fish and Game press release.
New Jersey Division of Fish & Game free bear DVD announcement.
Center for Wildlife Information’s Be Bear Aware info.
Detroit Daily Tribune story on the Detroit Zoo’s bear awareness week.
Connecticut DEEP press release.

Photo: Black bear, courtesy of the California Department of Fish and Game.

Caribou Cam

Posted on May 11, 2012 by MadelineBodin

It’s not easy studying the behavior of woodland caribou. If it’s not deep snow and freezing temperatures, then it’s bugs. Lots of bugs. However, a team of Canadian researchers attached high resolution cameras to five caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) and recorded video and took GPS readings for 20 weeks.

caribou, rangifer caribou, by Erwin & Peggy Bauer, 7/93. 11444, 102.3.16

Not the woodland caribou in the study. Other woodland caribou.

According to their paper in the Wildlife Society Bulletin, the resolution on the video was good enough for the scientists to identify the plant species that the caribou ate. Six percent of the footage was unusable because of fogging or snow, but for the most part the project removed some of the mystery of woodland caribou behavior.

“Critter Cams” have been used by the National Geographic Society, in part, if not mostly, to create entertaining videos for the general public, but in this case, the caribou cam has contributed information on an otherwise difficult to study animal.

Read the Wildlife Society Bulletin paper here. (Requires subscription or fee.)

Photo: Woodland caribou, photo by Erwin and Peggy Bauer, courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service

Prairie Chicken and Sage Grouse Reintroductions

Posted on May 10, 2012 by MadelineBodin

Male greater prairie chicken Greater prairie chickens are booming again this spring in Wah-Kon-Tah Prairie, Missouri. The species had been extirpated from the area until five years ago when the Missouri Department of Conservation translocated some greater prairie chickens from Kansas.

State biologists studying the birds have learned a lot about their habitat needs and have been surprised by the interplay between the donor population back in Kansas and the newly-established Missouri population.

The restoration offers hope to other states and regions trying to restore the greater prairie chicken, which is an endangered species in Missouri, when there is limited habitat available.

In Alberta, Canada, a two-year project to relocate some 40 sage grouse from Montana appears to be successful, says an article in the Calgary Herald. Human development, including oil drilling, had nearly wiped the species out in the province. Last year, poor weather hurt the reproduction of the introduced birds, but this year biologists believe the birds are nesting.

Stable Isotopes for Mammal Studies

Posted on May 9, 2012 by MadelineBodin

Stable isotope analysis can used to determine migration, diet, niche, parasite–host interactions, or condition of mammalian species. You’ve just got to know the tricks of the trade. (A mass spectrometer comes in handy, too.)

The April issue of the Journal of Mammalogy offers a primer on using stable isotope analysis in mammals. The 10 papers are based on a symposium at the 90th annual meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists in Laramie, Wyoming, in June 2010. One of the papers in the section aims to be a beginner’s guide, explaining the concepts and the techniques.

Best of all, the papers in this special section are open access. Read the April issue of the Journal of Mammalogy, here.

Citizen Science Season: Turtles, Birds, and Disease

Posted on May 8, 2012 by MadelineBodin

avian boultism monitoring volunteer Where did the turtle cross the road? A citizen scientist has the answer, particularly in Massachusetts, where over the last few years citizen scientists have been tracking turtle crossings as part of the Turtle Roadway Mortality Monitoring Program. Volunteers are trained by Linking Landscapes for Massachusetts Wildlife, a partnership between Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (DFW), Department of Transportation (DOT) Highway Division and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

The training will take place next week.

Get more info on Linking Landscapes for Massachusetts Wildlife, here.
Read the press release in iBerkshires.com

Next week is also when Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control wildlife biologist Matthew Bailey will introduce volunteers to monitor the state’s endangered piping plovers and other beach-nesting birds, and protect them from disturbance.

There will be lots of training sessions for avian botulism monitors on Lake Michigan, perhaps because avian botulism is no where near as cute as either a piping plover or a turtle and you need to cast a wider net to get people to volunteer. Still, 44 citizen scientists volunteered with the US Geological Survey’s avian botulism monitoring program last year.

Maps Will Describe Critical Habitat in ESA Listings

Posted on May 7, 2012 by MadelineBodin

USFWS critical habitat portal Is a picture worth a thousand words? The US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) think a map is worth several pages of text. Both governmental entities are planning on replacing the long written descriptions of critical habitat for Endangered Species Act (ESA) listings in the Federal Register with a map. Make that an on-line map.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service says that the map will be an easier way to describe an area. Up until now, the areas have been described in the Federal Register like this:

Land bounded by the following UTM Zone 18, NAD 83 coordinates (E,N): 733143, 99288; 733053, 99268; 733055, 99291; 733065, 99309; 733055, 99320; 733048, 99344; 733053, 99364; 733090, 99377; 733140, 99370; 733143, 99288.

While surely no one will miss that kind of prose style, providing a link instead of including all the necessary information in the Federal Register notice will mean that the vital information about the listing will not be in one place, which was always at least part of the point of the Federal Register. It’s also easy to imagine maps being created in formats that become obsolete or the funding for maintain the database getting cut.

The change takes effect on May 31, 2012. All ESA listings after that date will include a link to an on-line map instead of a written description.

Read the US Fish and Wildlife Service press release here.
It will send you to this web page on Critical Habitat for more information.
That page will send you to this example of an on-line map designating critical habitat.

Photo: The US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Critical Habitat Portal

State Wildlife Research News

Tools for wildlife management in the public interest

Monthly Archives: May 2012

NH Dragonfly Survey

ESA Truce Is Tested Already

Red Fox: Wanderer or Introduced?

Red Fox: Wanderer or Introduced?

Be Bear Aware in May

Caribou Cam

Prairie Chicken and Sage Grouse Reintroductions

Stable Isotopes for Mammal Studies

Citizen Science Season: Turtles, Birds, and Disease

Maps Will Describe Critical Habitat in ESA Listings