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In Wildlife Conservation

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A Big Idea for Small Mammal Diversity Modeling

This story was published by the National Ecological Observatory Network.

https://www.neonscience.org/impact/observatory-blog/big-idea-small-mammal-diversity-modeling

You can’t see chipmunks, mice and voles from an airplane—especially when they are scampering beneath the forest canopy or burrowing in the ground. But a new modeling approach could allow researchers to use remote sensing lidar data to predict small mammal biodiversity based on the structure of vegetation in an area.

The study was led by Sarah Schooler, now a Ph.D. candidate at State University of New York (SUNY)–Syracuse, and Harold Zald of the Humboldt State University Department of Forestry and Wildland Resources. Sarah’s experience working as a seasonal NEON field botanist inspired her to find innovative ways to use data from the NEON project. Lidar Prediction of Small Mammal Diversity in Wisconsin, published in Remote Sensing, explores how measurements of vegetation structure created with lidar data could be used to predict the diversity of small mammal communities.

A Lidar-based Predictive Model for Small Mammal Diversity

Sarah’s inspiration for the study came from her work with the NEON project and her experiences with her mentor and professor at Humboldt State, Dr. Harold Zald. His advanced remote sensing class introduced her to remote sensing methods and gave her the skills she needed to put the data to work.

Vegetation structure is known to be correlated with diversity for many taxa of animals, including birds, mammals and insects. A single forest can provide a range of habitats, from areas with dense canopy cover and a relatively open understory to areas with a thick understory of brush, shrubs and a variety of herbaceous plants. Different animal species prefer different types of habitats. Most models predict that areas with more diverse vegetation structure will also support more diverse animal communities.

Traditionally, vegetation structure has been evaluated with painstaking fieldwork. Lidar (Light Detection And Ranging) is a remote sensing system that uses pulses of light to measure vegetation height and 3D structure. The NEON project uses lidar data collected using the Airborne Observation Platforms (AOPs) to construct 3D models of vegetation structure at NEON terrestrial field sites. Using lidar, researchers can quickly gather information about canopy height and complexity, canopy cover, and understory complexity over very large areas.

Sarah wanted to find out whether lidar data could be used to predict small mammal diversity at the NEON field sites in Wisconsin. Using small mammal counts and lidar data from the NEON Data Portal, she found that lidar-derived variables (including structural diversity, canopy cover and canopy complexity) were highly predictive of small mammal diversity at the sites. Plots with higher levels of structural diversity and canopy complexity were correlated with more diverse small mammal communities.

NEON structural diversity data used in Sarah Schooler's research

Sarah’s data shows that structural diversity of vegetation is correlated with higher diversity in small mammal populations.

The study suggests that lidar data could be a useful tool for building models of small mammal diversity across large areas. Small mammal diversity is an important indicator of ecosystem health. “This is a proof-of-concept study,” Sarah says. “More work needs to be done to determine whether this model can be applied to other types of ecosystems. But it’s an important first step. Moving forward, hopefully people will expand on it and get concrete data from other ecosystems to build out the predictive model.”

From Plants to Bears, and Everything in Between

Sarah’s interest in data-driven approaches to ecological modeling grew out of her work at the NEON field sites in Wisconsin during the summer of 2017. But her interest in ecology goes back much further than that. Growing up near Madison, Wisconsin, Sarah always had a great appreciation for wildlife and the outdoors. She was thrilled to discover in high school that she could turn these passions into a career in ecology. She went on to earn dual degrees from the University of Washington, with B.S. degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Science and Resource Management, and an M.S. degree in Wildlife Biology from Humboldt State University.

Her field experiences have been varied and far ranging. She has studied bears and salmon with the University of Washington Fisheries Research Institute, served as a Fisheries technician for the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, conducted visual and radio tracking of cranes for the International Crane Foundation, and worked with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources both in the field and in the lab. Her master’s program took her to Kenya to study the ecology of avian insectivores and insect pests on coffee farms.

She first learned about the NEON project in 2017, when she ran across a posting for summer field technicians. That summer, before starting her master’s program, she worked as a Botany Technician for the NEON terrestrial field sites in Wisconsin. This job took her into the woods, fields and wetlands to conduct surveys of plant diversity, assess course woody debris and leaf litter, and collect root samples for analysis.

Sarah says, “This was a great job for me. Working with the NEON project gave me some really important experiences. They treat their employees really well, and you have the opportunity to develop a wide diversity of skills. I would recommend the experience to any recent ecology graduate.”

She also gained exposure in data-driven research methods and became aware of the huge trove of data that is publicly available on the NEON Data Portal. Without that exposure, she says, her paper on small mammal diversity would never have come to pass.

A Lasting Appreciation for Data-Driven Ecology

Sarah is now enrolled in a Ph.D. program at SUNY–Syracuse, in the School of Environmental Science and Forestry. Her current research focus is on timber harvesting and predator-prey relationships between elk and brown bear in the Kodiak Archipelago.

While her current research does not utilize data from the NEON project, Sarah’s work with NEON has given her a lasting appreciation of the power of data-driven research methods in ecology. “I love collecting data, but I’m even more interested in analyzing data,” she says. “As a field technician, you collect the data but you don’t get to see where it leads.”

She sees tremendous value in the data being collected by the NEON project, especially for graduate students. She says, “I wouldn’t have been able to complete [the small mammal diversity study] without the publicly available data from NEON. I had no external funding, and I would never have been able to collect the lidar data on my own. It’s really amazing to have data of this quality and scope available online.”

As she moves into teaching, Sarah plans to introduce her students to NEON data. “Getting fieldwork experience is important, but remote sensing data enables scientists to scale up projects from surveyed plots to larger areas, allowing students and scientists to ask research questions that are not possible with field data alone. It’s a different way of studying ecological trends.”

Humans not directly responsible for North American reptile deaths

A long-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia wislizenii) appears in Arches National Monument. ©gilaman
A long-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia wislizenii) appears in Arches National Monument. ©gilaman

This story was published by Joshua Rapp Learn at The Wildlife Society.
https://wildlife.org/humans-not-directly-responsible-for-north-american-reptile-deaths/

Humans aren’t directly to blame for most North American reptile deaths, according to a large new meta-study that examines a host of research in the United States and Canada.

But they are likely still having an indirect effect on reptile deaths by introducing invasive species and climate change.

“We found that there wasn’t much of an impact of human footprint on reptile mortality. Most of the mortality was from natural causes than human causes,” said Jacob Hill a postdoctoral researcher in wildlife conservation at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and lead author of a new study published in Acta Oecologica.

The study is part of a larger examination using meta-analysis of other research to find the principle causes of death of birds, mammals and amphibians. For this study, Hill and his co-authors focused on reptile mortality.

They looked at 57 studies that tracked reptile populations through GPS devices or other means. The bulk of the reptile populations tracked in the U.S. and Canada were turtles and snakes. The team divided reptile deaths into different categories. Natural death categories included disease, starvation and predation, while human-caused deaths included categories such as directly killing reptiles for harvest, because they were perceived as a threat and vehicle collisions.

They found that 78% of the mortalities occurred due to natural causes while only 22% occurred directly from humans.

Of the direct causes, most reptiles were killed by vehicles. This is likely due to the species’ tendencies to bask on roads and highways, the researchers said. The primary defense turtles use — retreating into their shells — doesn’t work well against cars, Hill said, and snakes — especially venomous ones — don’t typically feel threatened by much at all, and they get hit when they refuse to give up ground to vehicles.

“[Vehicles] can be problematic for reptiles. They have a lot of traits’ that make them very susceptible,” Hill said.

The number of deaths from vehicle collisions didn’t necessarily go up in areas of higher human activity. This suggests that roadkill deaths are more likely due to reptile behavior than an increase in human population, he said.

The causes of reptile deaths differed greatly from the study they did on mammals, which include game species. Those species are often hunted and harvested more than reptile species.

The data in their study didn’t necessarily reflect the whole story of human impact on species, Hill cautions, since humans can indirectly cause reptile deaths by introducing invasive species that prey on them. This could be especially a problem since predation is the highest natural cause of death, according to the study. Climate change or habitat loss can also drive reptiles into marginal environments that can lower their overall survival rate.

Joshua Rapp Learn is a science writer at The Wildlife Society. Contact him at jlearn@wildlife.org with any questions or comments about his article.
Read more of Joshua’s articles.

Camp Fire Lab Finds Group Formation and Territorial Aggression of New Isle Wolves

Wolf movements
GPS locations and home ranges of W001F, W007M, and W013M who have traveled together since March 2019 and W004F that was killed due to territorial aggression.

The National Park Service (NPS) and research partners from the State University of New York – College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) are using data from GPS collars on introduced wolves to monitor associations between individuals and identify possible pack formation. As researchers and NPS staff anticipated, new wolves immediately began interacting with each other. Researchers confirmed introduced wolves were feeding, traveling, sleeping in proximity to each other, and forming groups.

A wolf ‘group’ is characterized by two or more wolves traveling and feeding together. Wolf groups are further defined as a ‘pack’ if groups of two or more wolves are traveling together and/or defending a territory, and if a breeding pair reproduces.  Individual preferences for mating and group or pack formation can be quite variable for a social animal like the wolf. Mate selection and pair bond formation can occur at any time, but wolves only breed and produce pups once per year. Consequently, pack formation can take time. Based on these definitions, there are currently no wolf packs on Isle Royale.

GPS collar data shows three wolves, 1 female and 2 males, have been traveling, feeding, and bedding together since March, 2019 (W001F, W007M, and W013M).  This is the first wolf group to form and remain associated since introduction efforts began. Additionally, two male wolves shared bed sites and carcasses over the summer with several different female wolves, but their associations lack consistency and are currently not defined as wolf groups. Two female wolves shared bed site areas over the summer (July), but are also not considered a group.  Loose associations are common when smaller prey items like moose calves, beaver and snowshoe hare are abundant on the landscape. These animals are easy prey for a single wolf.

Dr. Jerry Belant, Campfire Conservation Fund Professor at SUNY-ESF and project collaborator added “Wolves are a highly social species and we continue to monitor their movements to document groups, and ultimately pack formations as demonstrated by reproduction.  We developed a public online tool, https://belantlab.shinyapps.io/wolf-networks/ based on these analyses to understand potential associations among these wolves and the areas they occupy.”

Researchers monitoring the GPS collar signals identified two wolf mortality events this fall.  In September, researchers and NPS staff detected a mortality signal and recovered the remains of female W004F. Field evidence and subsequent necropsy at the U.S. Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, WI, determined W004F died from wounds caused by another wolf or wolves. In October just prior to island closing, NPS staff came across the remains of male wolf, M183, one of the two remaining uncollared resident wolves inhabiting Isle Royale prior to introduction efforts. Necropsy revealed that M183 had also been killed by another wolf or wolves. These events are not uncommon as wolves defend and establish their territories and social hierarchy. With many wolves on the island sorting out their relationships with one another, the dynamic nature of wolf social organization, territoriality, and wolf-on-wolf aggression during group and pack formation is not unexpected.

“With the death of the island-born male, travel patterns of the remaining wolves are likely to change significantly, and probably dependent on whether or not the island-born female is still alive, whether she is territorial and how she gets along with the newcomers, both males and females.  She is the final native wolf, never radio-collared, and searching for her will be a priority during the upcoming winter study.” commented Rolf Peterson, a research professor at Michigan Technological University and long-time wolf and moose investigator on Isle Royale.

Summer wolf location cluster investigations documented 122 instances of two or more wolves with overlapping space use. Twenty-nine cases (23.8%) of space use overlap were associated with prey remains and feeding behavior, 68% were associated with bed sites, and wolf use for the remaining 7.4% of sites was unknown or could not be determined.

Researchers continue to monitor location data weekly for evidence the three newest wolves, released on the island in September, are adjusting to their new homes, interacting and forming associations. These wolves are interacting with each other (W017M and W018F were traveling together in late November) and with the wolves released last spring (W018F and W016M traveled together in early November).

NPS and its collaborators will continue to monitor the interactions, group formation, and genetic diversity of new wolves over winter and spring to document breeding (January/February) and denning (April/May) activity in Isle Royale’s wolf population. Closely monitoring social organization will provide insights into the genetic health of the population.  The NPS has partnered with Dr. Kristin Brzeski, wildlife geneticist at MTU, to sequence the Isle Royale wolf genome for long-term monitoring of genetic health of the population.

“We have a unique opportunity to look simultaneously at the past and future of Isle Royale wolves’ genetic health. With the death of M183, we can now more fully understand how genetic isolation and inbreeding impacted the historic wolf population and use that to better monitor the new founders. This is an exciting time and we will be using cutting-edge genetic tools to track reproduction, inbreeding, and genetic change through time, hopefully providing a piece of the puzzle for maintaining a thriving Isle Royale wolf population,” said Dr. Brzeski.

Multiple lines of investigations regarding this population will help the NPS evaluate the success of the project over the next few years. “We are using everything we can in our toolbox to track how this population interacts with each other, prey and the landscape.  We’ll continue to learn as much as we can moving forward to help with the decision to add wolves as needed to meet project objectives and document ecosystem effects.” stated Mark Romanski, the NPS project coordinator and Division Chief of Natural Resources at Isle Royale.

The current population includes 7 females and 8 males. All introduced wolves are from the Great Lakes Region, translocated from northeastern Minnesota (W001F), the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (W017M, W018F, W019M), mainland Ontario, Canada (W005F, W016M), and Michipicoten Island in northeastern Lake Superior, Ontario, Canada (W007M, W009M, W010M, W011F, W012M, W013M, W014F and W015F).

 

This story was first published as a National Park Service press release.

Isle Royale Wolf Project Researchers Document Summer Predation

The National Park Service (NPS) in collaboration with the State University of New York – College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) concluded summer predation monitoring by the wolves introduced to the Isle Royale ecosystem in the fall of 2018 and winter of 2019. This marks the first time wolf predation has been monitored on Isle Royale during snow-free periods. The monitoring effort utilized the most recent advances in the study of wolf predation patterns.

Park staff and research partners from SUNY-ESF used GPS data from collars on the introduced wolves to identify “clusters” of locations that signified areas where wolves spent extended periods of time. Between May and October, field crews visited 381 of these sites, determined wolf behavior associated with site use, and located the remains of 60 prey, including primarily moose, beavers, and snowshoe hares.

Not unexpectedly, researchers found that the new wolves adapted well to the island environment, feeding on the moose and beaver populations of Isle Royale. A little more than half of prey remains (54.5%) were moose, demonstrating introduced wolves had few problems adjusting to this larger prey. Of the moose preyed upon, 63.4% were calves. Although not specifically designed to identify smaller prey, the predation monitoring also revealed the importance of beaver and snowshoe hare in the diets of wolves.

“Combining recent advances in technology with our knowledge of predator-prey relations will provide new insights, not only in the year-round foraging ecology of wolves on Isle Royale, but their overall role in this island ecosystem,” said Dr. Jerry Belant, Professor at SUNY-ESF and collaborative partner on wolf research.
Along with other research designed to identify ecosystem effects, the NPS and researchers from Michigan Technological University (MTU) and SUNY-ESF will continue to document wolf predation each winter and summer to monitor the restoration of wolf predation, its effects on Isle Royale’s moose population, and more importantly, the health of the island community as a whole.

GPS data led to the discovery of 24 moose carcasses by investigators and volunteers associated with MTU that will assist their long-term research, specifically the reconstruction of moose population estimates over time. Rolf Peterson, a research professor from MTU who helps direct citizen science teams of “Moosewatch” volunteers in the field, stated “our team members found it fascinating to explore clusters of wolf locations from last winter and spring, trying to locate bones from moose that had been killed or scavenged by wolves.”

In collaboration with several federal, provincial, state, tribal, and university partners, NPS is interested in investigating broad ecosystem change as the island adjusts to the return of predation, a key process in the ecosystem community dynamics of Isle Royale. This research will provide tangible evidence to help the NPS evaluate the success of its management actions as the project continues over the next few years.

“Restoring wolves is really about restoring integrity and resiliency to the ecosystem; making the ecosystem whole. Capturing the effects on the ecosystem as a result of our management actions is paramount to measuring the success of the program”, said Mark Romanski, Division Chief for Natural Resources at Isle Royale NP and project coordinator for the wolf translocation efforts.

The NPS and its collaborators will continue to monitor the new wolves as they settle into the island environment and to document ecosystem changes; wolf predation being just one of many metrics used to evaluate this ecosystem restoration effort.

This story was adapted from a press release from Isle Royale National Park.

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