Current Conservation Efforts May Not Be Enough for California’s Central Valley Waterbirds: Clark's grebe sitting on a nest at Thermalito Afterbay, California.(Credit: Alex Hartman, U.S. Geological Survey. Public domain.) However, after 2065, a future with a much warmer, drier climate could reduce waterbird habitat by more than 15 percent, and the combination of these climate projections and reduced water supply could cause even greater habitat losses. The study addresses uncertainties in climate, the Central Valley landscape, and the water use and delivery system in order to provide useful information for waterbird habitat conservation planning. Overall, the results indicate that additional wetland restoration and conservation, as well as climate adaptation strategies, may be needed to provide sufficient habitat to support waterbirds in the Central Valley into the future. “By modeling possible rates of urbanization and other variables to inform future conservation planning activities, we believe that wildlife and habitat management in the valley will be more prepared to face uncertain impacts from human-caused stressors on land and water resources,” said Elliott Matchett, lead author and wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Western Ecological Research Center. During winter, the Central Valley of California is a major resting and refueling area for migratory waterbirds throughout the Pacific Flyway. Birds such as ducks, geese, swans, grebes, cranes, herons, egrets and many shorebird species depend on the valley’s wetlands and agricultural fields (particularly rice and corn) as wintering and migration habitat. Sandpipers. Location: Salton Sea, California. (Credit: Doug Barnum, U.S. Geological Survey. Public domain.) To understand how this habitat may be affected by climate, urban development, water supply management options and wetland restoration, researchers from USGS modeled 17 different scenarios with varying realistic levels of these variables from 2006–2099. This is the first study to evaluate the combined effects of projected conditions of climate, urban development and water management on waterbird habitat in the valley. The researchers began by adapting a commonly-used integrated water resources model to account for waterbird habitat under the 17 scenarios. These included three climates (two future and one recent historical), low to high urbanization rates, five water management options and two wetland restoration levels. Climate projections represented either a continuous increase in global human population and greenhouse gasses, resulting in a much warmer, drier climate than in recent decades, or global population and emissions with peaks mid-century, declining thereafter, resulting in a warmer climate with relatively little change in precipitation. The modeling also accounted for slow, moderate and high urbanization rates of agricultural areas. Water supply management options modeled included reduced water supply priorities for certain waterbird habitats and altered water supply management and infrastructure based on the proposed California WaterFix and Suisun Marsh tidal-wetland restoration. The researchers also evaluated current wetland restoration efforts’ ability to offset losses and the effects of no additional wetland restoration. The project was supported by the California Landscape Conservation Cooperative, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Delta Waterfowl Foundation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Central Valley Joint Venture. American White pelican, gulls, sandpipers. Location: Salton Sea, California(Credit: Doug Barnum, U.S. Geological Survey. Public domain.) Credit Douglas Barnum/USGS. A photo of white-faced ibis and gulls feeding on a flooded agricultural field post-harvest. (Credit: Douglas Barnum, U.S. Geological Survey. Public domain.) #biology #usgs

New England’s 1816 “Mackerel Year,” Volcanoes and Climate Change Today: Hundreds of articles have been written about the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history, at Indonesia’s Mt. Tambora just over 200 years ago. But for a small group of New England-based researchers, one more Tambora story needed to be told, one related to its catastrophic effects in the Gulf of Maine that may carry lessons for intertwined human-natural systems facing climate change around the world today. In the latest issue of Science Advances, first author research fellow Karen Alexander at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and 11 others including aquatic ecologists, climate scientists and environmental historians recount their many-layered, multi-disciplinary investigation into the effects of Tambora’s volcanic winter on coastal fish and commercial fisheries. Alexander says, “We approached our study as a forensic examination. We knew that Tambora’s extreme cold had afflicted New England, Europe, China and other places for as long as 17 months. But no one we knew of had investigated coastal ecosystems and fisheries. So, we looked for evidence close to home.” In work that integrates the social and natural sciences, they used historical fish export data, weather readings, dam construction and town growth chronologies and narrative sources, among others, to discover Tambora’s effects on the Gulf of Maine’s complex human and natural system. Penobscot Bay fishermen cleaning mackerel near their saltwater farm. The shore mackerel fishery documented in Alexander and colleagues’ paper lasted for over 100 years. Photo courtesy of NOAA.  The 1815 eruption caused a long lasting, extreme climate event in 1816 known as the “year without a summer.” As volcanic winter settled on much of the Northern Hemisphere, crops failed, livestock died and famine swept over many lands. In New England, crop yields may have fallen by 90 percent. Alexander and colleagues found that 1816 was also called “the mackerel year,” a clue to what they would find regarding fisheries. Besides Tambora’s climate effects, the authors examined other system-wide influences to explain observed trends. These included historical events such as the War of 1812, human population growth, fish habitat obstruction due to dam building and changes in fishing gear that might have affected fisheries at the time. Employing historical methods within a Complex Adaptive Systems approach allowed them to group and order data at different scales of organization and to identify statistically significant processes that corresponded to known outcomes, Alexander explains. For instance, temperature fluctuations influenced the entire Gulf of Maine for short periods of time, while dam construction affected individual watersheds through the life of the dams. Space and time scales differ in each case, but both temperature fluctuations and habitat obstructions affect fish, and thus fisheries, at the same time. Such interactions are characteristic of complex systems, she notes. Establishing timing was key to solving the mystery, says Alexander. Major export species, including freshwater-spawning alewives and shad and marine-spawning mackerel and herring, have different temperature tolerances and seasonal migration patterns and timing, or phenology. Alewives and mackerel arrived earlier when water was colder, shad and herring arrive later after water had warmed up. Because of their phenology and vulnerability in rivers and streams during spawning, alewives suffered the most from the extreme climate event. In Massachusetts, where streams had been dammed for a long time, its effects were compounded, the researchers found. Fishermen tending a brush weir near the St. Croix around 1900. Weir fishing had changed little over the past 100 years. These men still used local available materials to construct the weir and harvested herring in row boats. Photo courtesy of NOAA.  In the early 1800s alewives were a “utility fish,” an important commercial export but also used locally as chicken feed, garden fertilizer and human food during the winter. The winter of 1816 was so cold, Alexander says that “Penobscot Bay froze solid from Belfast to Castine.” When alewives arrived at their seasonal spawning time, adverse conditions likely disrupted spawning runs, increased natural mortality and, critically for the people depending on them, decreased catch. She adds, “During this climate crisis, people couldn’t catch enough alewives to meet their needs, so they quickly turned to mackerel, the next abundant species to arrive along the coast. Pursuing mackerel and rapidly distributing it to communities with no other sources of food fundamentally altered the infrastructure of coastal fisheries.” Although records suggest that alewife populations apparently recovered within 25 years, “people responded rapidly and effectively to Tambora in only five years and never looked back when the crisis passed.” Rates of human and alewife response became uncoupled and the quick fixes, become permanent, later achieved an air of inevitability, the authors suggest. "Alewives and other fishes that inhabit both rivers and oceans are highly vulnerable to climate change,” said Michelle Staudinger, a USGS scientist with the Northeast Climate Science Center at UMass. “The lessons learned from this study will help us better anticipate, prepare and cope for additional future impacts on their populations as well as the human communities that depend on them." The authors added that “complex solutions elude simple explanations.” They point out the “many and obvious,” parallels between that sudden extreme event and current occurrences of drought, flood, storm devastation, food disruption and famine attributed to climate change. “The past can be a laboratory,” Alexander and colleagues write. Employing historical methods within a Complex Adaptive Systems approach may offer a simple way to examine complex systems where scale, rate and phenology enmesh interconnect human and natural processes, and help to “advance human resilience by strengthening resilience in the natural world.” Support for this work was provided by the Department of the Interior Northeast Climate Science Center, UMass Amherst’s Department of Environmental Conservation, the University of New Hampshire Institute of Earth, Oceans and Space, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Lenfest Ocean Program and New Hampshire Sea Grant. #biology #usgs

It’s the Heat and the Humidity, New Study Finds: Why Lyme Disease is Common in the North, Rare in the South: These ticks are "questing" - seeking hosts to feed upon, with front legs outstretched. When a host brushes against a leg, the tick quickly climbs aboard. Photo: Graham Hickling, University of Tennessee The ticks that transmit Lyme disease to people die of dehydration when exposed to a combination of high temperature and lowered humidity, a new USGS-led study has found. In an earlier related study, the researchers found that southern black-legged ticks, unlike northern ones, usually stay hidden under a layer of leaves, where they are less likely to encounter people. The research group, whose findings were published Jan. 11 in the journal PLOS ONE, hypothesizes that southern ticks typically shelter under leaves to retain moisture, and that this behavior is a key reason why Lyme disease is very uncommon in the South. Lyme disease sickens an estimated 300,000 Americans a year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, making it more common in this country than West Nile virus or any other illness transmitted by insects or arachnids. Black-legged ticks pick up the disease-causing bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, by biting infected animals, and can then transmit Lyme disease to people in a subsequent bite. The disease causes fever, headache, fatigue, and sometimes a rash. If not treated promptly, Lyme disease can damage the heart, joints and nervous system. There are big regional differences in Lyme disease prevalence. In 2015 Alabama reported 11 confirmed cases to the CDC from a population of about 5 million people. Vermont, with less than 700,000 residents, had 491 confirmed cases. Just 14 states in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and northern Midwest typically account for 95% of all reported Lyme disease cases. Seeking an explanation for this phenomenon, US Geological Survey research ecologist Howard Ginsberg and colleagues at the University of Rhode Island and Michigan State University have been studying the metabolism, life cycle and behavior of black-legged ticks. In 2014 they collected tick larvae from different parts of the Eastern US and found that no matter where they came from, the larvae all live longer in relatively cool temperatures. Longer life spans increase the odds that the ticks will live long enough to first bite an animal carrying Borrelia burgdorferi, and then bite a human. In a related 2015 study, colleagues on the research team found that northern ticks often climb plant stems, where a passerby may brush against them, but southern ticks usually stay hidden under a layer of leaves. “In the North, when you walk through the woods you’re walking right through tick habitat,” said Ginsberg, leader of the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center’s field station in Kingston, Rhode Island. “In the South, you’re walking on top of the habitat. We think that is a crucial difference. So the next step was to find out why it occurs.” To find out what role regional temperature and humidity conditions play in tick survival, Ginsberg and his colleagues recently conducted the first study ever to look at both factors. In the laboratory, they exposed immature black-legged ticks to a simulated northern climate with temperatures between 72 and 74 degrees Fahrenheit, and a southern climate of 90 to 92 degrees Fahrenheit. Humidities were set to 75, 85 or 95 percent. To rule out the effects of genetic differences between northern and southern populations, the researchers tested ticks from Rhode Island and lab-raised hybrids, with one parent from Wisconsin and the other from South Carolina. The researchers found the combination of high temperature and lower humidity was lethal to the hybrid ticks. At high humidity, about four-fifths of the hybrid ticks were able to survive temperatures in the 90s for four days or more. But at the mid-range humidities, less than a third of the ticks survived the high temperatures for that long. The effects of humidity were also clear in the Rhode Island ticks, which typically died within two to four days at the lowest humidity, but lived for a month or more at high humidity regardless of how hot it was. The researchers hypothesize that over time, southern ticks have evolved to stay in the moist environment under leaves, where they are less likely to encounter humans. “There has been a lot of research aimed at finding out what makes black-legged ticks more efficient hosts for Lyme disease in the North than in the South,” said University of Rhode Island entomology professor Roger LeBrun, a co-author of the study. “People have looked at everything from the effects of temperature on tick life cycles to the types of animals the ticks feed on. Probably all of these play a role. But our results suggest that evolutionary pressure to conserve moisture by staying under the leaf litter surface is a critical factor.” If the climate gets warmer and drier in border zones like the Mid Atlantic, Lyme disease may eventually become less common there, Ginsberg said. “For example, in the Chesapeake Bay region, we might see natural selection pressure on northern ticks to behave more like southern ticks and stay under cover, so we could get less Lyme disease.” The study is available at http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0168723 #biology #usgs

The Other 364 Days of the Year: The Real Lives of Wild Reindeer: Caribou, North America’s wild reindeer, have lives apart from their famous role on Christmas Eve. Reindeer and caribou (Rangifer tarandus) are large, cold-adapted, herding herbivores related to deer, elk and moose. To learn more about the biology behind these arctic antler-bearers, we turn to our colleagues at the USGS Alaska Science Center, who conduct a wide variety of earth science and ecological science surveys throughout our northernmost state. We asked USGS caribou (and large mammal) expert Layne Adams, Ph.D., about the lives of caribou for those other 364 days of the year. Adams has studied caribou and their predators in Denali National Park and elsewhere in Alaska for more than 30 years, helping land managers understand the best ways to manage these important species. Adams, a wildlife biologist at the Alaska Science Center, did an online chat with the Washington Post a few years ago: Don't worry, this large bull caribou is only resting! USGS scientist Layne Adams places a radiocollar on a sedated caribou in Denali National Park, Alaska. (USGS photo, public domain.) Read the transcript of the Washington Post live chat: “Reindeer: What do they do the other 364 days of the year?” Here are other Qs and As about reindeer that Dr. Adams answered: A mother caribou and her offspring, east of Chicken, Alaska (on the Yukon-Alaska border).  (Credit: Jamey Jones, USGS. Public domain.) Why are reindeer sometimes called caribou and caribou sometimes called reindeer? “Reindeer” and “caribou” are two common names for the same species (Rangifer tarandus), which occurs throughout the circumpolar North. “Reindeer” is the common name for Rangifer in Europe and Asia, whereas “caribou” is the North American name. The name “caribou” is a French derivative of a Native American word that means snow shoveler, which is a reference to the fact that caribou are often pawing through the snow to find food underneath. What are reindeer or caribou? Caribou and reindeer are part of the deer family — related to deer, moose and elk. They are the only deer species where males and females both grow antlers. Females and young males have antlers that are similar in size, but males older than 2 or 3 years have much larger antlers. Caribou and reindeer have been around for over a half-million years; their ancestors lived at the same time as now-extinct woolly mammoths and saber-toothed cats. Caribou are widely distributed across northern North America ranging from the Canadian High Arctic islands to the mountains and boreal forests of the Canadian southern provinces.  A small, endangered population in northern Idaho and adjacent northeastern Washington are the southernmost group in North America. The most numerous are those in the large migratory populations that occur from Alaska throughout much of northern Canada. What are “domestic reindeer”? Reindeer were domesticated across northern Europe and Asia several thousand years ago and are the basis of herding cultures in those regions. Domestic reindeer also occur in Alaska and Canada.  A little more than a century ago, 1300 reindeer were imported from Siberia to northwest Alaska in an attempt to establish a herding economy among the Native people in the region. At the time, caribou were scarce along the northwest coast of Alaska. Reindeer herding expanded widely across the west and north coasts of Alaska, as well as into northern Canada, such that around 600,000 domestic reindeer occurred throughout Alaska by the 1930s. During the Great Depression, the reindeer industry in Alaska collapsed and retracted to the Seward Peninsula of northwest Alaska where it continues today. While the main goal for domestic reindeer has been to provide meat and hides to local people, reindeer have been trained to pull sleds as a mode of transportation. White caribou hair stands out in contrast from the bright-colored tunda crowded with lichen and fall cranberry leaves.(Public domain.) What do they eat? Caribou forage on a variety of plants throughout the year. During winter, lichens are their most frequent food, with shrubs and grass or sedges making up the rest. Lichens are a combination of fungus and algae that grow together. On alpine and arctic tundra ranges, caribou primarily feed on terrestrial lichens, sometimes called reindeer moss, that occur within the low-growing grasses and shrubs that make up the tundra vegetation. In southern or boreal forest ranges, where caribou winter in deep snow, arboreal lichens that grow on trees are the predominant caribou forage. During summer, caribou shift to eating a wide variety of green plants including grasses or sedges, growing shrubs, and a variety of small forbs or flowering plants. In some regions, mushrooms abundant in late summer are an important food for caribou.   A bull caribou grazes in autumn at the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in Alaska. (Public domain.) What do caribou do in the fall and winter? In the fall, some caribou herds start migrating — when they migrate is dictated by cues in changing day length in combination with the onset of snowfall as the long winter begins. Fall is also the breeding season when mature bulls compete with each other for opportunities to breed with females as the females become receptive. In winter, Arctic caribou generally migrate south into the northern fringe of the boreal forest or onto tundra winter ranges where terrestrial lichens are abundant. Some larger caribou herds migrate long distances, 300-400 miles, between their winter ranges and their calving and summer ranges. Smaller mountain populations migrate out of the higher mountains onto the tundra and forest ranges adjacent to their mountainous summer ranges, while small boreal forest populations are generally sedentary throughout the year. Once on their winter range, caribou remain there throughout the winter, from about early October to late April. How do they thrive in such cold temperatures? Caribou are well adapted to living in cold regions and thrive in areas where winter temperatures can reach 70 or 80 degrees below zero. These animals have a very dense haircoat, made up of wooly underfur and hollow guardhair, over their entire body (except the very tip of their nose) that provides superior insulation. They also have relatively large, wide hooves for walking and digging through snow. What do caribou do in the summer? After the females calve, caribou generally gather together in large groups to help them better avoid predators and to escape incredibly bothersome mosquitoes and parasitic flies. The different herds of caribou stay together in the high mountains and along the Alaskan seacoasts where the winds and cooler temperatures help protect them from summer heat and those pesky insects. After the number of insects decline in late July, the caribou herds scatter into smaller groups. This is an important time for caribou — they use the time before winter arrives to feed as much as possible on remaining green grasses and sedges, willow leaves, and even mushrooms to regain their body weight. USGS biologist Gretchen Roffler weighs a newborn caribou calf in Denali National Park, Alaska. (Public domain.) How big are calves? We’ve weighed quite a few newborn calves in Denali and on average they weigh about 17 pounds. Calves are born in May and early June throughout Alaska, with most calves being born in any herd within about a 10-day period. Caribou cows produce one calf each year and generally begin producing calves when they are 2 to 4 years old depending on the nutritional status of a given population. In small herds, such as the Denali Caribou Herd, calves are subject to intense predation primarily by wolves and grizzly bears — fewer than half survive beyond 2 weeks of age. In the large, migratory populations, early calf survival is markedly higher because the huge number of calves born over a brief interval can greatly swamp the ability of local predators to kill them. How big are adult caribou? In Denali National Park, where I currently study caribou, mature adult males average about 500 pounds but can weigh more than 600 pounds. Adult females are about half as big, averaging about 240 pounds (225- to 320-pound range). In the large, migratory herds, caribou are smaller with adult males and females averaging about 400 pounds for males and 200 pounds for females. How many herds are in Alaska? Simulation domain and winter ranges of the Central Arctic and Porcupine caribou herds, Alaska and Yukon.(Public domain.) There are 31 caribou herds recognized in Alaska, with 7 large migratory populations numbering 30,000 to 206,000 animals. These herds currently total just under 600,000 animals and account for about 97 percent of the caribou in the State. The remaining 24 herds are much smaller ranging from about 30 to 3000 animals each. Overall, Alaska’s caribou population was relatively low in the mid 1970’s, numbering around 250,000 statewide.  Caribou numbers increased to about 950,000 by the mid-1990s, as a couple of the large herds grew to historic high numbers.  Since then, caribou numbers have declined to around 620,000 today. Such wide fluctuations in caribou numbers over the time scale of decades are not unusual. Can you talk a little more about predators — what eats caribou? In general, the primary predators of caribou in Alaska are grizzly bears and wolves. Grizzly bears are very effective at killing young caribou calves less than a couple weeks old, although they also kill older caribou on occasion. Wolves are important predators of both young calves and older caribou. Other predators on caribou include black bears, golden eagles, wolverine, and coyotes. Humans are also important predators of caribou. Caribou are a mainstay of local subsistence in Bush Alaska, and a sought-after quarry for other Alaskan residents, as well as sport hunters from all over the world. On average, people harvest about 22,000 caribou a year in Alaska. Predation affects the number of caribou, particularly in the smaller, more sedentary populations. The large, migratory herds are able to reduce the negative effects of predation to some degree just due to their sheer numbers; the tradeoff is that they are more likely to be affected by the nutritional limitations of their ranges compounded by competition with their herd mates. Caribou are more vulnerable in deep snow Layne with caribou.(USGS photo, public domain.) A main goal of my research has been to understand the interrelationships of caribou and wolves in Denali National Park. For caribou, an important factor that affects how many are killed by wolves is the amount of snow during winter. In years with less snow, caribou have large expanses of wind-blown, snow-free land to seek their food, and they commonly make it through the winter in good shape. They can also more easily evade wolves because they can run unimpeded across the bare, frozen tundra. During such times, wolves are primarily able to kill those caribou that are old, injured, not in good shape, or just plain unlucky. We’ve found that when it is harder for wolves to catch caribou, the wolf packs tend to be smaller. But the balance shifts in favor of wolves when there is a lot of snow. Caribou then have a harder time finding enough to eat because they have to dig through deep or crusted snow or must seek food on high mountain ridges where there is little snow, but also little food. The caribou also have a harder time escaping from wolves in deep snow. In fact, wolves will sometimes chase caribou into areas with deep snow where the caribou are very vulnerable, even if they are in good shape. In those years, wolf packs tend to be bigger and some packs produce more pups. In contrast, our research shows that after severe winters, not only is a cow less likely to breed, but calves that are born are lighter, grow more slowly, and are more likely to be killed by predators in the weeks after they are born. Is climate change affecting caribou? We know, from our studies, that weather may be the most important factor affecting the yearly cycles of large hoofed mammals (such as caribou, moose and muskox) and their predators. However, the longer-term effects of climate change are much more complex. Unlike polar bears, which are highly dependent on sea ice that is declining due to warming temperatures, caribou are likely influenced by a wide variety of factors that will be affected by a warming climate, and some effects will be positive and some negative. For example, with a warming climate, we expect the growing season to be longer and provide caribou with green, nutritious forage earlier and for a longer period of time for a positive effect.  Our recent studies on Alaska’s Arctic Coastal Plain have been geared toward understanding how a warming climate is affecting the plants that caribou eat during summer; this information will help managers forecast how future habitat condition might affect the well-being of these large herbivores. However, we have also done research that indicates that with increasing temperatures we can expect more fires on boreal forest winter ranges for caribou that will likely result in reduced availability of lichen, their primary winter forage, which tends to not grow back for about 70 to 80 years after a fire. The overall effect of a warming climate on caribou will be dependent on how these and many other climate-related effects interact and that is very difficult to predict. Further, responses to climate change are likely to differ among the various caribou populations across North America. What does some of your research focus on? Currently, I am continuing long-term studies of the population dynamics of the Denali Caribou Herd and overseeing research on the summer habitat selection of caribou relative to forage quality and weather on Alaska’s Arctic Coastal Plain. Read More: Resilience of Caribou to Climatic Shifts in the Arctic USGS Alaska Science Center Large Mammal Ecology webpages Battling Flies and Fog in Search of Reindeer Poop The Changing Arctic Initiative (including caribou) #biology #usgs

Not Just for Kissing: Mistletoe and Birds, Bees, and Other Beasts:   American mistletoe fruit and flowers, Laurens County, Georgia. Photo courtesy of Alan Cressler, USGS. Request permission before using.(Credit: Alan Cressler, USGS South Atlantic Water Science Center) Mistletoe can take many forms other than the American mistletoe with berries seen around the holidays. Perhaps some of you have already experienced a sweet holiday smooch or two under the holiday mistletoe, enjoying this fairly old kissing ritual for people. While figuring prominently in ancient lore about myth and magic, mistletoe is important in other vital ways: it provides essential food, cover, and nesting sites for an amazing number of critters in the United States and elsewhere. In fact, some animals couldn’t even survive without mistletoe, including some birds, butterflies, and insects. But first, a little bit about the plant. The white-berried holiday mistletoe we hang so hopefully in places where our sweethearts will find us lingering is just one of more than 1,300 species of mistletoe worldwide. Globally, more than 20 mistletoe species are endangered. Two growth forms of mistletoes are native to the United States: the leafy American mistletoe (the one commonly associated with our kissing customs) and the mostly leafless dwarf mistletoe. American mistletoe is found from New Jersey to Florida and west through Texas. The dwarf mistletoe, much smaller than its kissing cousin, is found from central Canada and southeastern Alaska to Honduras and Hispaniola, but most species are found in western United States and Mexico. Mistletoe is no newcomer to this country: excavations of packrat middens (the messy pile of sticks and debris they call home - including food waste, animal bones, and even human trash or ‘lost’ objects, all cemented together over time by the feces and urine of the packrat), reveal that dwarf mistletoes have been part of our forests for more than 20,000 years. Some fossil pollen grains even indicate that the plant has been here for millions of years. Mistletoes, said USGS researcher Todd Esque, should be viewed as a natural component of healthy forest ecosystems, of which they have been a part for thousands, if not millions of years. Thief of the Tree A dwarf mistletoe seed is disseminated by an explosive mechanism regulated by the buildup of water pressure inside a mistletoe berry as it ripens.  The seeds, coated with a sticky substance, cling to any surface they hit, including birds, other animals, or tree branches. (Credit: U.S. Forest Service, USDA. Public domain.) The thing that all mistletoes have in common is this: all grow as parasites on the branches of trees and shrubs. In fact, the American mistletoe’s scientific name, Phoradendron, means “thief of the tree” in Greek. The plant is aptly named: it begins its life as a handily sticky seed that often hitchhikes to a new host tree on a bird beak or feather or on mammal fur. In addition to hitchhiking, the dwarf mistletoe also has another dandy way of traveling to a new host tree: the seeds of this mistletoe will, like tiny holiday poppers, explode from ripe berries, shooting a distance as far as 50 feet. One researcher said that if you put ripe berries in a paper bag and shake it, it sounds just like popping popcorn. For the most part, the mistletoe is pretty darn cavalier about what host tree it finds — dwarf mistletoes of high elevations like most kinds of conifers, and those of the hot deserts generally prefer legume trees; American mistletoes are found on an incredible variety of trees. Once on a host tree, the mistletoe sends out roots that penetrate the tree and eventually starts pirating some of the host tree’s nutrients and minerals. In actuality, mistletoes are not true parasites; instead they are what scientists call “hemi-parasites” because most of them have the green leaves necessary for photosynthesis. Still, it seems like a pretty lazy life for most mistletoes: a little photosynthesis here and there and a lot of food and water stolen from their unsuspecting benefactor trees. Eventually, mistletoes grow into thick masses of branching, misshapen stems, giving rise to a popular name of witches’ brooms, or the apt Navajo name of “basket on high.” Birds and the Mistletoe Trees The plant’s common name — mistletoe — is derived from early observations that mistletoe would often appear in places where birds had left their droppings. “Mistel” in the Anglo-Saxon word for “dung,” and “tan” is the word for “Twig.” Thus, mistletoe means “dung-on-a-twig.” Yet even though bird droppings cannot spontaneously generate mistletoe plants, birds are an important part of mistletoe life history — and vice versa. A surprising variety of birds use or rely on mistletoe. In studies by former USGS scientist Rob Bennetts and other studies, a high abundance of dwarf mistletoe in a forest means that more kinds and numbers of birds inhabit that forest. Also, since the lifespan of mistletoe-laden trees is considerably shorter than trees where the plant is absent, a higher number of tree snags occupy mistletoe-laden woods. Not surprisingly, this means that more — one study documented at least three times as many — cavity-nesting birds live in forests with abundant mistletoes. The phainopeplas, a silky flycatcher, are beautiful birds that live in the desert areas of the Southwest and West and are especially dependent on mistletoe. A female silky flycatcher with a mistletoe berry in her beak. These flycatchers are intimately tied to mistletoe. They build their beautiful cup nests (much like a large hummingbird nest) within the mistletoe, or nearby. The young hatch during February when the mistletoe may be in flower and supply a rich source of insect nutrients for growing young. The rest of the year, and especially during winter, many types of birds including flycatchers and bluebirds rely on mistletoe berries for sustenance. (Credit: Todd Esque, USGS Western Ecological Research Center. Public domain.) Diane Larson, a USGS researcher, studied mistletoes and birds in Arizona. “I found that phainopeplas, which rely on mistletoe almost exclusively for food during the winter, were also the species most likely to disperse the mistletoe seeds to sites suitable for germination and establishment. Both the bird and the plant benefited from this relationship,” says Larson. USGS researcher Esque said his goal is to understand the distribution of the host trees in relation to mistletoe patterns and bird behavior. “We know the relationship is mutually beneficial for both species,” said Esque. Some research indicates that if mistletoe-berry production is poor, these birds may not breed the following spring. But the phainopepla is just one of many birds that eat mistletoe berries; others include grouse, mourning doves, bluebirds, evening grosbeaks, robins, and pigeons. Naturalist and writer John Muir noted American robins eating mistletoe in the mountains of California in the late 1890’s. Wrote Muir: “I found most of the robins cowering on the lee side of the larger branches of the trees, where the snow could not fall on them, while two or three of the more venturesome were making desperate efforts to get at the mistletoe berries by clinging to the underside of the snow-covered masses, back downward, something like woodpeckers.” Birds also find mistletoe a great place for nesting, especially the dense witches’ brooms. In fact, northern and Mexican spotted owls and other raptors show a marked preference for witches’ brooms as nesting sites. In one study, 43 percent of spotted owl nests were associated with witches’ brooms. Similarly, a USGS researcher found that 64 percent of all Cooper’s hawk nests in northeastern Oregon were in mistletoe. Other raptors that use witches’ brooms as nesting sites include great gray owls, long-eared owls, goshawks, and sharp-shinned hawks. Likewise, some migratory birds also nest in witches’ broom — gray jay, northern beardless-tyrannulet, red crossbills, house wrens, mourning doves, pygmy nuthatches, chickadees, Western tanagers, chipping sparrows, hermit thrushes, Cassin’s finches, and pine siskins. “A well-disguised nest provides protection against predators such as the great horned owls,” Bennetts said.     The great purple hairstreak is the only butterfly in the United States that feeds on American mistletoe, the Christmas mistletoe. This beautiful butterfly lays its eggs on the mistletoe, where the resulting caterpillars thrive on a mistletoe diet.  Photo courtesy of Alan Cressler, USGS(Credit: Alan Cressler, USGS South Atlantic Water Science Center.) Bees, Butterflies, and Others According to butterfly expert and Colorado State University professor Paul Opler, three kinds of butterflies in the United States are entirely dependent on mistletoes for their survival: the great purple hairstreak, the thicket hairstreak, and the Johnson’s hairstreak. The great purple hairstreak, says Opler, is the only butterfly in the United States that feeds on American mistletoe. This beautiful butterfly lays its eggs on the mistletoe, where the resulting caterpillars thrive on a mistletoe diet. The caterpillars of the other two butterflies feed on dwarf mistletoes. The Johnson’s hairstreak, restricted to the Pacific states, is usually found in association with old-growth conifer forests, the same places spotted owls prefer. The caterpillars of these butterflies closely mimic the appearance of the mistletoe with their mottled green and olive shades. Like people, the butterflies of these species use mistletoe for courtship rituals. After courting and mating in the mistletoe high in the canopy, the adults leave their eggs behind in the mistletoe. The adults of all three species drink nectar from the mistletoe flowers. Mistletoe is also important nectar and pollen plant for honeybees and other native bees, says Erik Erikson, a bee researcher at the USDA Bee Research Lab. Mistletoe flowers, says Erikson, often provides the first pollen available in the spring for the hungry bees. “We look upon it as an important starter food source for the bees,” said Erikson. Wind and insects are important mistletoe pollinators. Although hundreds of kinds of insects carry mistletoe pollen, only a few dozen are important pollinators; these include a variety of flies, ants, and beetles. Yet other insects eat the shoots, fruits, and seeds of the mistletoe, including some that feed exclusively on the plant. Exclusive mistletoe-eaters include a twig beetle, several thrip species, and a plant bug whose coloration mimics dwarf mistletoe fruits. In addition, at least four mite species seem to be exclusively associated with dwarf mistletoe. And Then There’s the Mammals Don’t try it at home, kids and grown-ups — mistletoe is toxic to people, but the berries and leaves of mistletoe provide high-protein fodder for many mammals, especially in autumn and winter when other foods are scarce. Researchers have documented that animals such as elk, cattle and deer eat mistletoe during winter when fresh foliage is rare. In Texas, some ranchers even consider mistletoe on mesquite as an insurance forage crop, which the ranchers remove from the trees for cattle food when other forage is scarce. Other mammals that eat mistletoe include squirrels, chipmunks, and even porcupines, some of which are deliriously fond of the plant. A variety of squirrels, including red squirrels, Abert squirrels and flying squirrels often use witches brooms for cover and nesting sites. A Blessing or a Bane? Not everyone likes mistletoe. Many commercial foresters consider the dwarf mistletoe as a disease that reduces the growth rates of commercially important conifer species, such as the ponderosa pine. Ecologists, though, point out that mistletoes are not a disease; instead, they are a native group of plants that have been around thousands, or even millions, of years. (Public domain.) Blessing or bane, it is certain that mistletoe is not spreading like wildfire — in fact, mistletoe spreads only about 2 feet per year. One study indicated that a 1.5-acre patch of mistletoe took about 60 to 70 years to form. Likewise, the death of an individual tree from dwarf mistletoe may take several decades, and widespread infestation of a forest stand may take centuries. Bennetts believes that the conflict with forest management and the perspective of mistletoes being a forest disease really only comes into play when the management objectives are to maximize timber harvest. Otherwise, he says, mistletoes have many positive attributes, including tremendous benefits for native wildlife. Thus, he says, when not in conflict with commercial timber management objectives, mistletoes should be viewed as a natural component of healthy forest ecosystems. Says Bennetts: “I had the privilege of working with a biologist who had spent more than 50 years working on mistletoes. He began his work with the intent of finding a way to control this ‘forest pest,’ but in his later years, he even introduced dwarf mistletoe to some of the trees in his yard because he had grown to love this plant for what it is . . . a fascinating and natural part of forest ecosystem.”   Mistletoe FAQ’s   Q:  What is the type of mistletoe most people think of during the holidays? A:  Phoradendron serotinum, also known as American mistletoe, is commercially harvested and sold around the world. This species typically grows on oak trees across North America, and is native to Mexico. Q:  How does mistletoe grow and spread? A:  Mistletoe spreads by seeds —  the seeds in some mistletoe explode from a fruit and disperse themselves. Many North American types of mistletoe are distributed by birds either in their feces or due to the stickiness of the berries and seeds. They also may be cleaned from bird beaks onto the branches of trees where they grow. Once mistletoe germinate and become established, they have material similar to a root for a ground-dwelling plant. This material moves under the bark and that is how the mistletoe gains energy as well as nutrients from its host tree. Q:  Is mistletoe fruit more nutritious than comparable berries on other plants? A:  Yes, all 10 essential amino acids have been found in mistletoe fruit, as well as high carbohydrate fractions. Some mistletoe species (such as the Loranthus europaeus) are very high in fat content, while others are full of protein. In addition, in many arid areas (such as the Southwest U.S.), mistletoe fruit is a reliable source of water. Q:  What are the medical applications for mistletoe? A:  Mistletoe has been widely used in Europe and is regarded as the most widely used natural therapy for cancer. In addition, it has many uses in traditional Chinese medicine as well as in traditional indigenous groups in Australia and Latin America. Some of these uses involve compounds taken from their host tree (and concentrated), but most are related to lectins and other secondary compounds manufactured by the mistletoes themselves. Navajo medicinal uses include using Juniper mistletoe to create a soothing lotion for bug bites, to cure warts, and to ease stomach pain. Q:  Do trees infected with mistletoe die earlier than those uninfected? A:  This depends on a number of factors, including type of mistletoe and amount growing on trees. A parasite’s function is to not kill their host, however some parasites can have detrimental effects, and in high densities mistletoe can affect growth rates of their host trees. Direct effects on tree mortality are cited in very few documented studies and occur in very high mistletoe densities when the normal factors that keep mistletoe in line are not functioning properly. Dwarf mistletoe is an exception — their way of infecting trees is different, so they are more likely to have detrimental effects on their hosts. Even then, mortality is characteristically due to indirect effects such as bark beetles or fungal attacks. Contrary to negative effects of mistletoe on trees, many foresters consider mistletoe to be a powerful positive force in forests, weeding out those trees poorly suited for the area and ensuring long-term forest and tree health. Q:  What is the best way to permanently remove mistletoe from a tree? A:  Pruning out all branches with the mistletoe material (see question on how mistletoe grows and spreads) as soon as the plant appears should control the mistletoe and prevent its spread. First cut close the mistletoe, then look at the branch structure and prune approximately one foot below where the mistletoe physically appears in order to rid the host tree of the mistletoe plant. Q:  How do the dynamics of U.S. dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium) dispersal differ from the Phoradendron plants? A:  As well as using hydrostatic expulsion to shoot seeds at speeds up to 60 miles per hour and distances of 50 feet, many Arceuthobium  (dwarf mistletoe) species also form ‘systematic’ infections in their host. Initial establishment involves the growth of an endophytic system — a network of vessels growing throughout the host tissue. Then, when the plant becomes reproductively mature, shoots may pop out anywhere on the tree, not just near the point of initial infection. Q:  Is there a phylogenetic “mistletoe” group, or are mistletoes a collection of unrelated species? A:  Mistletoes have evolved at least five times, all from root parasitic ancestors within the same Santalales plant order. They are all related and come from a single ancient ancestor, but the aerial parasitic habit has evolved multiple times. Mistletoes are grouped based on this convergent way of life (similar to mangroves or succulents), and are not a monophyletic group.   #biology #usgs

A Marine Mystery: What’s Causing Seabird Die-Offs in Alaska?: A tufted puffin, the species most affected by a recent seabird die-off in the Pribilof Islands, Alaska. (Credit: Sarah Schoen, USGS) A beach littered with bird carcasses is a sobering sight. Since mid-October, hundreds of dead seabirds have washed ashore the north and east sides of St. Paul Island, Alaska, an otherwise serene volcanic island landscape in the Bering Sea. Most of the carcasses being found are tufted puffins, a charismatic species of seabird with striking, silky tassels of feathers positioned like ponytails behind their white-masked eyes. However, horned puffins, murres and crested auklets have washed ashore as well, according to biologists from the Aleut Community of the St. Paul Island Tribal Government Ecosystem Conservation Office (ACSPI ECO). “Seabirds, including puffins, are important to local residents for their cultural and subsistence uses, and are appreciated by bird watchers from around the world,” said John Pearce, a scientist with the USGS Alaska Science Center. “Seabirds can also provide important signals about local conditions in the marine environment, such as the abundance and availability of forage fish.” The ACSPI ECO and Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST) reported to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that as of November 17, the encounter rate of puffin carcasses over a three-week period was hundreds of times greater than normal compared to past surveys at St. Paul. In total, nearly 300 carcasses of a variety of beached seabird species have been counted since mid-October. Only a fraction of birds that die at sea become beached, and of those, only a small portion are observed by people before they are removed by scavengers. As a result, many more birds may be affected by the die-off than has been recorded.   A horned puffin, one of the species affected by a recent seabird die-off in the Pribilof Islands, Alaska.(Credit: Sarah Schoen, USGS) USGS Die-Off Detectives To determine cause of death, eight puffin carcasses – six tufted puffins and two horned puffins – were collected by ASCPI ECO biologists and sent to the USGS National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, where scientists conducted necropsies, or animal autopsies, on the birds. The USGS found that these fish-eating puffins were severely emaciated and likely died of starvation. The animals showed no sign of disease. Starvation of the birds could be related to a lack of prey or changes in prey distribution as a result of abnormal sea temperatures. Unusually high sea surface temperatures were recorded in October for the Bering, Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. Coupled with record low levels of sea ice, these temperatures could affect populations of forage fish and squid upon which seabirds like puffins depend. In 2015-2016, the USGS and USFWS investigated and documented a large-scale die-off of common murres in the Gulf of Alaska with similar findings of starvation.   A Continuous, Coordinated Effort The USGS is working with the USFWS, COASST, ACSPI ECO, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to determine the full extent of the St. Paul seabird die-off. Together, these partners will continue to investigate the seabird mortality event. The public can help, too. According to the USFWS, people can report sick or dead birds to 1-866-527-3358 or AK_MBM@fws.gov. Please include the following information: Time & Date Exact location (latitude/longitude, length of beach) Type of bird (species name or group e.g., murre, puffin, etc.) Estimated number of birds Photos The USFWS warns that people should not touch or collect any sick or dead birds. Please leave the birds where they are when documenting a mortality event. For more information about wildlife die-offs, please visit the USGS National Wildlife Health Center website. To learn more about seabirds and wildlife disease in Alaska, visit the USGS Alaska Science Center website. #biology #usgs

Managing 246 million acres: new science-based tools support Bureau of Land Management’s landscape approach: FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Land Management today released a collaborative report with new information and tools to support effective management of millions of acres of BLM public lands.  The report underscores the value of a landscape approach to management, and shows that the BLM manages some of the largest areas of intact public lands in the west.  “By evaluating multiple resource uses within and across landscapes through a science-based approach,” said USGS lead author Sarah Carter, “managers will be able to think bigger and plan better than ever before to provide multiple benefits for current and future generations of Americans.” This report provides BLM with tools to advance a landscape approach to planning and management on the 246 million acres of western public lands they manage for the benefit of the American public. The report will also inform future BLM planning, monitoring and conservation initiatives, including the development of a coordinated nationwide multiscale monitoring effort. “BLM and other resource managers are facing ever greater challenges – such as increasing wildfires and intensifying pressure to meet U.S. energy demands on U.S. lands,” said Kevin Miller, co-author with the BLM. “To effectively balance the health of these public lands with their diverse uses – such as recreation, livestock grazing, energy development and wildlife conservation – the BLM has adopted a landscape approach to resource management.” “A landscape approach,” said Carter, “relies on the best available science to inform management actions and considers many perspectives to identify potential management issues and alternatives across large landscapes.” Today’s report strengthens the science foundation needed to implement a landscape approach: seeking broad participation by interested stakeholders, tackling complex issues, engaging a variety of scientific disciplines and striving to achieve sustainable social, environmental and economic outcomes across landscapes. To improve the understanding and management of complex systems, the authors of the report emphasized the need to collect data at multiple spatial scales, from individual field samples to satellite imagery. Such data support both project-level decisions and landscape-scale management, leading to more effective planning and more informed decisions. A series of Rapid Ecoregional Assessments commissioned by the BLM across the west helped USGS and BLM scientists to identify key management questions that need to be asked and answered at broad scales to understand landscapes and effectively plan for future land uses. Importantly, researchers also identified opportunities for using broad-scale data to inform on-the-ground monitoring by the BLM Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring Program. Other advances include a new approach for quantifying ecological integrity across multiple-use landscapes such as areas that may be important for grazing, wildlife conservation and recreational use. The USGS introduced a method and identified specific metrics that the BLM and other multiple-use agencies, such as the U.S. Forest Service, can use to assess the integrity or health of the lands they manage. “Managers and the public alike can use this information to gain a better understanding of the condition of ecological systems across all federal lands,” said Carter. This study also quantified landscape intactness – that is, the degree of naturalness of a system – across the western U.S. based on the surface footprint of urban development, cultivated agriculture, transportation, energy and mining. The resulting landscape-level index indicates that BLM has responsibility for managing some of the largest area of intact public lands in the country. These data are available to the public for use in planning and management applications. Managing complex landscapes for multiple uses requires new approaches, new tools, and multiscale data to balance different uses and understand the cumulative effects of management decisions across time and space. This report provides BLM with tools to advance a landscape approach to planning and management on public lands across the west. The report will also inform future BLM planning, monitoring and conservation initiatives, including the development of a coordinated nationwide multiscale monitoring effort. The USGS Open-File Report, Multiscale Guidance and Tools for Implementing a Landscape Approach to Resource Management in the Bureau of Land Management, was edited by Sarah K. Carter (USGS), Natasha B. Carr (USGS), Kevin H. Miller (BLM), and David J.A. Wood (USGS). This project was supported by the BLM and USGS. Landscape intactness for the western conterminous U.S.  (Credit: USGS. Public domain.) USGS provides science for a changing world. For more information, visit www.usgs.gov. Subscribe to USGS News Releases via our electronic mailing list or RSS feed.     #biology #usgs

A Deadly Double Punch: Together, Turbines and Disease Jeopardize Endangered Bats: An Indiana bat hanging on to a tree. (Adam Mann via USFWS) Wind turbine collisions and the deadly bat disease known as white-nose syndrome (WNS) can together intensify the decline of endangered Indiana bat populations in the midwestern United States, according to a recently published U.S. Geological Survey study.  “Bats are valuable because, by eating insects, they save U.S. agriculture billions of dollars per year in pest control,” said USGS scientist Richard Erickson, the lead author of the study. “Our research is important for understanding the threats to endangered Indiana bats and can help inform conservation efforts.” Wind energy generation can cause bat mortality when certain species, including the midwestern Indiana bat, approach turbines during migration. Meanwhile, WNS, which is caused by the Pseudogymnoascus destructans fungus, has killed millions of hibernating bats in North America and is spreading. The new study found that the combination of these two hazards has a larger negative impact on Indiana bats than either threat alone. The researchers used a scientific model to compare how wind turbine mortality and WNS may singly and then together affect Indiana bat population dynamics throughout the species’ U.S. range. Findings from the model include: Wind turbine deaths were localized and more likely to affect small sub-populations of bats, whereas WNS was more likely to devastate large winter colonies over the species’ entire range; Together, the two threats reduced the sizes of all Indiana bat sub-populations; WNS had the largest impact on population dynamics, with the most severe potential die-off scenario showing a population loss of about 95 percent; and Despite killing fewer animals than WNS, wind turbines disrupted Indiana bat migration routes, which affected metapopulation dynamics more than WNS did in almost all modeled scenarios. A bat metapopulation consists of separated groups of the same species that interact during migration. “These findings are useful for wildlife managers because they demonstrate the extra importance of protecting small Indiana bat colonies during the winter to help prevent extinction,” Erickson said.  WNS is not known to pose a threat to humans, pets, livestock or other wildlife. The USGS partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the new study, which is published in the journal PeerJ. For more information about bats, wind energy and WNS, please visit the USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, the USGS Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center and the USGS National Wildlife Health Center websites. Visit whitenosesyndrome.org to learn about the coordinated response to WNS, led by the USFWS. Download this videoLength: 0This surveillance video from a temperature-imaging camera shows a bat interacting with a wind turbine at about 3 a.m. on a brightly moonlit summer night. (Paul Cryan, USGS) Counties with known Indiana bat fatalities at wild facilities. The fatalities mapped are those known to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as of April 2015. The figure is from “Indiana Bat Fatalities at Wind Energy Facilities” by Lori Pruitt and Jennifer Okajima, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Indiana Field Office (http://www.fws.gov/midwest/wind/wildlifeimpacts/inbafatalities.html). (Public domain.) #biology #usgs

Declining Male Offspring Further Imperil Endangered Flycatchers in Southern California: Changes in sex ratios can cause problems in small, declining populations, reducing individuals’ ability to find mates and reproduce. From 2000 to 2015, Barbara Kus of the U.S. Geological Survey and her colleagues monitored federally endangered Southwestern Willow Flycatchers on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in southern California, collecting data as the population declined from 40 individuals to only five. They found that the number of adult males was stable until 2004, but then began to decrease sharply until females outnumbered males at least two to one from 2012 on. As the number of males plummeted, more and more of them became polygynous, mating with multiple females. Kus speculates that this may have prevented even faster declines. “It was particularly amazing to watch two or three males manage 10 or so females between them,” says Kus. “They seemed to be able to increase their individual efforts such that every female was mated.” Sex ratios of small populations can become unbalanced through chance, but it appears that other forces were at work in this case—more female than male birds were hatched almost every year of the study. The sex ratio of birds’ offspring can be influenced by factors ranging from the parents’ size to land use practices to the threat of nest parasitism, but it’s unclear what caused the flycatchers in Kus’ study to start producing more female offspring. “The fact that we found a female bias not only in the adult population, but also in the nestling population and among recruits, suggests that the adult bias is not simply a random outcome of a declining population,” says Kus. “Environmental or other factors may be influencing sex ratios at multiple stages of the life cycle, and more research on these potential factors would be useful. I think our findings indicate that it’s important to track sex ratios as well as numbers in populations of species of conservation concern, in order to detect shifts that could affect population dynamics.” Female-biased sex ratio, polygyny, and persistence in the endangered Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) will be available December 21, 2016, at http://americanornithologypubs.org/doi/full/10.1650/CONDOR-16-119.1 (issue URL http://americanornithologypubs.org/toc/cond/119/1). About the journal: The Condor: Ornithological Applications is a peer-reviewed, international journal of ornithology. It began in 1899 as the journal of the Cooper Ornithological Club, a group of ornithologists in California that became the Cooper Ornithological Society, which merged with the American Ornithologists’ Union in 2016 to become the American Ornithological Society. #biology #usgs

A Grand Slam for Students, Schools and Science:     Student dusts the Model A Ford coupe used by USGS scientists from the 1930s to 1965. (Credit: USGS. Public domain.) In 2014, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell formalized a Youth Initiative to expand career, educational, volunteer, and recreational opportunities for youth and veterans on the nation’s public lands, including partnerships with businesses. One unique program that does just this is a partnership between USGS and the Fairfax County Public Schools to provide students with disabilities with actual employment training. Students from the county’s STEP program (Secondary Transition to Employment Program) are matched with a USGS mentor or project team from across the country. The result: a win-win for science, students, and schools. "It’s a grand slam for all involved,” said Dawn Childs, an information specialist with the USGS Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units.  “Recent high school graduates with special needs get real-world experience while helping USGS scientists on projects ranging from grizzly bears and energy to historic documents and bird migration. And a school system gets to successfully train students to enter the workforce." Digitizing land change and energy development in the Prairie Potholes The USGS Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center in Montana had thousands of data points to digitize for a project that evaluated the ecological effects of energy development in the Williston Basin. Former volunteer Kevin Kim’s work on the energy project was so outstanding that he was later hired by the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center Bird Banding Lab (BBL).  As a volunteer,  Kim helped geologist Todd Preston by using mapping software to digitize and map more than 21,000 well pads over a period of two years. Preston said Kim’s work was so invaluable that he listed the student as an author on a recent scientific paper. The dataset can now be used for different projects, including describing past land cover change and determining areas of greatest conservation need in the vast Prairie Pothole region. Kim, said Preston, developed a truly unique dataset with his manual digitization work.  Fairfax County Public School volunteers, teachers, and USGS staff visit the Bird Banding Lab basement storage facility at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Science Center. The field trip was led by USGS biological science technician Elaine Nakash.(Public domain.) Decoding the information contained in hundreds of thousands of bird bands Since 1920, the BBL has tracked the data obtained from birds banded in North America. The BBL has several hundred bird banding schedules representing thousands of banding events prepared to scan and digitize. The data from these bands allows researchers to study bird migration, behavior, life-span and survival, and population health and growth. The data also enable  managers set science-based hunting regulations. But hundreds of thousands of past entries  -- a wealth of scientific information -- have been mostly inaccessible.  Under the direction of USGS geographer Derek Masaki, nine student volunteers learned how to scan documents for digitization and to track data using spreadsheets.  Then they worked tirelessly to digitize this banding information, and in little more than a year, they’ve scanned more than 100,000 sheets of banding data. Consequently, this information now is able to be uploaded to the BBL data system, but also to the Biodiversity Information Serving Our Nation (BISON) web app, the U.S. federal resource for biological occurrence data. Additionally, several of these students were later hired by Masaki.   Of grizzlies and huckleberries, bighorn sheep and salt USGS Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center has thousands of trail camera photos triggered by wildlife are being visually analyzed by these students.  Their working is enabling USGS researcher Tabitha Graves unravel the importance of  specific food resources during different times of the year for grizzly bears (huckleberries) and bighorn sheep (salt licks). To help decode the contents of these pictures, Graves and Childs trained the students to recognize and record  the life-cycle stages of huckleberries (e.g., flowering, fruiting), as well as the number and age group of sheep using salt licks, an important but limited resource.  “I’m excited to be part of this innovative program," said Graves. A USGS grizzly bear researcher snapped this picture of a mother grizzly bear and her cub in Yellowstone National Park. Recent research shows that fffspring of grizzly bear mothers with a history of human-bear conflicts are more likely to be involved in human-bear conflicts than offspring of mothers without a history of human-bear conflicts. (Credit: Frank van Manen, USGS. Public domain.) The USGS studies bighorn sheep movements, population structures, and habitat use in and near Glacier National Park. Here, USGS scientist Tabitha Graves sets up remote camera at a salt lick in the park as a sheep stands in background.(Credit: Tabitha Graves, USGS. Public domain.)                               Citizen science helps map our world, our coastal changes, and sheds light on climate change effects on birds The USGS has numerous projects that use crowdsourcing and citizen science, which is scientific work undertaken by the public to help answer important scientific questions. Student volunteers were trained and worked on three USGS citizen- science projects: iCoast, The National Map Corps, and the North American Bird Phenology Program.   iCoast allows citizen scientists to identify changes to the coast by comparing aerial photographs taken before and after storms.(Public domain.) Students working on the Bird Phenology program are helping to digitize information contained in more than a century of 6 million notecards about bird behavior and migration, all of them stored in government files. The transcribed and digitized notecards will contain an unprecedented amount of information describing bird distributions, migration timing, and migration pathways and how they are changing. USGS scientist Sam Droege noted that the students working on these historical collections are so fast and so accurate that they are contributing vast amounts of important scientific information.  “I can’t say enough good things about this program,” said Droege. Historically valuable library collections The USGS Libraries have holdings of more than 1.5 million books, maps, and other paper records, many found nowhere else in the world and of significant historic value. Student volunteer explores the historic USGS map collection.(Credit: USGS, USGS. Public domain.) In an effort to provide the public with digital access to these materials, the USGS  Libraries Program trained these student volunteers to scan complex and often delicate materials. ts. The students worked primarily with historic USGS publications to be uploaded to Publications Warehouse, as well as scanned publications for the Biodiversity Heritage Library, of which the USGS is a member institution. Former volunteer Ed Sagurton, who had the propensity for giving a wholly accurate Gettysburg Address in Abraham Lincoln’s dignified voice, helped upload hundreds of photographs to the USGS multimedia gallery project. Said Sagurton about his work: “I am the reptile expert; unlike most other reptiles, crocodilians have a cerebral cortex and a four-chambered heart like humans while all other reptiles have a three-chambered heart.” Home Run for Earth Science Student volunteers like to say that they liberate paper datasets, said Childs. “But not only are they liberating data, they are saving the bureau valuable time and money by processing tens of thousands of records.” USGS hopes the volunteers and teacher from the two participating Fairfax County high schools, Chantilly and South Lakes, gain a deeper understanding of the natural world and how it is changing. The Smithsonian Natural History Museum offers hands-on learning experiences.(Public domain.) This is a partial list of accomplishments from October 2013 through November 2016: Over 122,450 Bird Banding Lab sheets scanned Over 21,000 well pads digitized Over 25,000 North American Bird Migration Program data cards transcribed 6,528 wildlife time-lapse images record 3,000 phenology images recorded in database Over 6,000 aerial images or data cards reviewed and rectified 3,000 document sets (over 10,000 pages) digitized 2511 bird records reviewed 1,527 ecology images uploaded to the USGS Multimedia Gallery 1,100 books scanned Over 1,000 files scanned, filed, or shredded, maintain database, digitize paper records; 500 security files created, entered into database, or shredded; 299 science publications, factsheets, and periodicals recorded to database; 211 stories for social media researched and authored; 100 digital object identifier numbers recorded in a USGS publication database, 42 citations reviewed for official fact sheet; 81 sets of unserviceable Government license plate returns for recycling and processed; 60 asset records archived in historical collection in database Student volunteers work in the USGS Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units, Core Science Analytics Synthesis and Libraries, Eastern Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center, Ecosystems, Equal Employment Opportunity, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystems Science Center, Human Resources, Office of Enterprise Information, National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, and Patuxent Wildlife Research Center Bird Banding Lab. President Obama has a commitment to increase the percentage of Targeted Personnel with Disabilities which every Federal agency has a 2 percent goal. Moreover, the Administration established a government-wide initiative to promote diversity and inclusion in the Federal Workforce. For more information about the USGS STEP partnership, email volunteerfcps@usgs.gov. For more information about FCPS STEP, visit the program website.   Happy Holidays from Fairfax County Public Schools Secondary Transition to Employment student volunteers.(Credit: USGS. Public domain.) Resources Chantilly High School Secondary Transition to Employment (STEP) Executive Order 13548, Increasing Federal Employment of Individuals with Disabilities Executive Order 13583, Establishing a Government-Wide Initiative to Promote Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal Workforce Fairfax County Public Schools Career and Transition Services - STEP Schedule A Hiring Authority: Appointments of Individuals with Disabilities Secretarial Order 3332, Engaging the Next Generation South Lakes High School #biology #usgs

Coastal Wetland Decision Support Tools Now Available for Great Lakes: Available today, two new Coastal Wetland Decision Support Tools will collectively provide a means for Great Lakes coastal wetland managers to analyze and map conservation efforts while maximizing restoration impact. These tools can be found at GreatLakesWetlands.org/dst and on the U.S. Geological Survey website. Responding to population pressures, fragmentation and other stressors that threaten long-term sustainability of coastal resources in the Great Lakes region, the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes Landscape Conservation Cooperative has acted to unify federal agencies, state agencies and non-governmental organizations to form a Coastal Conservation Working Group. These tools are the next step in a Landscape Conservation Design process that began with that group setting targets and goals through partnership engagement and establishing a pilot area from Saginaw Bay, Michigan on Lake Huron to Western Lake Erie. The Coastal Wetland Prioritization Tool provides information on the ecological condition, water quality, surrounding human pressures and conservation status of coastal wetlands. Through an intuitive interface, it allows coastal wetland managers to view the data, and select variables of interest, prioritize and report results. “This tool acts as a bridge between data gathered through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the decision makers,” said Dr. Matthew Cooper of the Northland College Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation. “It will allow stakeholders to visualize data on wetland conditions, compare wetlands to one another and rank wetlands based on user defined criteria. We’ll achieve success by investing in wetland restoration projects that have the greatest impact.” The prioritization tool was developed by researchers at Northland College, Central Michigan University, University of Minnesota Duluth and Limno Tech. The Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Restoration Assessments help coastal wetland managers consider the broader context of their local conservation opportunities by identifying specific areas with high potential for restoration, comparing results with basemaps and oblique aerial photography and generating reports on areas of interest. “As a wetland manager you may know your local region very well, but what support do you have to think beyond that, at a landscape scale?” asked Kurt Kowalski, a research ecologist at the USGS. “Using a restorability index model that factors in criteria like the presence of hydric soils, wetness under historical lake-level patterns and the ability to support wetland vegetation, we can begin to see which lands might be most conducive for restoration back to coastal wetland.” The assessment tool was developed by the USGS Great Lakes Science Center and the New College of Florida. Guided by these tools, the Coastal Conservation Working Group can focus the efforts of coastal wetland managers in the pilot area towards on-the-ground implementation, knowing the projects will lead to maximum, cost-effective impacts. All those interested in using these tools to improve coastal wetland conservation in the Great Lakes are encouraged to attend the live demonstration webinar on December 19, 2016, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Central time. Register and receive access details online. Visit http://GreatLakesLCC.org/group/coastal-conservation-working-group to learn more, and sign up to receive ongoing updates at http://GreatLakesLCC.org/ccwg-join. #biology #usgs

Long days, fresh ideas, and new connections: USGS scientists sharing science at the 2016 AGU Fall Meeting: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists also broaden their scientific horizons, get ideas for new projects, and plant the seeds for collaborations that might change the way we think about the Earth. Pedestrians cross 4th Street outside the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco while traffic waits at a stoplight. In the foreground are street banners for the AGU Fall Meeting. In the background is the Moscone Convention Center - West building. (Credit: Rex Sanders, USGS. Public domain.) For the 2016 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, our scientists plan to give over 400 presentations to the largest gathering of Earth scientists in the world. The talks and posters span a wide range of topics, from reducing greenhouse gases by restoring wetlands, to extreme El Niño beach erosion in California, to earthquake early warning systems, including a late-breaking session on Oklahoma’s largest recorded earthquake. USGS scientists have attended this conference for nearly 50 years, presenting keynote addresses, organizing sessions, and contributing scientific findings. New scientists gain valuable exposure and expand their professional networks. Side meetings with colleagues save travel time and money better spent on research. While our scientists are gearing up for this year’s meeting, we look back to the 2015 AGU Fall Meeting, attended by 24,000 scientists from around the world, including several hundred from USGS. Looking down on a large room crowded with people checking out AGU Fall Meeting posters on long rows of boards. (Credit: Rex Sanders, USGS. Public domain.) These USGS scientists choose to spend long days far from home because they want to share their science, and for many other reasons. “The rest of the scientific community just really values our presence and our contributions at these conferences,” said USGS hydrologist Chris Magirl. USGS scientists Halley Kimball (left) and Chris Magirl conduct a bathymetric survey of the Cedar River in western Washington.(Credit: Christiana Czuba, USGS. Public domain.) Sharing science with 24,000 people USGS scientists gave more than 500 formal presentations at the 2015 AGU Fall Meeting. Conference topics ranged from atmospheric processes to volcanology; sessions started early Sunday morning and ran through Friday evening. Here are some perspectives from our scientists who participated in last year’s meeting. How do you tell people what to expect from a creeping disaster? That was the subject of a poster by Christina Neal, a volcanologist and scientist-in-charge at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) on the island of Hawai’i. For nine months, lava flows threatened Pāhoa Village and the only road serving thousands of people. “The USGS scientists were personally talking to emergency managers and talking to residents whose homes were threatened by this lava flow,” said Neal. “I've heard from so many people that the way HVO scientists were able to [communicate], both in writing and in front of large public community meetings, went a long way in helping people cope with this extended, slow motion disaster.” Benjamin Jones is a USGS research geographer working in Anchorage, Alaska. A tundra fire had burned roughly 400 square miles (1,000 square kilometers), including an area covered by detailed LIDAR elevation data gathered before and after the blaze. Jones and his colleagues discovered that one third of the permafrost in the burned area had melted and collapsed, because the fire incinerated vegetation and soil that insulated the permafrost. USGS research geographer Ben Jones is dressed warmly as he stands next to portable core-drilling device in a snow-covered area. (Credit: USGS. Public domain.) “This was basically the first study that demonstrated the potential impact of tundra fires on cold permafrost terrain in the Arctic,” he said about his popular poster. “[I was] just constantly talking for five and a half, six hours,” said Jones. Many presentations at the conference covered the powerful Nepal earthquake of April 25, 2015. Susan Hough, a USGS geophysicist and seismologist in Pasadena, California, helped arrange one session on short notice for the December conference. Susan Hough, a USGS geophysicist and seismologist, climbs a metal ladder going to the roof of a building. Below her and in the background are other people, forest, and fog. (Credit: USGS. Public domain.) “Everyone had been aware that Nepal was going to be hit by magnitude 8-ish earthquakes,” Hough said. “There was a lot of concern for the damage and the death toll that would be caused by an earthquake like that.” “The question is ‘why wasn’t the damage even worse?’” said Hough. “It’s something that people are going to be working on for a long time.” Conference organizers also invited Hough to give an “Ignite” talk one evening on the how the earthquake defied expectations. “It’s kind of like a poor man’s TED talk,” Hough said. “And you’re supposed to give this bang-up, gee-whiz science talk in five minutes. Like speed dating.” Her presentation ended around 8:30 pm, capping another long day at the conference. Long, full days With thousands of presentations to choose from, and tens of thousands of potential collaborators to meet, everyone attending the AGU Fall Meeting has a unique schedule. For most scientists, the days are a non-stop blur of giving talks and attending talks, cruising the poster aisles, and talking shop over quickly eaten meals. USGS scientists pack as much as they can into each day and evening. Attendees at the AGU Fall Meeting take a break for morning refreshments. A crowd of people in a large room with snacks and drinks on tables in the foreground. (Credit: Rex Sanders, USGS. Public domain.) Chris Magirl, a USGS hydrologist and research manager stationed in Tucson, Arizona, described one day at the conference. “I woke up, went over to the diner, and got an omelet. I got to Moscone [Convention Center] about 8:30, and saw Jim O’Connor’s talk on sediment transport and sediment load. Many colleagues and friends were giving talks throughout that session. I gave a talk at 11:20. We went out and got some lunch, and then headed back to a poster session in the afternoon. It wrapped up at 5:00. Then a couple of colleagues and I got some dinner and talked science at a Thai place. I got back to the hotel room around 8:00 or 9:00 to get some rest before doing it all over again the next day.” USGS geologist and Mendenhall post-doctoral fellow Jessica Ball commuted to the conference by train. USGS geologist and Mendenhall post-doctoral fellow Jessica Ball wears a safety vest and gloves while sitting on the bumper of an SUV filled with scientific instruments. (Credit: USGS. Public domain.) “Got up very early. Worked on the notes for my presentation while I was on the train. Walked in here and immediately started going to hydrothermal sessions. Then I met up with a few colleagues for lunch and went to posters in the afternoon. Spent a lot of time talking about people’s research at their posters. Zipped by the Exhibit Hall when I needed a break from talking, and then went to the blogging and social media forums.” That evening, Ball attended three receptions, including one for early career female scientists, before catching a late train home. New ideas and collaborations Nearly every day, USGS scientists at the AGU Fall Meeting learned new things, generated fresh ideas, and planted seeds for future work. Benjamin Jones talked with scientists planning an international project to study coastlines influenced by permafrost. He also learned about structure from motion, a technique for making detailed elevation maps from air photos. “That’s probably my one take-home,” said Jones. “I should look into that more.” Susan Hough chatted with an oil industry scientist about induced earthquakes in Texas. “It’s got me thinking it might be worth stepping back from Oklahoma and looking at Texas and Arkansas,” she said. One talk surprised Jessica Ball during a session she helped organize. “They figured out that a whole bunch of lava domes had formed on this undersea volcano in something like a matter of days or weeks,” she said. “I didn’t realize that you could have lava domes that are underwater, and that they can form that quickly.” Despite being a well-known blogger and Twitter user, Ball doesn’t believe that apps are the only answer. “I don’t think you make good connections and really form collaborations unless it’s in person. Humans work better with other humans. They don’t work quite as well through technology.” Why attend AGU? Working long days away from home, after wading through a thicket of meeting and travel approvals, would not qualify as fun for most people. Yet USGS scientists return to the AGU Fall Meeting year after year. Ball said the 2014 conference was the most exciting. She was part of a round table for early career scientists that included Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, acting USGS director Suzette Kimball, and Carol Finn, AGU’s president. “I got to have this amazing opportunity to sit down with these three women and talk about my science, why it was important, and where it fit into [the Department of the] Interior’s mission,” said Ball. For Benjamin Jones, working in the 49th state can be a little isolating. The AGU Fall Meeting is “a good venue to get together with other people and other USGS scientists, and talk about some of our research and potential future plans,” he said. “I like to branch out and go see a talk or two that I don’t really know anything about,” said Jones, “with the hopes that it’ll give me a new way of thinking about something I’m working on.” Christina Neal attended the conference to learn the latest science and meet the top scientists in many different fields. “It feels good to be around all of your peers hearing the best of your peers,” said Neal. She saved travel time and money, too. Neal spent a day before the conference at the USGS office in Sacramento, California, meeting with human resources staff to plan future hires. Chris Magirl found other sources of inspiration. “You have a deep appreciation of how ubiquitous and well-respected the USGS is,” he said. “It's hard to walk down a poster aisle and not see a USGS logo on one, or two, or three posters.” “We really have a fantastic presence, and a fantastic reputation that's been established by wonderful scientists,” said Magirl. “That’s a proud thing to be part of.” Looking down on the large poster hall at the AGU Fall Meeting. Many rows of posters on boards with people reading and walking. (Credit: Rex Sanders, USGS. Public domain.) Hard work and a lot of fun: The USGS booth at the AGU Fall Meeting It’s a lot more work than you might imagine. Liz Colvard has run the US Geological Survey (USGS) exhibit booth at the annual American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting for more than a decade. A program and information specialist with the USGS Office of Communications and Publishing in Menlo Park, California, Colvard starts preparing for next year’s booth a couple of weeks after the previous meeting wraps up. Colvard sat down for a short interview just after opening the booth on the last day of the 2015 meeting in San Francisco. The interview was edited for length and clarity. Liz Colvard (left) and Kristin Ludwig staff the USGS booth at the 2015 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco. The booth has tables with handouts, vertical panels with displays, and a video screen.(Credit: Rex Sanders, USGS. Public domain.) What can people find at the USGS booth? The meat of our content is in the handouts and in the people that staff it and answer questions. Most people who come to AGU are already fairly familiar with USGS. There’s a huge focus on new publications that are of interest to this audience, so I’ve got a lot of new publications on display, and we’re giving away copies, or else telling them how to find them online. There are just a few informational handouts that we know people are going to ask [about] every year. You have a video rolling silently in the background. What’s playing? When people are walking past your booth, you’ve got about 5 seconds to catch their attention. I ask [USGS video producer] Steve Wessells to put together a highlight video. Sometimes you’ll see people glance at the video and then do a double take because something has caught their eye. People very rarely stand there and watch [the whole thing]. What kinds of questions do you get? These are generally professional scientists with pretty straightforward questions. They need to find some information and they don’t know where to find it. Or they need to make some kind of professional connection with the USGS and they don't know who to contact, or how to navigate a website. I’d say about 40 to 50 percent of our questions are about employment. How many visitors did you get this year? The first night, the icebreaker session, was a feeding frenzy. As many as three to five hundred people came to the booth. We gave away 150 copies of one map within the first hour or so. How do you staff the booth? We always try to have at least one information specialist in the booth. Here at AGU it’s usually either me or Jan Nelson from EROS [Data Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.] Then we recruit about two scientists to help handle all the people. Often we get science questions that they can answer and we can’t. The scientists in the booth are volunteers? Yes, I send out a call about a week or two before the conference and ask for volunteers [from USGS scientists already attending AGU]. I usually get all the people I need. How do you prepare for AGU? It’s a very detail-oriented job, and I am a very detail-oriented person. I think spreadsheets are gifts from the gods. Beginning in January, I keep track of all the new publications that come out of USGS.  Then about three to four months before the conference I’ll start reviewing that and seeing which publications might be good to have in the booth. AGU is mostly about hazards, water, and satellite imagery. Mapping is always of interest to everybody. I create a handout listing all the new and featured products that we have in the booth with our [web addresses] so somebody can just take that piece of paper. I made a special employment handout this time. Every year I keep track of how many copies of everything we give out, so I know next year how many I need. It’s a lot of work. If all of our information is available online, why do we need a booth? Sure, it’s all online, but who’s ever going to know it’s there, or where to find it? Even I discover things about our website that I don’t even know existed. Do you have to do a lot of work to set up the booth? We came in on Sunday and we set up the booth for about five hours. Then we came in on Monday and spent another three hours finishing up. There’s a real science to laying out an exhibit, because people tend to only see what's flat on the table. You want to put all the most important information flat on the table and then the less important information up on the racks. Jan Nelson (left) and Liz Colvard staff the USGS booth at the 2015 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco. Peter Haeussler is shown on the video screen. The booth has a table with handouts and vertical panels with displays.(Credit: Rex Sanders, USGS. Public domain.) Every morning I come in one to two hours before the conference starts. I get our computers set up and I clean up from the previous day. The USGS booth is right across from NASA’s very large booth. What’s that like? I very deliberately picked a space facing NASA because they are the hub of all activity in the exhibit hall. Our booth gets so much more business when we’re right by NASA than when we’re down on one of the aisles. Do you enjoy this? I love it! I enjoy chatting with people and having that face-to-face interaction with the public. Sometimes people are so excited with the information that you’ve given them. People love the USGS. It makes you feel good about your job. Anything else people should know about our booth? Most of the scientists who volunteer to work in our booth, when they leave, they say things like, "That was a lot of fun, I didn’t realize," or, "I've learned so much about the USGS doing this." I don’t think our scientists realize what a great opportunity it is for them when they work in the booth, how much they learn and get out of it, and how rewarding it can be for them. #biology #usgs