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Behavior-Season Mapping of Sage Grouse use Intensity to Define Habitat
No full textThe greater sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is a focal species in the effort to conserve imperiled sagebrush ecosystems and associated organisms. As sage grouse numbers decline and populations become more isolated, populations in different regions must cope with unique combinations of stressors and are less likely to be replenished by surrounding populations. Therefore, it is critical that we understand and delineate local habitat to inform management decisions. Wildlife-habitat responses are typically inferred from seasonal population-level resource selection models without regard for detailed individual-level phenologies and behaviors. A more comprehensive suite of inferences and predictions may be gained by linking landscape-condition responses with specific behavior-seasons derived from movement data and expert knowledge. Our primary goal was to quantify sage-grouse landscape-condition responses relevant to management and map use-intensity for 7 distinct behavior-seasons. We attached a 22-g solar powered GPS satellite transmitter to 86 female sage grouse in north-central Montana and have collected 188,786 geographic coordinates during 2018-04-24 – 2021-12-28. We monitored females, analyzed movement behaviors, and mapped use-intensity using a combination of field observations, nonlinear-regression movement models, a time-local convex hull approach, and generalized additive models. The relationship and magnitude of associations among sage grouse use-intensity and landscape conditions varied among the 7 behavior-seasons which indicates that behavioral and temporal context is important for understanding habitat physiognomy and use for sage grouse
Grizzly Bear Habitat Selection and Predicted Movement Corridors in Western Montana
No full textOnce-contiguous grizzly bear populations remain largely isolated, and connectivity among federal recovery areas is a key concern for conservation efforts. Research has been needed to assess potential corridors that could promote genetic and demographic connectivity for males and females among recovery ecosystems. Our objective was to model grizzly bear habitat use, movement, and population connectivity. We employed GPS data from male and female grizzly bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) and an integrated step selection function approach to test hypotheses of habitat selection and simulate movements. Results demonstrate highly individualistic behaviors, with some individuals avoiding and others preferring various features like forest edge, riparian areas, etc. Such individualism supports the need for an individual-based modeling approach to understand and predict grizzly bear behavior. We accordingly first used each individual’s model to simulate movements within and near the NCDE using correlated random walks. We then used each model to simulate pathways from the NCDE to nearby recovery areas using randomized shortest paths. Our work is ongoing; however, preliminary results highlight potential pathways that could be targeted for proactive conservation efforts such as habitat conservation, conflict mitigation, and transportation planning
Pronghorn in the Madison Valley - Research-Informed Management Actions and Community-Based Conservation
No full textSecretarial Order 3362 to improve habitat quality, winter range, and migration corridors for big game provided an opportunity to foster collaboration between Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MTFWP) and private landowners using the best available science to manage habitat. Pronghorn may exhibit long distance migrations while being sensitive to anthropogenic barriers like fences, highlighting the need for data to inform pronghorn habitat management. From 2018 to 2021, 82 female pronghorn were fitted with GPS collars in the Madison Valley. Findings have been applied in many ways to follow the Secretarial Order. First, collar data defined a previously-unknown herd structure involving migratory and non-migratory herds. This information will refine how survey and inventory data will be collected and how harvest may be applied. Second, collar data defined corridors and natural and anthropogenic barriers. Problematic and non-problematic barriers were defined. Third, community-based enthusiasm for pronghorn grew into a collaboration between several non-governmental organizations to work together with private landowners to bring labor and resources to repair and remove fences. Fourth, agencies such as Montana Department of Transportation and Bureau of Land Management worked with MTFWP and private landowners to promote and enhance permeability of pronghorn fence crossings. Finally, findings from this research are beginning to be applied with the Madison County Planners to highlight the importance of development planning in the pronghorn migratory corridor. The numerous ways in which research data have been applied to improve management, develop communication, and facilitate collaboration among stakeholders in the Madison Valley will be discussed
Glacier’s Ghosts: Estimating Canada lynx occupancy and Density in Glacier National Park with a Passive Camera Array during Summer
No full textGlacier National Park (GNP) is a large, protected area within the northern Rockies Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) recovery unit, however knowledge of lynx distribution within the park is limited. Traditional means of monitoring lynx are not easily achieved in GNP due to difficulty in access during wintertime. Therefore, our intent was to complete the first park-wide occupancy survey of lynx using an array of passive camera traps during summer, a method recently found to be successful in other southern range edge populations. Within a smaller area of the park, we also tested the possibility of identifying individuals from subtle markings on the inside of the front leg to estimate density via spatially explicit capture-recapture. Finally, we linked park-wide predictions of occupancy with local density to estimate lynx population size across GNP. We found lynx distributed across much of the park and in the density study area we were able to successfully identify ~75% of lynx captures to individual based on coat markings. We estimated average park-wide lynx density at 1.2/100km2 (95% CI: 0.7 – 2.2) resulting in an estimated population of 52.4 (95% CI: 29.9 - 91.8) lynx during summer. Our findings suggest that much of GNP is highly suitable habitat for lynx in the summer, with habitat mostly at or above the current elevational and climatic limits used by lynx. Based on our results, we propose that GNP should be considered as a potentially important area for lynx habitat refugia in a warming climate
Intact Rangelands Outcompete Focal Species as a More Efficient Surrogate for Conservation in The Northern Great Plains
No full textMaps of species-habitat relationships often underlie our strategies to identify and prioritize areas for conservation. Often a single surrogate species drives conservation design, with the assumption that conservation actions for a well selected species will confer benefits to a broader community. Recent advances in systematic conservation planning coupled with increasingly available spatial data have helped planners incorporate requirements of multiple species. Yet, multispecies prioritization algorithms are still challenged by how to objectively ‘weight’ varying attributes, which has tremendous impacts on resulting area-based prioritizations. We developed an approach to quantify ‘strength of surrogacy’ among species, by building individual models and measuring their ability to encompass a broader wildlife community. We applied our approach to a suite of species models used for conservation targeting in the imperiled grasslands and sagebrush steppe of the Northern Great Plains, where prioritization can help stem the loss of private grazing lands to cultivation. This approach allowed us to measure the relative efficacy of different species as surrogates, and provided a metric to weight models among multispecies algorithms. In this test, we also considered a simple surrogate of intact rangelands, fully agnostic to species data, representing a null model for conservation targeting. Prioritization outputs weighted by species strength of surrogacy among intact parcels give practitioners a roadmap for future investments to maintain these already functioning landscapes for conservation. Furthermore, our measure of intactness vastly outperformed any species model as a surrogate for conservation, highlighting the efficacy of strategies that target large and intact cores for wildlife conservation
Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Elk Aggregation on Fossil Butte National Monument
No full textAs wildlife managers strive to limit disease transmission among their herds, information about when and where animals are congregating is crucial for making effective management decisions. We investigated the density of an elk herd that winters on Fossil Butte National Monument, WY over a five-year period from 2005 to 2010 using GPS collar data from 68 female elk to assess the spatial and temporal patterns of disease transmission risk. Using a daily proximity index and kernel density estimates, we determined that contact rates between the elk in each year were highest during the fall and winter months while the elk herd was predominately located on the Monument. This suggests that management actions taken on the Monument may have an important impact on disease transmission risk for the herd across the year, although the herd migrates to a different range in the summer. This information is particularly relevant to the Monument given the Monument’s proximity to other locations with Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). We plan to compare these results with density metrics for an elk herd that winters on the Cokeville Meadows Wildlife Refuge, WY. We anticipate that similar information across additional populations will be useful for untangling the interactions of density, population size, and environmental transmission on disease transmission dynamics
A State-Wide Look at Montana’s Diverse Avian Datasets
No full textSince the online platform eBird.org launched in 2002, millions of bird observations have been collected by citizen scientists and amateur bird observers. Today, 10’s of thousands of bird observation lists are uploaded each day and the data building up is incredible. Over 391 thousand lists have been submitted by over 13 thousand observers in Montana, with 431 species having been observed. Along with trusted long-term and large-scale bird data series, like the Breeding Bird Survey or the Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions effort, and species-specific efforts like annual fall hawk counts, a truly immense body of bird observation data has been amassed. Though the diversity of survey efforts and individual birders’ contributions to data collection efforts are crucial to understanding the state’s 442 bird species, they are complicated to utilize in their respective silos. Now after a multi-year partnership effort between the Montana Natural Heritage Program (MTHNP) and Montana Audubon millions of bird data records have been reviewed for final acceptance and incorporation into the MTNHP zoological database. The huge effort will directly contribute to improved range analysis tools and updated range extents for dozens of species, in addition to supporting trend analysis for Montana’s birds; one of the few groups of species where enough data exists for trend analysis. In some cases, as with the Lesser Goldfinch, and Gray Flycatcher, the data may help MTNHP assess a status for the first time, and in all cases the updates will be seen immediately through the MTNHP tracker and project
Camera Trap Density Estimators: Methods Old and New
No full textCamera traps are a cost-effective and non-invasive method for collecting data on wildlife species. Recently, camera trap data has been used to estimate abundances in unmarked animal populations. In this talk, I summarize some of the different camera trap density estimators already in existence and introduce a novel method that uses dynamic processes to estimate landscape-scale abundances. I show how dynamic models may be used to incorporate movement across a landscape and how they may be applied to camera trap data. I compare this new model with four previously developed density estimators by fitting them to individual-based simulations using Bayesian methods. Note that these results are preliminary and future work will show where each of these methods are appropriate given the type of data available
Evaluating the Effects of Electric Cables on Urban Howler Monkeys with Local Knowledge and Naturalistic Observation
No full textBlack-and-gold howler monkeys commonly inhabit urbanized areas of South America often using anthropogenic structures, such as electric cables, to travel across urban environments, which can result in increased rates of mortality. The urban howler monkey troops in Pilar, Paraguay, offer a unique opportunity to understand the dynamic between humans, wildlife, and complex urban habitats. With very little research existing on the howler monkey populations in Paraguay, this study aims to provide initial understanding of the relationship between urban howler monkeys and human populations through an interdisciplinary research approach. During summer 2021, we studied the two most-at-risk monkey troops in Pilar to evaluate whether proximity to electric cables is influencing monkey behavior. We grouped proximity to electric cables into 3 groups, 15 ft, and we grouped behavior into 7 classes: resting, feeding, traveling, playing, mating, grooming, and other. We found evidence that the behavior of the monkey troops had a significant behavior difference across 3 levels of proximity to electric cables (?2= 225.8, df = 12, P < 0.001). Next, we will fit a multinomial model to further assess the effect of electric cable proximity on behavior. We also explored the human dimension aspect of the monkey-cable issue by interviewing 104 community members, where views ranged from being concerned for the monkeys to viewing populations as pests. In the future, the results of this study will provide valuable sociological and ecological tools to further assess the nuances and complexities of social-ecological issues in Paraguay
Using Drones and Radio Telemetry to Monitor Wildlife in Montana
No full textWe summarize work evaluating the potential use of radio telemetry equipment mounted on a small Unoccupied Aerial System (sUAS), a DJI Matrice 600 Pro drone, to support locating wolf radio collar signals and aerial photography. A Communications Specialist R1000 receiver and Advanced Telemetry Systems 3 element yagi antenna were used to listen for signals from radio collared wolves from the ground. The Matrice 600 landing gear was modified to provide a platform for mounting the receiver electronics, the three element Yagi antenna, and a wireless transmitter/receiver system. A DJI Zenmuse Z30 30x zoom camera was mounted under the drone. Radio frequency noise from the drone controller and motor electronics initially masked weak signals from the collars. Mounting the antenna 1-2 feet above the drone significantly reduced the noise interference. Using the drone to lift the antenna 100 feet up into the air and getting above the treeline resulted in a 20 dB signal improvement over the signal strength from the ground. We plan further testing using a spectrum analyzer in place of the receiver, and a higher gain 5 element antenna to improve direction finding. Additionally, we review how drones have been used to facilitate data collection for wolves and other wildlife in Montana and beyond, and the potential for drones to facilitate more efficient, effective, and precise monitoring and management of wildlife