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Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

October 2016 Activity Highlights
Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
La Crosse, Wisconsin

Topics covered in the October activity report.

Collaborative Partner Activities

Ecology of long-tailed ducks wintering on Lake Michigan

Luke Fara (UMESC) initiated field work on a project near Two Rivers, WI, October 27, 2016, to address information needs concerning population delineation, migration, and ecology of long-tailed ducks (LTDUs) wintering on Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan provides an important resource to migrating and wintering long-tailed ducks by providing abundant resting and foraging opportunities. Objectives of the study include capture and radiomarking adult female LTDUs to characterize migration patterns, breeding ground affiliations, and site fidelity of wintering LTDUs; diet analysis of captured and hunter-harvested LTDUs; and characterization of LTDU harvest.  Larry Robinson (UMESC) and Brian Lubinski (USFWS) collected night-time thermal infrared imagery of LTDUs on Lake Michigan during October 28-30, 2016, in support of the project.  LTDU locations were relayed via text message to Luke and his crew on the water to assist in locating LTDUs for night capture (Luke Fara, lfara@usgs.gov, Ecosystems).

Outreach

Guest Lectures on Wildlife Modeling at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point

Richard Erickson (UMESC) presented a series of guest lectures at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, October 11-12, 2016.  Erickson’s topics of discussion focused on: Models Designed to Estimate the Spread of White-Nose Syndrome in Bats, presentation for a Wildlife Disease class; Branching Process Models Used to Model Demographic Stochasticity, presentation for a Population Dynamics class; and Developing Predictive Models and Working for the USGS, presentation for the Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society (Richard Erickson, rerickson@usgs.gov, Ecosystems).

Partner Meetings

Visioning Workshop: Developing Enterprise Tools and Capacities for Large-scale
Jennifer Sauer (UMESC) participated in a Visioning workshop at the USGS Powell Center for Analysis & Synthesis, October 12-13, 2016, in Fort Collins, CO.  The workshop solicited input from monitoring practitioners, program managers, and information scientists to inform enhancements to an existing web resource, MonitoringResources.org.   The goal was to develop enterprise capacity and tools to better support monitoring design, data management, and documentation of data collection protocols used by federal agency and associated stakeholders charged with monitoring and managing natural resources.

Publications

Bigheaded carps movements detected with eDNA

Erickson et. al. examined the relationships among bigheaded carp movement, hydrography, spawning, and eDNA, within the Wabash River, IN, USA. They found positive relationships between eDNA and movement, and between eDNA and hydrography. However, they did not find a relationship between eDNA and spawning activity, in the form of drifting eggs. Their first finding demonstrates how eDNA may be used to monitor species abundance, whereas the second finding illustrates the need for additional research into eDNA methodologies. The paper is available online at, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1755-0998.12533/full (Richard Erickson, rerickson@usgs.gov, Ecosystems).

Erickson, R.A., Rees, C.B., Coulter, A.A., Merkes, C.M., McCalla, S.G., Touzinsky, K.F., Walleser, L., Goforth, R.R., Amberg, J.J. 2016. Detecting the movement and spawning activity of bigheaded carps with environmental DNA. Molecular Ecology Resources. Vol. 16(4):957-965. DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.12533.

Golden-winged Warbler Ecology, Conservation, and Habitat Management

Wayne Thogmartin (UMESC) and co-authors from the Cornell University, University of Tennessee, University of Georgia, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, recently published the first chapter of a monograph on the ecology, conservation, and habitat management of the imperiled Golden-winged Warbler. The authors described the status and trend of the species across its life cycle. Copies of the book are available at, https://www.crcpress.com/Golden-winged-Warbler-Ecology-Conservation-and-Habitat-Management/Streby-Andersen-Buehler/p/book/9781482240689 (Wayne Thogmartin, wthogmartin@usgs.gov, Ecosystems).

Rosenberg, K.V., Will, T., Buehler, D.A., Barker Swarthout, S., Thogmartin, W.E., Bennett, R.E., Chandler, R.B. 2016. Dynamic distributions and population declines of Golden-winged Warblers. Pp. 3-28 In: Streby, H.M., Andersen, D.E., Buehler, D. (editors). 2016. Golden-winged Warbler Ecology, Conservation, and Habitat Management. Studies in Avian Biology (no. 49). CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL. 238 pgs. ISBN: 9781482240689. CAT#: K23339.

Supporting Continental-Scale Monarch Habitat Restoration

Wayne Thogmartin (UMESC), Jay Diffendorfer, Darius Semmens (GECSC), and colleagues from the University of Minnesota, University of Arizona, Georgetown University, and University of California-San Diego, recently published a spatially explicit trans-national model of the monarch butterfly's multi-generational life cycle. The monarch has undergone considerable population declines over the past decade, and the governments of Mexico, Canada, and the United States have agreed to work together to conserve the species. Given limited resources, understanding where to focus conservation action is key for widespread species like monarchs. To support planning for continental-scale monarch habitat restoration, the authors addressed the question of where restoration efforts are likely to have the largest impacts on monarch butterfly population growth rates. Improving monarch habitat in the north central or southern parts of the monarch range yields a slightly greater increase in the population growth rate than restoration in other regions. However, combining restoration efforts across multiple regions yields population growth rates above replacement with smaller simulated improvements in habitat per region than single-region strategies. These findings suggest that conservation investment in projects across the full monarch range will be more effective than focusing on one or a few regions, and will require international cooperation across many land use categories.  The paper is available online at, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/een.12351/full (Wayne Thogmartin, wthogmartin@usgs.gov, Ecosystems).

Oberhauser, K., Wiederholt, R., Diffendorfer, J., Semmens, D., Ries, L., Thogmartin, W.E., Lopez-Hoffman, L., Semmens, B. 2017. A trans-national monarch butterfly population model and implications for regional conservation priorities. Ecological Entomology. DOI: 10.1111/een.12351.

Scientific Meetings, Conferences, and Workshops

Guest Presentations on Long-tailed Ducks at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point

Luke Fara (UMESC) gave a presentation on long-tailed ducks that winter on Lake Michigan, at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, October 4-5, 2016.  The presentation discussed Fara’s Master study aimed at determining temporal and spatial patterns of migration, breeding ground affiliations, site fidelity, and forage base of long-tailed ducks wintering on Lake Michigan.  Fara also participated in recruiting activities for the 2016/17 field season, looking for volunteers willing to conduct hunter harvest surveys or aid in capture efforts (Luke Fara, lfara@usgs.gov, Ecosystems).

Visioning Workshop: Developing Enterprise Tools and Capacities for Large-scale

Jennifer Sauer (UMESC) participated in a Visioning workshop at the USGS Powell Center for Analysis & Synthesis, October 12-13, 2016, in Fort Collins, CO.  The workshop solicited input from monitoring practitioners, program managers, and information scientists to inform enhancements to an existing web resource, MonitoringResources.org.   The goal was to develop enterprise capacity and tools to better support monitoring design, data management, and documentation of data collection protocols used by federal agency and associated stakeholders charged with monitoring and managing natural resources.

USGS presentation on trend estimation at statistical meeting

Karl Oskar Ekvall (Univ. of MN-Twin Cities) and Brian Gray (UMESC) presented, “Generalizing the matrix normal distribution – An application to spatio-temporal data,” at the fall research meeting of the Twin Cities chapter of the American Statistical Association, October 3, 2016, in Mounds View, MN. The research proposes a generalization of a special case of the multivariate normal distribution for the purpose of modeling short time series from multiple spatial locations; such datasets are often associated with ecological and environmental monitoring programs (Brian Gray, brgray@usgs.gov, Ecosystems).

2016 Upper Midwest Invasive Species Conference

USGS Scientists from the Midwest Region participated in this year’s Upper Midwest Invasive Species Conference (UMISC), October 16-19, 2016, in La Crosse, WI.  UMISC provided an opportunity for USGS scientists to interact with researchers and resource managers who specialize in the field of invasive species (Randy Hines, rkhines@usgs.gov, Ecosystems).  USGS contributions included,
Session Moderators:

Oral Presentations:

Poster Presentations

Acronyms

CERC – Columbia Environmental Research Center
DNR – Department of Natural Resources
eDNA – environmental DNA
GECSC – Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center
GLC – Great Lakes Commission
LTDU – Long-tailed Ducks
UMESC – Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
UMISC – Upper Midwest Invasive Species Conference
USFWS – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
USGS – U.S. Geological Survey

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