Life Sciences Commons^™

Dependence Of Aspen Stands On A Subsurface Water Subsidy: Implications For Climate Change Impacts, D. M. Love, M. D. Venturas, J. S. Sperry, P. D. Brooks, Joseph L. Pettit, Y. Wang, W. R.L. Anderegg, X. Tai, D. S. Mackay

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

The reliance of 10 Utah (USA) aspen forests on direct infiltration of growing season rain versus an additional subsurface water subsidy was determined from a trait‐ and process‐based model of stomatal control. The model simulated the relationship between water supply to the root zone versus canopy transpiration and assimilation over a growing season. Canopy flux thresholds were identified that distinguished nonstressed, stressed, and dying stands. We found growing season rain and local soil moisture were insufficient for the survival of 5 of 10 stands. Six stands required a substantial subsidy (31–80% of potential seasonal transpiration) to avoid water stress and …

Parental Habituation To Human Disturbance Over Time Reduces Fear Of Humans In Coyote Offspring, Christopher J. Schell, Julie K. Young, Elizabeth V. Lonsdorf, Rachel M. Santymire, Jill M. Mateo

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

A fundamental tenet of maternal effects assumes that maternal variance over time should have discordant consequences for offspring traits across litters. Yet, seldom are parents observed across multiple reproductive bouts, with few studies consider‐ ing anthropogenic disturbances as an ecological driver of maternal effects. We ob‐ served captive coyote (Canis latrans) pairs over two successive litters to determine whether among‐litter differences in behavior (i.e., risk‐taking) and hormones (i.e., cortisol and testosterone) corresponded with parental plasticity in habituation. Thus, we explicitly test the hypothesis that accumulating experiences of anthropogenic disturbance reduces parental fear across reproductive bouts, which should have disparate phenotypic …

Hidden Cost Of Disease In A Free-Ranging Ungulate: Brucellosis Reduces Mid-Winter Pregnancy In Elk, Gavin C. Cotterill, Paul C. Cross, Arthur D. Middleton, Jared D. Rogerson, Brandon M. Scurlock, Johan T. Du Toit

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Demonstrating disease impacts on the vital rates of free‐ranging mammalian hosts typically requires intensive, long‐term study. Evidence for chronic pathogens affecting reproduction but not survival is rare, but has the potential for wide‐ranging effects. Accurately quantifying disease‐associated reductions in fecundity is important for advancing theory, generating accurate predictive models, and achieving effective management. We investigated the impacts of brucellosis (Brucella abortus) on elk (Cervus canadensis) productivity using serological data from over 6,000 captures since 1990 in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, USA. Over 1,000 of these records included known age and pregnancy status. Using Bayesian multilevel models, …

The Importance Of Small Fire Refugia In The Central Sierra Nevada, California, Usa, Erika M. Blomdahl, Crystal A. Kolden, Arjan J.H. Meddens, James A. Lutz

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Fire refugia – the unburned areas within fire perimeters – are important to the survival of many taxa through fire events and the revegetation of post-fire landscapes. Previous work has shown that species use and benefit from small-scale fire refugia (1 m² to 1000 m²), but our understanding of where and how fire refugia form is largely limited to the scale of remotely sensed data (i.e., 900 m² Landsat pixels). To examine the causes and consequences of small fire refugia, we field-mapped all unburned patches ≥1 m² within a contiguous 25.6 ha forest plot that …

When Strange Bedfellows Go All In: A Template For Implementing Non-Lethal Strategies Aimed At Reducing Carnivore Predation Of Livestock, Julie K. Young, John Steuber, Alexandra Few, Adam Baca, Zack Strong

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

In the Rocky Mountains of the USA, abundances and distributions of grizzly bear Ursus arctos and gray wolf Canis lupus have increased (Bangs et al., 2001; Nicholson & Hendricks, 2018). This has led to increased predation of livestock in areas where livestock producers have not needed to implement conflict prevention methods in recent history. Lethal removal of carnivores that kill livestock remains a common source of carnivore mortalities (Woodroffe, 2001; Broekhuis, Cushman & Elliot, 2017). In the USA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services (USDA-WS) is often asked by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or a State’s wildlife …

How Behavior Of Nontarget Species Affects Perceived Accuracy Of Scat Detection Dog Surveys, Karen E. Dematteo, Linsey W. Blake, Julie K. Young, Barbara Davenport

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Detection dogs, specially trained domestic dogs (Canis familiaris), have become a valuable, noninvasive, conservation tool because they remove the dependence of attracting species to a particular location. Further, detection dogs locate samples independent of appearance, composition, or visibility allowing researchers to collect large sets of unbiased samples that can be used in complex ecological queries. One question not fully addressed is why samples from nontarget species are inadvertently collected during detection dog surveys. While a common explanation has been incomplete handler or dog training, our study aimed to explore alternative explanations. Our trials demonstrate that a scat’s genetic …

A Landscape-Level Assessment Of Whitebark Pine Regeneration In The Rocky Mountains, Usa, Sara A. Goeking, Deborah K. Izlar, Thomas C. Edwards Jr.

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis Engelm.) has recently experienced high mortality due to multiple stressors, and future population viability may rely on natural regeneration. We assessed whitebark pine seedling densities throughout the US Rocky Mountains and identified stand, site, and climatic variables related to seedling presence based on data from 1,217 USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis plots. Although mean densities were highest in the whitebark pine forest type, 83% of sites with seedlings present occurred in non-whitebark pine forest types, and the highest densities occurred in the lodgepole pine forest type. To identify factors related to whitebark pine …

Climatically Driven Changes In Primary Production Propagate Through Trophic Levels, David C. Stoner, Joseph O. Sexton, David M. Choate, Jyoteshwar Nagol, Heather H. Bernales, Steven A. Sims, Kirsten E. Ironside, Kathleen M. Longshore, Thomas C. Edwards Jr.

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Climate and land‐use change are the major drivers of global biodiversity loss. Their effects are particularly acute for wide‐ranging consumers, but little is known about how these factors interact to affect the abundance of large carnivores and their herbivore prey. We analyzed population densities of a primary and secondary consumer (mule deer, Odocoileus hemionus, and mountain lion, Puma concolor) across a climatic gradient in western North America by combining satellite‐based maps of plant productivity with estimates of animal abundance and foraging area derived from Global Positioning Systems telemetry data (GPS). Mule deer density exhibited a positive, linear relationship with plant …

Cross-Fostering As A Conservation Tool To Augment Endangered Carnivore Populations, Eric M. Gese, William T. Waddell, Patricia A. Terletzky, Chris F. Lucash, Scott R. Mclellan, Susan K. Behrns

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Cross-fostering offspring with nonbiological parents could prove useful to augment populations of endangered carnivores. We used cross-fostering to augment captive-born and wild-born litters for the endangered red wolf (Canis rufus). Between 1987 and 2016, 23 cross-fostering events occurred involving captive-born pups fostered into captive litters (n = 8 events) and captive-born pups fostered into wild recipient litters (n = 15 events). Percentage of pups surviving 3 and 12 months was 91.7% for captive-born pups fostered into captive recipient litters. For pups fostered into wild litters, percentage of pups surviving 5 months was > 94% among fostered pups …

It's Time To Listen: There Is Much To Be Learned From The Sounds Of Tropical Ecosystems, Jessica L. Deichmann, Orlando Acevedo-Charry, Leah Barclay, Zuzana Burivalova, Marconi Campos-Cerqueira, Fernando D'Horta, Edward T. Game, Benjamin L. Gottesman, Patrick J. Hart, Ammie K. Kalan, Simon Linke, Leandro Do Nascimento, Bryan Pijanowski, Erica Staaterman, T. Mitchell Aide

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Knowledge that can be gained from acoustic data collection in tropical ecosystems is low‐hanging fruit. There is every reason to record and with every day, there are fewer excuses not to do it. In recent years, the cost of acoustic recorders has decreased substantially (some can be purchased for under US$50, e.g., Hill et al. 2018) and the technology needed to store and analyze acoustic data is continuously improving (e.g., Corrada Bravo et al. 2017, Xie et al. 2017). Soundscape recordings provide a permanent record of a site at a given time and contain a wealth of …

Development Of On-Shore Behavior Among Polar Bears (Ursus Maritimus) In The Southern Beaufort Sea: Inherited Or Learned?, Kate M. Lillie, Eric M. Gese, Todd C. Atwood, Sarah A. Sonsthagen

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are experiencing rapid and substantial changes to their environment due to global climate change. Polar bears of the southern Beaufort Sea (SB) have historically spent most of the year on the sea ice. However, recent reports from Alaska indicate that the proportion of the SB subpopulation observed on-shore during late summer and early fall has increased. Our objective was to investigate whether this on-shore behavior has developed through genetic inheritance, asocial learning, or through social learning. From 2010 to 2013, genetic data were collected from SB polar bears in the fall via hair snags …

Influence Of Behavioral State, Sex, And Season On Resource Selection By Jaguars (Panthera Onca): Always On The Prowl?, Eric M. Gese, Patricia A. Terletzky, Sandra M. C. Calvalcanti, Christopher M. U. Neale

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

How a predator uses its landscape to move through its territory and acquire prey is a fundamental question for scientific research. The influence of abiotic and biotic factors on space use of large carnivores has profound implications for their future management and conservation. In the Pantanal, Brazil, jaguars (Panthera onca) are the apex predator, but conflicts with cattle depredations pose a risk to their future conservation. We examined whether behavioral state, sex, and season influenced how jaguars used the landscape in the Pantanal. To accomplish this, we radio‐collared four females and six males; radio‐collared jaguars were monitored for …

Age-Specific Estimates Indicate Potential Deleterious Capture Effects And Low Survival Of Stocked Juvenile Colorado Pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus Lucius), Scott R. Clark, Mary M. Conner, Scott L. Durst, Nathan R. Franssen

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Hatcheries and stocking programs have become necessary to repatriate or augment populations of imperiled fishes worldwide. Over nearly two decades, millions of endangered juvenile Colorado Pikeminnow Ptychocheilus lucius have been stocked into the San Juan River (Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah); however, recruitment of these individuals to adult life stages (age ≥6) remains low. Using a mark–recapture data set collected from annual riverwide electrofishing efforts between 2003 and 2016, we investigated apparent survival and capture probabilities of stocked Colorado Pikeminnow to identify age‐specific bottlenecks contributing to this lack of recruitment. With relatively high capture rates, which averaged between 0.34 and …

The Role Of Small Ruminants On Global Climate Change, Alda Lúcia Gomes Monteiro, Amanda Moser Coelho Da Fonseca Faro, Mylena Taborda Piquera Peres, Rafael Batista, Cesar Henrique Espirito Candal Poli, Juan J. Villalba

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Global warming, as a consequence of excessive CO2 production mainly due to anthropogenic actions, is one of the main concerns of society due to the effects it can cause in the survival of humans, plants and animals. Several climatic consequences have already been reported, such as warming the oceans and changing biodiversity in various regions of the planet. One of the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming, which causes a lot of concern, is methane gas from digestion of food by ruminants. Besides that, emissions of greenhouse gases are represented also by waste management, rice cultivation, burning of residues from …

Improved Prediction Of Stream Flow Based On Updating Land Cover Maps With Remotely Sensed Forest Change Detection, Alexander J. Hernandez, Sean P. Healey, Hongsheng Huang, R. Douglas Ramsey

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

The water balance in a watershed can be disrupted by forest disturbances such as harvests and fires. Techniques to accurately and efficiently map forest cover changes due to disturbance are evolving quickly, and it is of interest to ask how useful maps of different types of disturbances over time can be in the prediction of water yield. We assessed the benefits of using land cover maps produced at annual vs. five-year intervals in the prediction of monthly streamflows across 10 watersheds contained entirely within the US National Forest System. We found that annually updating land cover maps with forest disturbance …

Behavioral And Spatial Responses Of Captive Coyotes To Human Activity, Jeffrey T. Schultz, Julie K. Young

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Human interactions can alter an animal’s behavior and utilization of its surroundings, and how this impacts the welfare of some captive wild animals is of growing concern. Structural enrichment shelters offer weather protection, reprieve space from other animals or humans, or resting space. Perimeter or open space may be important during periods of activity, such as foraging or play. This study addressed the effects of human activity on coyote behavioral budgeting and enclosure utilization. We predicted that human activity would affect coyote behavior and spatial utilization of enclosure space. Specifically, we hypothesized that human activity would prompt vigilant and other …

Building Resistance And Resilience: Regeneration Should Not Be Left To Chance, James N. Long, Marcella A. Windmuller-Campione, R. Justin Derose

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Contemporary forest planning has tasked managers with developing goals associated with resistance and resilience. In practice, silviculturists use forest structure and tree species composition to characterize goals and desired future conditions, write prescriptions, and monitor outcomes associated with resistance and resilience. Although rarely discussed in the exploding literature relating to forest resistance and resilience, silvicultural regeneration methods are important and underutilized tools to meet these goals. We propose alternative silvicultural systems for building resistance and resilience to two common large-scale bark beetle disturbance agents in the Intermountain West, United States: mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) and spruce beetle (Dendroctonus …

Low Offspring Survival In Mountain Pine Beetle Infesting The Resistant Great Basin Bristlecone Pine Supports The Preference-Performance Hypothesis, Erika L. Eidson, Karen E. Mock, Barbara J. Bentz

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

The preference-performance hypothesis states that ovipositing phytophagous insects will select host plants that are well-suited for their offspring and avoid host plants that do not support offspring performance (survival, development and fitness). The mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae), a native insect herbivore in western North America, can successfully attack and reproduce in most species of Pinus throughout its native range. However, mountain pine beetles avoid attacking Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva), despite recent climate-driven increases in mountain pine beetle populations at the high elevations where Great Basin bristlecone pine grows. Low preference for a potential …

Weak Interspecific Interactions In A Sagebrush Steppe? Conflicting Evidence From Observations And Experiments, Peter B. Adler, Andrew R. Kleinhesselink, Giles Hooker, Joshua B. Taylor, Brittany J. Teller, Stephen P. Ellner

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Stable coexistence requires intraspecific limitations to be stronger than interspecific limitations. The greater the difference between intra‐ and interspecific limitations, the more stable the coexistence, and the weaker the competitive release any species should experience following removal of competitors. We conducted a removal experiment to test whether a previously estimated model, showing surprisingly weak interspecific competition for four dominant species in a sagebrush steppe, accurately predicts competitive release. Our treatments were (1) removal of all perennial grasses and (2) removal of the dominant shrub, Artemisia tripartita. We regressed survival, growth, and recruitment on the locations, sizes, and species identities …

Short-Term Regeneration Dynamics Of Wyoming Big Sagebrush At Two Sites In Northern Utah, Sara J. Germain, Rebecca K. Mann, Thomas A. Monaco, Kari E. Veblen

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis) is a widespread shrub across the western United States, and there is great interest among scientists and land managers in its ecology and conservation, particularly with regard to maintaining structural heterogeneity of sagebrush stands for wildlife habitat and livestock forage. Yet little is known about its short-term regeneration dynamics and the implications of those dynamics for changes in stand structure. We examined changes among sagebrush size classes across 3 years, as well as emergence of sagebrush from seed bank and seed rain samples at 2 sagebrush shrub land sites in northern …

Gymnosperms On The Edge, Félix Forest, Justin Moat, Elisabeth Baloch, Neil A. Brummitt, Steve P. Bachman, Steffi Ickert-Bond, Peter M. Hollingsworth, Aaron Liston, Damon P. Little, Sarah Mathews, Hardeep Rai, Catarina Rydin, Dennis W. Stevenson, Philip Thomas, Sven Buerki

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Driven by limited resources and a sense of urgency, the prioritization of species for conservation has been a persistent concern in conservation science. Gymnosperms (comprising ginkgo, conifers, cycads, and gnetophytes) are one of the most threatened groups of living organisms, with 40% of the species at high risk of extinction, about twice as many as the most recent estimates for all plants (i.e. 21.4%). This high proportion of species facing extinction highlights the urgent action required to secure their future through an objective prioritization approach. The Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) method rapidly ranks species based on their evolutionary …

Use Of Unpalatable Forages By Ruminants: The Influence Of Experience With The Biophysical And Social Environment, Roberto A. Distel, Juan J. Villalba

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Unpalatable forage resources (low nutrient density, potentially toxic metabolites) are widespread and represent a challenge for ruminant nutrition, health, and welfare. Our objective was to synthesize the role of biophysical and social experience on the use of unpalatable forages by ruminants, and highlight derived behavioural solutions for the well-being of soils, plants, and animals. Environmental experiences early in life modulate gene expression and promote learning, which alters morpho-physiological and psychological mechanisms that modify behavioural responses and change food and habitat selection. In this process, ruminants can become better adapted to the habitat where they are reared. Moreover, experiential learning provides …

Ecosystem Functional Response Across Precipitation Extremes In A Sagebrush Steppe, Andrew T. Tredennick, Andrew R. Kleinhesselink, J. Bret Taylor, Peter B. Adler

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Background

Precipitation is predicted to become more variable in the western United States, meaning years of above and below average precipitation will become more common. Periods of extreme precipitation are major drivers of interannual variability in ecosystem functioning in water limited communities, but how ecosystems respond to these extremes over the long-term may shift with precipitation means and variances. Long-term changes in ecosystem functional response could reflect compensatory changes in species composition or species reaching physiological thresholds at extreme precipitation levels.

Methods

We conducted a five year precipitation manipulation experiment in a sagebrush steppe ecosystem in Idaho, United States. We …

Winter Feeding Of Elk In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem And Its Effects On Disease Dynamics, Gavin C. Cotterill, Paul C. Cross, Erik K. Cole, Rebecca K. Fuda, Jared D. Rogerson, Brandon M. Scurlock, Johan T. Du Toit

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Providing food to wildlife during periods when natural food is limited results in aggregations that may facilitate disease transmission. This is exemplified in western Wyoming where institutional feeding over the past century has aimed to mitigate wildlife–livestock conflict and minimize winter mortality of elk (Cervus canadensis). Here we review research across 23 winter feedgrounds where the most studied disease is brucellosis, caused by the bacterium Brucella abortus. Traditional veterinary practices (vaccination, test-and-slaughter) have thus far been unable to control this disease in elk, which can spill over to cattle. Current disease-reduction efforts are being guided by ecological …

Herbivory And Drought Generate Short‐Term Stochasticity And Long‐Term Stability In A Savanna Understory Community, Corinna Riginos, Lauren M. Porensky, Kari E. Veblen, Truman P. Young

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Rainfall and herbivory are fundamental drivers of grassland plant dynamics, yet few studies have examined long‐term interactions between these factors in an experimental setting. Understanding such interactions is important, as rainfall is becoming increasingly erratic and native wild herbivores are being replaced by livestock. Livestock grazing and episodic low rainfall are thought to interact, leading to greater community change than either factor alone. We examined patterns of change and stability in herbaceous community composition through four dry periods, or droughts, over 15 years of the Kenya Long‐term Exclosure Experiment (KLEE), which consists of six different combinations of cattle, native wild …

Is Doping Of Cognitive Performance An Anti‐Herbivore Adaptation? Alkaloids Inhibiting Acetylcholinesterase As A Case, Maciej J. Ejsmond, Frederick D. Provenza

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Historically, people who study interactions between plants and herbivores focused on the ecological costs and benefits of synthesizing secondary metabolites. These compounds have diverse functions including defenses against herbivores. Some plants produce alkaloids that act as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, increasing both the level and duration of action of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine with potential toxic effects in insects and mammals. Yet, among a number of neuroactive plant chemicals, alkaloids that inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AIA) display nootropic activities, that is, positively affect cognition, learning, and memory in mammals. This creates a paradox: Neuroactive AIA, expected to punish herbivores, enhance cognition, learning, and memory. A …

Spatiotemporal Patterns Of Unburned Areas Within Fire Perimeters In The Northwestern United States From 1984 To 2014, Arjan J. H. Meddens, Crystal A. Kolden, James A. Lutz, John T. Abatzoglou, Andrew T. Hudak

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

A warming climate, fire exclusion, and land cover changes are altering the conditions that produced historical fire regimes and facilitating increased recent wildfire activity in the northwestern United States. Understanding the impacts of changing fire regimes on forest recruitment and succession, species distributions, carbon cycling, and ecosystem services is critical, but challenging across broad spatial scales. One important and understudied aspect of fire regimes is the unburned area within fire perimeters; these areas can function as fire refugia across the landscape during and after wildfire by providing habitat and seed sources. With increasing fire activity, there is speculation that fire …

Authors And Editors Assort On Gender And Geography In High-Rank Ecological Publications, Kezia R. Manlove, Rebecca M. Belou

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Peer-reviewed publication volume and caliber are widely-recognized proxies for academic merit, and a strong publication record is essential for academic success and advancement. However, recent work suggests that publication productivity for particular author groups may also be determined in part by implicit biases lurking in the publication pipeline. Here, we explore patterns of gender, geography, and institutional rank among authors, editorial board members, and handling editors in high-impact ecological publications during 2015 and 2016. A higher proportion of lead authors had female first names (33.9%) than editorial board members (28.9%), and the proportion of female first names among handling editors …

Repurposing Environmental Dna Samples—Detecting The Western Pearlshell (Margaritifera Falcata) As A Proof Of Concept, Joseph C. Dysthe, Torrey Rodgers, Thomas W. Franklin, Kellie J. Carim, Michael K. Young, Kevin S. Mckelvey, Karen E. Mock, Michael J. Schwartz

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Information on the distribution of multiple species in a common landscape is fundamental to effective conservation and management. However, distribution data are expensive to obtain and often limited to high-profile species in a system. A recently developed technique, environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling, has been shown to be more sensitive than traditional detection methods for many aquatic species. A second and perhaps underappreciated benefit of eDNA sampling is that a sample originally collected to determine the presence of one species can be re-analyzed to detect additional taxa without additional field effort. We developed an eDNA assay for the western pearlshell mussel …

Upland Bare Ground And Riparian Vegetative Cover Under Strategic Grazing Management, Continuous Stocking, And Multiyear Rest In New Mexico Mid-Grass Prairie, Rick Danvir, Gregg Simonds, Eric Sant, Eric T. Thacker, Randy Larsen, Tony Svejcar, R. Douglas Ramsey, Frederick D. Provenza, Chad Boyd

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

On the Ground

• We compared land cover attributes on rangeland pastures with strategically managed ranches (SGM), continuously stocked (CS), and rested pastures.

• SGM pastures had less upland bare ground and more riparian vegetative cover than adjoining CS pastures, and SGM pastures had bare ground cover comparable to pastures rested from grazing for three or more years.

• Differences in riparian cover between management types were greatest in years of near-average precipitation and lower in years of high precipitation or drought.

• Remote sensing technologyprovided a means of quantifying range condition and comparing management effectiveness on large landscapes in …