Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons^™

The Influence Of Invasive Species On Fishers’ Satisfactions, Caroline M. Laplante

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Invasives species are prevalent and widespread in North America. Outdoor recreational activities, such as fishing, introduce a point in which humans may interact with invasive species and have to adapt their own behaviors. Bigheaded carp in the Missouri River below Gavin’s Point Dam are a group of invasive fish species that were thought to be negatively relating to recreational fishers’ satisfactions. Using a content analysis and an importance-grid, we conclude that invasive species do not strongly relate to recreational paddlefish fishers’ satisfactions. Paddlefish fishers represent a small sub-set of recreational fishers in Nebraska and South Dakota. The content analysis revealed …

Understanding Avidities Of Recreational Activities For People Possessing Fishing Licenses And Residing In Urban Environments, Kyle F. Hansen

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Recreational fishing is one of the world's most popular pastimes, wherein participation is associated with sociodemographic factors. Even so, fishing license sales are declining in the USA in conjunction with a reduction in rural populations as people move to urban areas. Thus, urban areas are constantly growing in population size, population diversity, and geographic size suggesting a need to understand fishing participation in these growing areas. Natural resource managers often use participation to understand recreationists, yet avidity could provide a new way to understand recreationists. The goal of our study is to understand what sociodemographic factors influence the fishing avidity …

A Description Of The Grassland Communities Of The Wildcat Hills Region Of Northwestern Nebraska Including Scotts Bluff National Monument And Rare Plant Survey Of The Wildcat Hills Region Of Northwestern Nebraska, Volume I, Terri Hildebrand, Steven B. Rolfsmeier

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: White Papers, Conference Presentations, and Manuscripts

This study resulted from a Cooperative Agreement between Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and the National Park Service (NPS), with funding provided by the Natural Resource Preservation Program of the NPS. Scotts Bluff National Monument was seeking to characterize the native grassland communities of the Wildcat Hills region in order to develop species composition models for prairie restoration of disturbed lands at the monument. Nebraska Game and Parks Commission needed similar information to refine community classification for the Wildcat Hills region, and to update rare plant species inventories. This report includes a description of the grassland communities and a rare …

A Description Of The Grassland Communities Of The Wildcat Hills Region Of Northwestern Nebraska Including Scotts Bluff National Monument And Rare Plant Survey Of The Wildcat Hills Region Of Northwestern Nebraska, Volume Ii, Terri Hildebrand, Steven B. Rolfsmeier

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: White Papers, Conference Presentations, and Manuscripts

This study resulted from a Cooperative Agreement between Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and the National Park Service (NPS), with funding provided by the Natural Resource Preservation Program of the NPS. Scotts Bluff National Monument was seeking to characterize the native grassland communities of the Wildcat Hills region in order to develop species composition models for prairie restoration of disturbed lands at the monument. Nebraska Game and Parks Commission needed similar information to refine community classification for the Wildcat Hills region, and to update rare plant species inventories. This report includes a description of the grassland communities and a rare …

Vegetative Sampling Of The Wildcat Hills Region Of Northwestern Nebraska Including Scotts Bluff National Monument And Rare Plant Survey Of The Wildcat Hills Region Of Northwestern Nebraska, A Final Report To: Nebraska Game And Parks Commission, Terri Hildebrand, Steven B. Rolfsmeier

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: White Papers, Conference Presentations, and Manuscripts

The Wildcat Hills region of northwestern Nebraska is a ridge extending westerly from Chimney Rock in Morrill county to west of Kiowa Creek in central Scotts Bluff county and southerly into the northernmost portions of Banner county (Fig. 1). Much of the expanse is fronted along its northern portion by the North Platte River and US Highway 26. Also included within the study area are the federal lands of Scotts Bluff National Monument and Chimney Rock National Historic Site. Two large portions of state lands, Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area and Buffalo Creek Wildlife Management Area, are located just easterly …

Freshwater And Saline Flood Plain Wetlands Of The North Platte River - Sources And Seasonal Dynamics: Kiowa Wildlife Management Area, Morrill, Ne, Anne M. Matherne

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: White Papers, Conference Presentations, and Manuscripts

The Kiowa Wildlife Management Area (WMA), a 1 mi² wetland and upland on the North Platte River, was acquired by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC) in 1993. The WMA comprises two distinct wetland types, alkaline and freshwater, both of which provide important wildlife habitat. It was the goal of this project to understand the hydrology controlling the development and maintenance of these wetlands in order to anticipate the affect of management strategies on the wetland complex. The study was designed to develop a comprehensive picture of the hydrogeology of both the fresh and alkaline portions of the WMA, …

Willa Cather Ecological Prairie: An Ecological Overview, Harold G. Nagel

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: White Papers, Conference Presentations, and Manuscripts

This report includes data gathered on the ecology of a 610 acre mixed grass prairie in south-central Nebraska over a two year period.

An attempt was made to identify as many of the plant and animal species present and to determine density and standing crop biomass wherever possible, under the time and financial constraints present. Few attempts have been made to develop complete species checklists for both animals and plants in prairies. The data collected are considered baseline conditions against which comparisons can be made after a management plan is carried out.

This study of Cather Prairie had several objectives. …

The Flora Of The Oak-Wooded Drainages At The Timber Point Area, Southeastern Butler County, Nebraska, Steven B. Rolfsmeier

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: White Papers, Conference Presentations, and Manuscripts

The Timber Point Area is a 160-acre recreational/wildlife area occupying to S½ of the SW¼ sec. 22 and the adjacent N½ of the NW¼ sec. 27, T14N R4E. The area is located in the loess-mantled glacial-till hills of southeast Nebraska not far from the terminal moraine of the Pre-Illinoian glacial sheet, one mile south and two miles east of the present town of Brainard. The uplands at Timber Point were apparently in pasture prior to purchase by the NRD, with some cultivated fields occupying the lower ground along a stream valley which southwest to northeast through the property. This small …

The Flora Of Two Oak Drainages At The Red Cedar Area, Southwestern Saunders County, Nebraska, Steven B. Rolfsmeier

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: White Papers, Conference Presentations, and Manuscripts

The Red Cedar Area is a 175 acre recreational/wildlife area occupying the SE¼ sec. 20, T14N R5E and a small portion of sec. 29 directly to the south. The area is located in the glacial-till hills of southeast Nebraska ca 5 mi. north and 2 mi. west of Valpraiso. The bulk of the area was cultivated farmland prior to purchase by the NRD, and nearly all upland areas here were cultivated cropland, save for some steep oak-wooded drainages on the east side of Hunter’s Slough, which ran northwest to southeast through the property. The creek was dammed after NRD purchase …

The Vascular Plants Of The Woodlands Of South Table Creek In The Vicinity Of The National Arbor Day Center, Nebraska City, Nebraska, Steven B. Rolfsmeier

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: White Papers, Conference Presentations, and Manuscripts

The objective of this study is to describe the composition of the vascular plant flora of a three-quarter mile stretch of woodland along South Table Creek managed by the National Arbor Day Foundation in Nebraska City. This 50-60 acre woodland is representative of the many small tributaries of the Missouri River in southeastern Nebraska, and may represent the only natural “preserve” of native forest on the west side of the Missouri River between Fontenelle Forest and Indian Cave State Park. All naturally-occurring species encountered in this study are listed alphabetically by family at the end of this paper, and a …

The Flora Of Meadowlark Prairie, Northeastern Seward County, Nebraska, Steven B. Rolfsmeier

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: White Papers, Conference Presentations, and Manuscripts

This report is on the flora of the Meadowlark Prairie. The prairie is an approximately 7 acre remnant of virgin tall-grass prairie in extreme northeastern Seward County, Nebraska. The remnant is triangular in shape and lies on a gentle southeast-facing slope with a total relief of 50 ft., along the east boundary of the Meadowlark Recreation Area. The prairie is surrounded on the east side by a small brome-infested prairie remnant and cultivated field off the NRD property, and on the remaining sides by formerly cultivated fields now seeded to native warm-season grasses. Soils in the area are primarily derived …

The Flora And Plant Communities Of The Ceresco Saline Basins, Southern Saunders County, Nebraska, Steven B. Rolfsmeier

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: White Papers, Conference Presentations, and Manuscripts

This report is on the flora and plant communities of the Ceresco Saline Basins. The basins are along Rock Creek east of Ceresco and represent the northernmost representatives of the “eastern saline marsh” community in Nebraska. Eastern saline marshland is mostly restricted to the Salt Creek drainage in northern and central Lancaster County, though the Ceresco basins extend a mile or more north into Saunders County in the floodplain of Rock Creek. Some of the wetland in this area is currently under management of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, while some of the northernmost portions of the basins are …

Waterbody Size Predicts Bank- And Boat-Angler Efforts, Derek S. Kane, Kevin L. Pope, Keith D. Koupal, Mark A. Pegg, Christopher J. Chizinski, Mark A. Kaemingk

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Bank- and boat-angler efforts are logistically difficult and costly to estimate, preventing landscape-scale estimates that are required to address current and future challenges (e.g., climate change, invasive species) for inland recreational fisheries. Using a large Nebraska, USA, recreational fishery dataset (N = 67 waterbodies), we demonstrate that waterbody size can be used to predict bank- and boat-angler efforts across a heterogeneous landscape of extra small (< 104 ha) and large (> 647 ha) waterbodies. Bank and boat anglers respond to waterbody size, however these relationships appear to be unique between the two angler types. Boat-angler efforts increased as a function of waterbody size, whereas bank-angler …

Spatial And Temporal Activity Patterns Among Sympatric Tree-Roosting Bat Species In An Agriculturally Dominated Great Plains Landscape, Christopher Fill, Craig R. Allen, John F. Benson, Dirac Twidwell

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

In agroecosystems, bats can provide a critical ecosystem service by consuming night-flying insect pests. However, many bats also face intense population pressures from human landscape modification, global change and novel diseases. To better understand the behavioral activity of different bat species with respect to space, time, habitat, and other bat species in this environment, we investigated species correlations in space and time over row crop agricultural fields. We used acoustic grids to document spatial and temporal co-occurrence or avoidance between bats and recorded eight species across the 10 field sites we sampled. All species significantly overlapped in two-dimensional space and …

Diverse Portfolios: Investing In Tributaries For Restoration Of Large River Fishes In The Anthropocene, Kristen L. Bouska, Brian D. Healy, Michael J. Moore, Corey G. Dunn, Jonathan J. Spurgeon, Craig P. Paukert

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Rehabilitation of large Anthropocene rivers requires engagement of diverse stakeholders across a broad range of sociopolitical boundaries. Competing objectives often constrain options for ecological restoration of large rivers whereas fewer competing objectives may exist in a subset of tributaries. Further, tributaries contribute toward building a “portfolio” of river ecosystem assets through physical and biological processes that may present opportunities to enhance the resilience of large river fishes. Our goal is to review roles of tributaries in enhancing mainstem large river fish populations. We present case histories from two greatly altered and distinct large-river tributary systems that highlight how tributaries contribute …

Bats Increased Foraging Activity At Experimental Prey Patches Near Hibernacula, Winifred F. Frick, Yvonne A. Dzal, Kristin A. Jonasson, Michael D. Whitby, Amanda M. Adams, Christen Long, John E. Depue, Christian M. Newman, Craig K. R. Willis, Tina L. Cheng

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

1. Emerging infectious diseases in wildlife can threaten vulnerable host populations. Actions targeting habitat improvements to aid population resilience and recovery may be beneficial long-term strategies, yet testing the efficacy of such strategies before major conservation investments are made can be challenging.

2. The disease white-nose syndrome (WNS) has caused severe declines in several species of North American hibernating bats. We tested a novel conservation approach targeted at improving foraging conditions near bat hibernacula by experimentally manipulating insect density in the pre-hibernation fattening period and spring emergence recovery period. We measured foraging (feeding buzzes) and echolocation activity of little brown bats Myotis …

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Ancient Bears Provide Insights Into Pleistocene Ice Age Refugia In Southeast Alaska, Flavio Augusto Da Silva Coelho, Stephanie Gill, Crystal M. Tomlin, Marilena Papavassiliou, Sean D. Farley, Joseph A. Cook, Sarah A. Sonsthagen, George K. Sage, Timothy H. Heaton, Sandra L. Talbot, Charlotte Lindqvist

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

During the Late Pleistocene, major parts of North America were periodically covered by ice sheets. However, there are still questions about whether ice-free refugia were present in the Alexander Archipelago along the Southeast (SE) Alaska coast during the last glacial maximum (LGM). Numerous subfossils have been recovered from caves in SE Alaska, including American black (Ursus americanus) and brown (U. arctos) bears, which today are found in the Alexander Archipelago but are genetically distinct from mainland bear populations. Hence, these bear species offer an ideal system to investigate long-term occupation, potential refugial survival and lineage turnover. Here, we present genetic …

Natural Resource System Size Can Be Used For Managing Recreational Use, Derek S. Kane, Kevin L. Pope, Keith D. Koupal, Mark A. Pegg, Christopher J. Chizinski, Mark A. Kaemingk

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Outdoor recreation provides societal benefits that are often measured by the amount of use natural resource systems receive. Still, the amount of resource use natural resource systems receive is often unknown or unstudied. Monitoring and quantifying resource use is often logistically difficult and costly but is paramount to optimize societal benefits. Identifying a simple and readily available metric that can indicate the quantity of recreational use of natural resource systems would benefit natural resource management. Using recreational angler participation data during an 11-year study period from 73 public waterbodies in Nebraska, USA, we developed a resource size-use model that demonstrates …

Low Levels Of Hybridization Between Sympatric Cold-Water-Adapted Arctic Cod And Polar Cod In The Beaufort Sea Confirm Genetic Distinctiveness, Robert E. Wilson, Sarah A. Sonsthagen, Philip Lavretsky, Andrew Majewski, Einar Árnason, Katrín Halldórsdóttir, Axel W. Einarsson, Kate Wedemeyer, Sandra L. Talbot

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

As marine ecosystems respond to climate change and other stressors, it is necessary to evaluate current and past hybridization events to gain insight on the outcomes and drivers of such events. Ancestral introgression within the gadids has been suggested to allow cod to inhabit a variety of habitats. Little attention has been given to contemporary hybridization, especially within cold-water-adapted cod (Boreogadus saida Lepechin, 1774 and Arctogadus glacialis Peters, 1872). We used whole-genome, restriction-site associated, and mitochondrial sequence data to explore the degree and direction of hybridization between these species where previous hybridization had not been reported. Although nearly identical …

Nabat Ml: Utilizing Deep Learning To Enable Crowdsourced Development Of Automated, Scalable Solutions For Documenting North American Bat Populations, Ali Khalighifar, Benjamin S. Gotthold, Erin Adams, Jenny Barnett, Laura O. Beard, Eric R. Britzke, Paul A. Burger, Kimberly Chase, Zackary Cordes, Paul M. Cryan, Emily Emily, Christopher T. Fill, Scott E. Gibson, G. Scott Haulton, Kathryn M. Irvine, Lara S. Katz, William L. Kendall, Christen A. Long, Oisin Mac Aodha, Tessa Mcburney, Sara Mccarthy, Matthew W. Mckown, Joy O'Keefe, Lucy D. Patterson, Kristopher A. Pitcher, Matthew Rustand, Jordi L. Segers, Kyle Seppanen, Jeremy L. Siemers, Christian Stratton, Bethany R. Straw, Theodore J. Weller, Brian E. Reichert

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

1. Bats play crucial ecological roles and provide valuable ecosystem services, yet many populations face serious threats from various ecological disturbances. The North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) aims to use its technology infrastructure to assess status and trends of bat populations, while developing innovative and community-driven conservation solutions.

2. Here, we present NABat ML, an automated machine-learning algorithm that improves the scalability and scientific transparency of NABat acoustic monitoring. This model combines signal processing techniques and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to detect and classify recorded bat echolocation calls. We developed our CNN model with internet-based computing resources (‘cloud environment’), and …

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The Ddt-Induced Decline Influenced Genetic Diversity In Naturally Recovered Peregrine Falcons (Falco Peregrinus) Nesting Within The Alaska Arctic And Eastern Interior, Sarah A. Sonsthagen,, Ted Swem, Skip Ambrose, Melanie J. Flamme, Clayton M. White, George K. Sage, Sandra L. Talbot

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

We assessed the influence of the severe mid-20th century population decline on genetic diversity in nonaugmented Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus populations nesting within the Alaska Arctic and eastern Interior. Microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) data were analysed for Peregrine Falcons sampled from three periods: pre-decline, decline and post-decline. The influence of the decline on genetic diversity differed between the two locales. The Alaska Arctic was characterized by shifts in mtDNA haplotype frequencies, increased inbreeding coefficient, reduction in effective population size and increase in private haplotypes, and a signature of post-decline population growth was detected; by contrast, the eastern Interior showed …

Valuing Angling On Reservoirs Using Benefit Transfer, Richard T. Melstrom, Mark A. Kaemingk, Nicholas W. Cole, John C. Whitehead, Christopher J. Chizinski, Kevin L. Pope

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Economic assessments are rarely applied to inland recreational fisheries for management purposes, especially when compared to fish, habitat, and creel assessments, yet economic assessments can provide critical information for management decisions. We provide a brief overview of economic value, key terminology, and existing economic techniques to address these issues. Benefit transfer, a technique used to measure economic value when an original analysis is not practicable, is conducted by drawing on existing estimates of economic value in similar contexts. We describe an application of benefit transfer to measure the economic value of several recreational fisheries in Nebraska, USA. We examine two …

Trout Responses To Stocking Rates And River Discharge Within A Southeastern U.S. Hydropeaking Tailwater, Jonathan J. Spurgeon, Joseph Kaiser, Christy Graham, Steve Lochmann

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Freshwater fish populations often exist in systems characterized by novel ecological processes resulting from human alteration. Salmonid populations embedded within coldwater sections of warmwater rivers are spatially constrained by habitat availability. Tailwater fish contend with fluctuating river discharges and density-dependent processes associated with fish stocking and exploitation. Salmonid populations sustained through stocking versus natural reproduction may respond differently to changes in hydrologic patterns (e.g., hydropeaking) as well as declines in fish abundance. We assessed differences between stocked (Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss) and naturalized (Brown Trout Salmo trutta) trout populations in Greers Ferry tailwater, Arkansas, regarding (1) spatial and …

Larval Fish Abundance In The Benthic And Surface Drift Of The Missouri River, Ryan L. Ruskamp

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Scholarship

Knowledge of the larval fish community of the Missouri River is one of the biggest gaps in fisheries research. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has sampled the drift of the Missouri River for many years (1983-2015), but these data have not been compiled into a unified assessment. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to: 1) quantify temporal and spatial aspects of larval fish community composition (richness) and structure (abundance) of the surface drift, 2) quantify associations of larval fish communities of the drift to different discharges of the Missouri River, 3) quantify the larval benthic drift community, and …

Heterogeneity Of Recreationists In A Park And Protected Area, Olivia A. Darugna, Mark A. Kaemingk, Christopher J. Chizinski, Kevin L. Pope

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Limited information and resources have caused many parks and protected areas (PPAs) to functionally manage recreationists as a single homogeneous group, despite potential negative social and ecological consequences. We aimed to evaluate the homogeneity of recreationists at the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) by 1) quantifying frequencies of consumptive (i.e., hunting), intermediate-consumptive (i.e., fishing), and non-consumptive recreational-activity groups (e.g., wildlife viewing), and 2) evaluating sociodemographic differences among these groups. We used onsite surveys to determine that Valentine NWR supports heterogeneous groups of recreationists. The intermediate-consumptive group was most frequent (77% of all parties). All three recreational-activity groups varied in party …

Species-Specific Responses To Landscape Features Shaped Genomic Structure Within Alaska Galliformes, Sarah A. Sonsthagen, Robert E. Wilson, Sandra L. Talbot

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Aim: Connectivity is vital to the resiliency of populations to environmental change and stochastic events, especially for cold-adapted species as Arctic and alpine tundra habitats retract as the climate warms. We examined the influence of past and current landscapes on genomic connectivity in cold-adapted galliformes as a critical first step to assess the vulnerability of Alaska ptarmigan and grouse to environmental change. We hypothesize that the mosaic of physical features and habitat within Alaska promoted the formation of genetic structure across species.

Location: Alaska, United States of America.

Taxa: Ptarmigan and Grouse (Galliformes: Tetraoninae).

Methods: We collected double digest restriction-site- …

The U.S. Inland Creel And Angler Survey Catalog (Creelcat): Development, Applications, And Opportunities, Abigail J. Lynch, Nicholas A. Sievert, Holly S. Embke, Ashley M. Robertson, Bonnie J.E. Myers, Micheal S. Allen, Zachary S. Feiner, Frederick Hoogakker, Scott Knoche, Rebecca M. Krogman, Stephen R. Midway, Chelsey L. Nieman, Craig P. Paukert, Kevin L. Pope, Mark W. Rogers, Lyndsie S. Wszola, T. Douglas Beard

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Inland recreational fishing, defined as primarily leisure-driven fishing in freshwaters, is a popular pastime in the USA. State natural resource agencies endeavor to provide high-quality and sustainable fishing opportunities for anglers. Managers often use creel and other angler survey data to inform state- and waterbody-level management efforts. Despite the broad implementation of angler surveys and their importance to fisheries management at state scales, regional and national coordination among these activities is minimal, limiting data applicability for larger-scale management practices and research. Here, we introduce the U.S. Inland Creel and Angler Survey Catalog (CreelCat), a first-of-its-kind, publicly available national database of …

Protocol For Monitoring Aquatic Invertebrates Of Small Streams In The Heartland Inventory & Monitoring Network, Version 2.1, David E. Bowles, Michael H. Williams, Hope R. Dodd, Lloyd W. Morrison, Janice A. Hinsey, J. Tyler Cribbs, Gareth A. Rowell, Michael D. Debecker, Jennifer L. Haack-Gaynor, Jeffrey M. Williams

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network (HTLN) is a component of the National Park Service’s (NPS) strategy to improve park management through greater reliance on scientific information. The purposes of this program are to design and implement long-term ecological monitoring and provide information for park managers to evaluate the integrity of park ecosystems and better understand ecosystem processes. Concerns over declining surface water quality have led to the development of various monitoring approaches to assess stream water quality. Freshwater streams in network parks are threatened by numerous stressors, most of which originate outside park boundaries. Stream condition and …

Temporal Invariance Of Social-Ecological Catchments, Mark A. Kaemingk, Christine N. Bender, Chris Chizinski, Aaron J. Bunch, Kevin L. Pope

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Natural resources such as waterbodies, public parks, and wildlife refuges attract people from varying distances on the landscape, creating “social-ecological catchments.” Catchments have provided great utility for understanding physical and social relationships within specific disciplines. Yet, catchments are rarely used across disciplines, such as its application to understand complex spatiotemporal dynamics between mobile human users and patchily distributed natural resources. We collected residence ZIP codes from 19,983 angler parties during 2014–2017 to construct seven angler–waterbody catchments in Nebraska, USA. We predicted that sizes of dense (10% utilization distribution) and dispersed (95% utilization distribution) angler–waterbody catchments would change across seasons and …

Roost Use And Movements Of Northern Long-Eared Bats In A Southeast Nebraska Agricultural Landscape, Christopher Fill, Craig R. Allen, John F. Benson, Dirac Twidwell

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Bats are important bio-indicators of ecosystem health and provide a number of ecosystem services. White-nose Syndrome and habitat loss have led to the decline of many bat species in eastern North America, including the federally threatened northern long-eared bat, Myotis septentrionalis. White-nose Syndrome was only recently found in Nebraska, which lies on the western extent of this species geographic range. To better understand how this forest-dependent species persists in an agriculturally dominated landscape amid a growing number of pressures, we investigated the roosting habits of this bat at the Homestead National Monument of America, located in southeast Nebraska. We …