Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Correlating Nox Levels At Mammoth Cave National Park With Solar Irradiance, Matthew Nee

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

The nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2, collectively known as NOx) are among the major air pollutants monitored because of the risks they pose to human health and as indirect contributors to global climate change (Domine and Shepson 2002). They are ubiquitous products of combustion engines and other industrial processes, and are therefore typically considered to arise from anthropogenic sources, particularly at urban centers (NO2 is responsible for the orange smog seen over certain cities during and following rush hour traffic).

In-Cave And Surface Geophysics To Detect A “Lost” River In The Upper Levels Of The Mammoth Cave System, Timothy D. Bechtel, Chet Hedden, J.D. Mizer, Ute Bellmann, Sarah Truebe, Kenneth Dresang, Ellen Bechtel

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

In early 1960, explorers accessed a significant underground river through a crawlspace beneath a ledge in Swinnerton Avenue southeast of the Duck-Under. However, later expeditions failed to find this crawlspace. Instead, the level of sediment in the passage is now generally at or above the rock ledge, leaving no openings to lower level passages other than the Duck-Under itself. Apparently recent organic material (leaves, twigs, etc.) observed in passages just below the Duck-Under may be related to open channel fl ow from storm events which could theoretically provide local sediment transport. Therefore we have used in-cave spontaneous potential (SP), ground …

The Making Of A Connection: Exploration/Survey In Whigpistle Cave System, Patricia Kambesis, Joel Despain, Chris Groves

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

The current length of the Flint Ridge-Mammoth Cave System (to be called Mammoth Cave System for the rest of this paper) has been attained by a series of connections instigated by cave explorers/mappers of the Cave Research Foundation (CRF) and Central Kentucky Karst Coalition (CKKC). Between 1961 and 2011, connections have expanded the surveyed extent of the cave system to its current “official” length of 390 miles (650 km). Connections do not happen serendipitously; rather, systematic exploration is the key to successful connections. CRF and other groups working in the Mammoth Cave area have adopted a method of systematic exploration …

Restoring The Kämper Map For The 21st Century: A Digital Approach, Tres Seymour

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

One would be hard-pressed to find any 20th Century spelunker familiar with Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave system who did not also have some passing familiarity with the Kämper Map. The work of German engineer Max Kämper, who explored extensive areas of Mammoth Cave in the company of guide Ed Bishop in 1907-1908, the meticulous hand-drawn cave map would for decades prove the most reliable tool for navigating the miles of darkness – its tangled lines of ink the equivalent of Theseus’ ball of twine in this natural labyrinth.

This effort had its inception in conversations between the author, who as the …

How Did Max Kämper And Ed Bishop Survey Mammoth Cave?, Rick Olson, Bernd Kliebhan, Rick Toomey

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

Max Kämper made the first accurate map of Mammoth Cave showing approximately 35 miles of passages. His partner in surveying the cave was Ed Bishop, a capable caver and descendant of Stephen Bishop – the famous slave guide and explorer of Mammoth Cave. To be fair, Edmund Lee’s 1835 map was a reasonably accurate rendering of the known cave at that time, which was only 8 miles. The map is a beautiful piece of cartography, but somehow he measured Mammoth Dome as being 280 feet deep, which would put it below the level of Green River. As well, Black Snake …

History Of Crawling Tours At Mammoth Cave, Janet Bass Smith

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

Currently three crawling tours are offered at Mammoth Cave: Wild Cave (six hours) for visitors ages sixteen and older, Introduction to Caving (three hours and 15 minutes) for visitors ages 10 and older (under 18 must be with an adult), and Trog (two hours and 30 minutes) for children only, ages eight through twelve. These tours are discussed in detail below. Maps for each tour are included at the end of the paper. This history relates the beginnings of each tour.

History Of Long Cave, Stanley D. Sides, Norman L. Warnell

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

The story of Long Cave, later to become Grand Avenue Cave, is thoroughly intertwined in the rich history of saltpeter production and the show cave industry of Central Kentucky. The cave’s history parallels the early history of Mammoth Cave that is five miles away, the history of nearby Short Cave, and the development of Diamond Cave and Proctor Cave as show caves by the Proctor families. Today the cave is an important bat hibernaculum protected by the National Park Service. The cave is gated and locked, and entry is by research approval only.

Evaluation Of Stormwater Filters At Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, 2011-12, Sean Mcmillian, Ashley West, David Solomon, Roger Diehl, Victor Roland, Irucka Embry, Rick Toomey

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

Studies in the 1970s found potentially toxic levels of metals entering Mammoth Cave’s underground streams through storm recharge. Additional studies confirmed that stormwater from parking lots and buildings fl owed rapidly into critical cave habitats. The Park’s management responded to these findings by installing storm runoff filter systems on the most heavily used parking lots in 2001. The Park entered an agreement (2010-12) with Tennessee State University, the USGS, and WKU-Mammoth Cave International Center for Science and Learning to evaluate the filter systems to determine if they were removing hazardous compounds from stormwater runoff . The objective of this study …

Lidar: A Multi-Application Management Tool, John Wall, Hugh Devine, George Crothers, Justin Shedd

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

The amount of information contained within LiDAR is enormous as to its potential. Applications and management objectives that a single LiDAR dataset can address span everything from natural resources to fire research to archaeology. This presentation will discuss the LiDAR acquired for Mammoth Cave National Park, initial processing methods and derived products (to date). Different algorithms were deployed depending on the intent of the management objective. Natural Resources wanted to expand their polygon vegetation dataset, creating a 3-D vegetation map. Fire Management wanted to quantify the fuel loading across the park; therefore a baseline fuels map was developed. Cultural Resources …

Effects Of Prescribed Fire On Mammoth Cave National Park’S Oak-Hickory Vegetation, Jesse A. Burton

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

Mammoth Cave National Park contains a spectacular suite of plant communities; many of which are dependent on wildland fire as a disturbance process for their preservation. Over a third of the park is dominated by oak-hickory forests and woodlands. Fire is a fundamental process in the development and maintenance of this important community type. Since the park’s first prescribed fire in 2002, 16,700 acres of forest, woodlands, and barrens have been treated with prescribed fire. Initial goals for the prescribed fires were to reduce the density of tree saplings in the understory and increase the cover of herbaceous herbs in …

From Board Games To Tobacco Products: U.S. Patents Related To Mammoth Cave, Margaret M. Gripshover

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

The archives of the U.S. Patent Office off er a unique window into the location, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit of millions of inventors. What might the Patent Office records tell us about Mammoth Cave? A search of patents issued since 1836 resulted in 34 inventions that mention Mammoth Cave in their descriptions. Of these 34 patents, four were for technical aspects of cave environments such as ventilation, six were games or educational products, and 23 were related to Mammoth Cave Twist, a brand of chewing tobacco. The first Mammoth Cave-related patent was granted in 1915 for a board game and …

Archaeological Evidence Of Historic Mining At Forestville Saltpeter Cave (15ht94), Hart County, Kentucky, Darlene Applegate, Emily L. Duke

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

Forestville Saltpeter Cave is 1.5 km east of Mammoth Cave National Park on the WKU Green River Preserve. Historically, miners removed sediment from the cave to extract saltpeter for the production of gunpowder. Though dozens of peter-mining sites are known in western Kentucky, Forestville Saltpeter Cave is only the third site investigated by archaeologists. Intensive surface survey documented evidence of mining activity in the cave: working bays, rock piles, tally and other marks, tool marks, inscriptions, and lighting material. The mining likely occurred during the early nineteenth century. The operations were extensive throughout all passages and extracted 856 cu m …

The Mammoth Eagle: The Ccc Era At Mammoth Cave, David H. Kime

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

Today’s visitors to Mammoth Cave National Park sleep in cabins, drive over roads, and hike on miles of surface and cave trail constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and others during the 1930s and 40s to create Mammoth Cave National Park. While this was without question a difficult transition for the residents and region, the work completed during this time is nothing short of monumental. Compiling information from archives, oral histories, and camp newspapers, as well as field observations, this presentation will shed light on several forgotten or misunderstood stories from this period in Mammoth Cave history. The creation …

2011 Vegetation Map For Mammoth Cave National Park, Rick Olson, Lillian Scoggins, Rick Toomey, Jesse Burton

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

An accuracy assessment on a 2009 Vegetation Map of Mammoth Cave National Park produced by University of Georgia indicated inadequate reliability. As well, there were significant polygon boundary errors and unclassified polygons left blank on the map. With pressing need for a vegetation map to support the park’s Fire Management Plan (FMP), a derivative of the 2008 Landfire map was produced. Specifically, 24 categories were regrouped into 4 vegetation categories useful for the FMP. Barrens and Prairie Plantation categories were added as superimposed polygons, and the same approach was taken for both fire and storm-linked forest canopy gaps. Accuracy assessment …

Maps (Monitoring Avian Productivity And Survivorship), Brice Leech

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

The Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) Program comprises a continent-wide network of hundreds of constant-effort mist netting stations. Analyses of the resulting banding data provide critical information relating to the ecology, conservation, and management of North American landbird populations, and the factors responsible for changes in their populations. MAPS is coordinated by the Institute for Bird Populations which also conducts winter monitoring programs MoSI (Monitoreo de Sobrevivencia Invernal) in the Neotropics & MAWS (Monitoring Avian Winter Survival) program in temperate North America.

Remote Sensing Of Forest Trends At Mammoth Cave National Park From 2000 To 2011, Sean Taylor Hutchinson, John All

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

The influence of climate change and other environmental stressors on the health of midlatitude forests is an important, yet understudied topic for resource managers. Using vegetation indices derived from satellite remote sensing, slight changes in photosynthetic activity can be detected at the spatial scales needed for long-term forest monitoring. This study used remote sensing and geographic information systems to track the photosynthetic activity within Mammoth Cave National Park from 2000 to 2011. Relationships are examined between climate variables and the vegetation indices for the forest as a whole and at selected areas within the park.

Ozone And Foliar Injury At Mammoth Cave National Park, Johathan Jernigan

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

Ozone is harmful to both visitors and plants in NPS units. The Cumberland Piedmont Network (CUPN) has been monitoring ozone and its associated foliar injury since 2008. The goal is to determine if ozone concentrations are high enough to cause injury to plants and whether that injury is actually occurring. Each year, ozone monitoring and foliar injury surveys are completed at two CUPN parks. Further, foliar injury surveys are completed every year at Mammoth Cave NP (and ozone data are collected annually by the park and its partners). Summarized data from 2008 through 2012 will be presented. The relationship between …

Seasonal Occurrence And Habitat Affi Liations Of Trichoptera At Mammoth Cave National Park, Luke E. Dodd, Michael A. Floyd, David A. Etnier

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

The order Trichoptera is an ecologically-important, diverse group of insects. We investigated the relative abundance and occurrence of these insects at Mammoth Cave National Park (MCNP). We focused our efforts on adults captured at blacklight traps placed across four forest habitats in MCNP on 14 nights during 2010-2011. Large-bodied Trichoptera (≥ 10 mm in length) were identified and enumerated, yielding 2,153 specimens of ≥ 45 species and 11 families. Unique captures were recorded at mixed deciduous-dominated, mixed coniferdominated, and upland deciduous sites (13, 4, and 3 species, respectively). While composition of the assemblage varied across collection sites, as well as …

The Cave Beetle Neaphaenops Tellkampfi Erichson: Relationships Within And Among Related Genera Using Molecular Data, T. Keith Philips, Elise Valkanas, Kurt Helf

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

Studies of North American cave beetle systematics have been based primarily on morphology. This project analyzes the relationships and validity of the four subspecies of the monotypic Neaphaenops based on monophyly, as well as relationships with the remaining four eastern N.A. cave beetle genera (Pseudanophthalmus, Nelsonites, Darlingtonea, and Ameroduvalius) using molecular methods. This study utilized 39 beetle samples collected from 27 Kentucky caves and one outgroup accessed from GenBank. Evidence for phylogenetic hypotheses is based on sequences of one nuclear protein-coding gene (arginine kinase) and one mitochondrial gene (CO1). Analyses support Neaphaenops as sister to all other taxa. One subspecies …

Long-Term Monitoring Of Aquatic Biota Using Occupancy Modeling, Kurt Helf

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

Monitoring populations of organisms over time is difficult even under the best circumstances; this is especially true of cave organisms. Cave organisms may not be detected during a monitoring survey even though they may be present. Indeed, detectability, i.e., the probability of detecting target taxa during a survey given they’re present at the site, undoubtedly varies among cave habitats (e.g., terrestrial versus aquatic) and cave organisms (e.g., cave beetles versus cave fish). However, to make reliable inferences regarding the relationship between the probability a sampling site is occupied by a cave organism (i.e., occupancy) and abiotic/ biotic factors that affect …

Inventory Of Terrestrial Wild Mammals At Mammoth Cave National Park: 2005-2010, Steven Thomas

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

An inventory aimed at documenting the occurrence of at least 90% of the terrestrial wild mammal species potentially present on Mammoth Cave National Park took place from 2005 to 2010. Documentation of mammal occurrence was accomplished via visual encounters and trapping. Visual encounters included methods like sighting individuals, conducting spotlight surveys by boat, locating mammal sign, hearing mammal calls, and finding dead individuals. A variety of trapping methods were used, including remote “trail” cameras, live traps, pitfall traps, drift fence-pitfall arrays, and several other opportunistic capture methods. 663 mammal records were documented by visual encounter or some trapping method representing …

Monitoring Cave Bats At Mammoth Cave National Park, Steven Thomas

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

Cave-roosting bats are important to the nutrient-poor cave ecosystem because they import organic material which supports a specialized cave invertebrate community. Nine of thirteen bat species found at Mammoth Cave National Park are generally associated with caves at some time of the year. Two of the species that inhabit park caves are on the Federal Endangered Species List: gray bat (Myotis grisescens) and Indiana bat (M. sodalis). Regular population monitoring of hibernating endangered bats has occurred in a few park caves since the early 1980s. Since the early 2000s, cave bat monitoring on the park has expanded to include additional …

White-Nose Syndrome At Mammoth Cave National Park: Actions Before And After Its Detection, Rick Toomey, Steven Thomas, Joel Gillespie, Vickie Carson, Shannon R. Trimboli

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

Since it was identified in the United States in 2006, white-nose syndrome (WNS) in bats has become an important issue in the management of caves and bats at Mammoth Cave National Park (MACA). The threat of its arrival has led to more intense monitoring of bat populations, increased studies, and interventions with both the visiting public and researchers. The timeline of MACA’s WNS response is shown in Table 1.

Contribution Of Freshwater Bivalves To Muskrat Diets In The Green River, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, Kimberly Asmus Hersey, Joseph D. Clark, James B. Layzer

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

Muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) are known to prey on freshwater bivalves (mussels and clams) and can negatively impact imperiled mussel species. However, factors that infl uence muskrat predation on bivalves are poorly understood. We evaluated the feeding ecology of muskrats at Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky by using stable isotope analysis of muskrat hair samples and by monitoring bivalve shell deposition at muskrat middens. Bayesian mixing-model analysis of stable isotope δ15N and δ13C ratios revealed that the median muskrat biomass derived from bivalves was 51.4% (5th and 95th percentiles were 39.1 to 63.4%, respectively), a much higher dietary proportion than previously …

Mercury Analysis In Rafi Nesque Big Eared Bat Populations, Lara Van Der Heiden, Cathleen J. Webb

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

Mercury (Hg) from atmospheric deposition from coal-burning power plants and other anthropogenic sources was analyzed in Rafinesque’s big-eared bats from Mammoth Cave National Park. The mercury from water progressively moves up the food chain through insects, and eventually into bats. In 2011, 58 bats were collected and hair samples were taken for an analysis. The AMA254 Mercury Analyzer was used to determine the mercury concentration from the bat hair in parts per million. A considerable amount of mercury was discovered in the bats analyzed. The mercury concentration of juvenile Rafinesque’s bigeared bats averaged between 0.5-1.0 ppm. Mercury levels in adult …

Influences Of A Cladophora Bloom On The Diets Of Amblema Plicata And Elliptio Dilatata In The Upper Green River, Kentucky, Jennifer Yates, Scott Grubbs, Albert Meier, Michael Collyer

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

Freshwater mussels are the most imperiled group of freshwater invertebrates globally. Recent research suggests a better understanding of mussel feeding ecology may facilitate and improve conservation efforts. The use of stable isotopes is becoming an increasingly common method to study aquatic food webs. Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) are two of the most frequently employed elements in food web studies. Differences in natural abundance of 13C/12C can indicate which food sources are the basal sources of carbon incorporated into a consumer’s tissue, while the ratio of 15N /14N provides a method of assessing trophic position within a food web. Attached …

Fire Regimes, Buff Alo And The Presettlement Landscape Of Mammoth Cave National Park, Cecil C. Frost, Jesse A. Burton, Lillian Scoggins

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

The glory of the caves has long overshadowed other features of the park but the neglected upland landscape has its own extraordinary tale to tell. The park occupies a naturally fire sheltered setting in a historically vast fire landscape of barrens and woodlands once populated by Native Americans, bison and elk. The events above ground, spanning several thousand years before the arrival of Europeans and the subsequent explosive transformation of the land add rich layers of natural and human history, sadly neglected in development and interpretation of the park. This is the tale of the Barrens region itself.

We constructed …

Using Lidar To Link Forest Canopy Structure With Bat Activity And Insect Occurrence: Preliminary Findings, Luke E. Dodd, Nicholas S. Skowronski, Matthew B. Dickinson, Michael J. Lacki, Lynne K. Rieske

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

Bats are an imperiled, yet ecologically-important group of vertebrate predators. Our ongoing research focuses on testing hypotheses about the relationships between the effects of fire on canopy structure and insect prey availability, and how these factors relate to use of foraging space by bats during the pre- and post-hibernation periods at Mammoth Cave National Park (MCNP). LiDAR-derived data (October 2010) were intersected with spatially explicit sampling of bat and insect populations (2010-2011) in order to characterize relationships between canopy structure, insect abundance, and bat activity. A canonical correspondence analysis for bat data suggested that forest canopy structure has a strong …

Assessing The Impact Of Mercury Bioaccumulation In Mammoth Cave National Park, Cahtleen Webb

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

This project will examine the fate and transport of mercury in Mammoth Cave National Park, which has an extensive karst ecosystem. Contaminant transport in karst systems (limestone based surface geology) is rapid and extensive. Mercury’s mobility in surface and ground water is of great concern due to its toxicity and ability to bio-magnify within food chains. However, mercury interacts with limestone, thus impairing its mobility. A number of federally listed species are declining in the parks. Further, Kentucky has issued a statewide mercury fish consumption advisory. With eight new coal-fired power plant applications under consideration in Kentucky, the potential exists …

Establishment Of Long-Term Forest Vegetation Monitoring Plots Within Mammoth Cave National Park, Bill Moore, Teresa Leibfreid, Rickie White

Mammoth Cave Research Symposia

Beginning in 2011, the Cumberland Piedmont Network (CUPN) of the National Park Service (NPS) in cooperation with NatureServe, began monitoring forested vegetation communities within all 14 network parks, including Mammoth Cave National Park (MACA). The primary objectives of this effort are to: detect meaningful changes in species composition and vegetation structure within each park’s forested habitat and determine whether these changes are correlated with trends in “key stressors.” Thus far, 16 permanent long-term monitoring plots have been established within MACA. An additional 16 plots will be established in 2013- 2014. Within the permanent plots, data are collected on forest structure; …