Phenology, Habitat Use, and the Impacts of Wetland Management on Autumn Migrating Rails in Missouri

Rails (Family: Rallidae) are among the least studied birds in North America, in large part due to their elusive nature. As a wetland-dependent species, understanding the timing of their migration and their habitat needs during migration is especially important since management needs to be timed to balance the needs of many species. I developed and verified a new distance sampling based nocturnal ATV spotlight survey because traditional call-broadcast surveys are not effective during autumn migration because of the drop off in call rate after the breeding season. These surveys allow us to ask point-level questions about what habitats rails select during migration and how it changes over time. Through these standardized surveys from 2012-2016 across 11 public properties in Missouri, USA, I documented the migratory timing and habitat use of migratory rails. Sora (Porzana carolina) have a wide migratory window, beginning in early August and continuing through the end of October with a peak in late September. Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola) and Yellow Rails (Coturnicops noveboracensis) have shorter migratory periods, from late September through the end of October. Rails, especially Sora, migrate earlier than waterfowl, which can create a mismatch of habitat needs. We performed a 3 year experiment to examine the response of Sora and waterfowl to early autumn wetland flooding. Sora responded positively without a negative impact on waterfowl. I used monitoring data to create species distribution models to inform estimates of migratory connectivity for all three species using stable hydrogen isotopes. Sora and Yellow Rails were estimated to migrate generally north-south, with Virginia Rails coming from a wider east-west range. Through better understanding the migratory connectivity, timing and habitat use of rails in the autumn I provide a foundation to inform conservation and management of these fascinating and elusive birds. We provide a description of all variables used (Appendix II), GPS data of survey tracks and detection points (Appendix III), data sets of bird observation points, survey data, and vegetation information (Appendix IV), data sets of stable hydrogen isotope data (Appendix V), data sets of species distribution models (Appendix VI)

Unpaid work and access to science professions

Unpaid work in the sciences is advocated as an entry route into scientific careers. We compared the success of UK science graduates who took paid or unpaid work six-months after graduation in obtaining a high salary or working in a STEM (Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics) field 3.5 years later. Initially taking unpaid work was associated with lower earnings and lower persistence in STEM compared with paid work, but those using personal connections to obtain unpaid positions were as likely to persist in STEM as paid workers. Obtaining a position in STEM six months after graduation was associated with higher rates of persistence in STEM compared with a position outside STEM for both paid and unpaid workers, but the difference is considerably smaller for unpaid workers. Socio-economic inequality in the likelihood of obtaining entry in STEM by taking an unpaid position is a well-founded concern for scientific workforce diversity

Condition of Natural Resources Conservation Service Wetland Easements in Illinois

During the 2019 fiscal year (1 October 2018 – 30 September 2019), the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) conducted wetland monitoring and wetland quality evaluations for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) on Agriculture Conservation Easement Program - Wetland Reserve Easements (ACEP-WRE; n = 68). We visited each wetland easement twice; once in autumn/winter (November–January) and again during spring (February–March) totaling 136 easement visits. Easements were located in Fayette (n = 34), Alexander (n = 22), and Pulaski (n = 12) Counties. Monitored easements in Fayette County were all comprised of Wetland Reserve Program (WRP) easements. Monitored easements in Alexander County comprised 15 WRP easements, 8 Emergency Watershed Protection Program-Floodplain Easements (EWPP-FPE), and 1 ACEP-WRE easement. Monitored easements in Pulaski County were all comprised of WRP easements. The WRP and EWPP-FPE easements were enrolled in NRCS programs prior to 2014 Farm Bill restructuring of wetland easements that now fall into the ACEP-WRE program. We previously submitted easement monitoring worksheets and detailed photographs of easement conditions, and this report contains a summary, descriptive management plans (Appendix 1) that detail conditions of the easements, and give recommendations for improvements to vegetation communities and easement infrastructure for all 70 easements.Natural Resource Conservation Service (USDA)unpublishednot peer reviewedOpe

USING STABLE ISOTOPES & eBIRD TO ASSESS MIGRATORY CONNECTIVITY OF FALL MIGRATING RAILS

Rails are among the least studied birds in North America, despite their declining populations and the increasing pressure being put on public wetlands to be managed for multiple species. The timing of Sora, Virginia Rail and Yellow Rail (Porzana carolina, Rallus limicola, Coturnicops noveboracensis) migration, and how their populations are connected are vital parts of understanding how wetland management impacts rails. My project is documenting the timing of rail migration across Missouri and has noticed differences in the timing of birds in western vs eastern Missouri. I hypothesize these differences are because Missouri straddles the Central and Mississippi Flyways so these birds are coming from different parts of the breeding range. Because of the low detectability of rails and the lack of large scale captures I believe stable isotopes provide a great way of assessing if these rails are coming from different parts of their breeding range

#MORails : Sharing Rails with Social Media

A talk on science communication using twitte

Migratory Timing and Habitat Use of Fall Migrating Rails

<p>Presentation to be given at the Association of Field Ornithologists Conference in Nova Scotia in July 2015. </p

The Ecology of Fall Migrating Sora in Missouri

<p>Poster of the preliminary results from my 2012 field season looking at the habitat use and timing of Sora migrating through publically managed wetlands in Missouri. </p> <p> </p> <p>For more info shoot me an email!</p

Elusive Rails: Seminar at the University of Toledo

Placeholder for the presentation I will be giving at the University of Toledo on March 16, 201

The Bluebird Rail Data

<i>I combed through as many issues of The Bluebird (the publication of the Audubon Society of Missouri for all records of Sora, Virginia Rail, Yellow Rail, King Rail and Black Rail. Those data are included here. <br><br>http://mobirds.org/ASM/Bluebird.aspx</i><div><i><br></i></div><div><i>species = the four letter alpha code for each species</i></div><div><i>year = the year the observation happened</i></div><div><i>month = the month the observation happened</i></div><div><i>day = the day the observation happened</i></div><div><i>location = the location as described in The Bluebird</i></div><div><i>county = if given, the county the observation was in</i></div><div><i>number = number of individuals, if count not given, entered a 1</i></div><div><i>volume = volume of The Bluebird</i></div><div><i>issue = issue of The Bluebird </i></div

#MORails #MOScience : Tweeting Live From The Field

#MORails #MOScience : Tweeting Live From The Fiel