An Overview of Some Emergent Infectious Diseases of Concern to Montana’s Nongame Species

Virulent infectious diseases in a variety of wildlife populations have increased over the past couple of decades in both natural and managed landscapes.  Fungal and viral pathogens, aided by human disturbance of habitats and human, wildlife, and domestic animal derived transport, are playing an increasingly dominant role in wildlife disease epidemics.  State and federal agencies and professional organizations such as this chapter need to do a better job of keeping wildlife professionals fully informed of all emerging infectious diseases in order to facilitate detection and a potential response at the earliest possible time.  I will provide overviews of: 1) White-Nose Syndrome which is caused by a cold-adapted fungus that, since 2006, has killed more than 6 million bats in eastern North America and has continued to spread westward; 2) two chytrid fungi which have caused mass mortalities and extinctions of amphibians worldwide, including near extinction of the Northern Leopard Frog (Lithobates pipiens) and decline of the Western Toad (Anaxyrus boreas) in western Montana; 3) Tiger Salamander Ranavirus, an iridovirus which is the most likely cause of mass mortality events in larval Western Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma mavortium) populations that have been recorded across Montana; and 4) Snake Fungal Disease, which has emerged as a threat to some snake populations in eastern and midwestern North America since 2006 and may be spreading westward.  In general, wildlife professionals in Montana should report observations of unhealthy wildlife and wildlife mortality events that may involve these and other emerging infectious diseases to the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Wildlife Laboratory in Bozeman in order to facilitate coordinated diagnoses and responses with other state and federal agencies

State-wide assessment of status, predicted distribution, and landscape-level habitat suitability of amphibians and reptiles in Montana

Beginning in the late 1980s herpetologists began to realize that amphibians around the world had undergone, and were continuing to undergo, declines, extirpations, and extinctions. In most cases, detections of declines and determinations of the underlying causes has been hampered by a lack of available baseline information on distribution and status. This project was a cooperative effort to address these data deficiencies for amphibians and reptiles in Montana. Watersheds with greater than 30 percent federal or state land ownership were randomly selected for survey in each of 11 geographic strata. Visual encounter and dipnet surveys of all standing water bodies on public lands within these watersheds yielded watershed and site occupancy estimates as a measure of status. Occupancy estimates from this first-ever state-wide base level assessment can be more validly used for future comparisons with future status assessment, provided additional support for declines in Western Toad (Bufo boreas) and Northern Leopard Frog (Rana pipiens) populations in western Montana, and identified a variety of conservation issues of concern that can be addressed through management actions (e.g., clear evidence for negative impacts of fish and importance of maintaining natural disturbance regimes such as flooding, beaver, and fire). The information gathered during field inventories was combined with other existing information and used in maximum entropy modeling to predict state-wide distribution and habitat suitability for all of Montana\u27s amphibians and reptiles. These models out performed GAP analysis models by simultaneously reducing the area predicted and omission error rates. Among other things, models identified scale dependent responses to environmental variables, potentially isolated populations in need of conservation efforts, and areas that are critical for maintaining landscape connectivity. In conjunction with field inventories, a state-wide assessment of the distribution of the pathogenic chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) (Bd) was undertaken using PCR-based detection in skin swabs or tissue samples. Bd was found across Montana in 6 of the 9 species tested at a variety of elevations, habitats, and distances from human activities. The widespread presence of Bd highlights the need for additional studies and measures to prevent the spread of Bd and other novel pathogens

2014 Statewide Winter Owl Surveys (Oral Presentation and Poster)

Localized winter owl surveys have been conducted in Montana in the past, but a coordinated statewide effort had never been undertaken.  Eleven owl species were, therefore, listed as Species of Highest Inventory Need by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks and the Montana Natural Heritage Program.  We coordinated statewide winter owl call surveys in 180 of the 185 quarter latitude/longitude (QLL) blocks that encompass Montana.  Call transects each consisted of 10 call stations spaced at 1-mile intervals along a 9-mile long road transect within a QLL block.  At each call station, observers alternately silently listened for owl calls and played owl calls for species likely to occur in the surrounding habitat.  A total of 1,829 call stations were surveyed and a total of 511 owls across 11 owl species were detected.  Detections during the 2014 surveys nearly, or more than, doubled the number of records with indirect evidence for breeding that have been gathered in Montana across all time for Eastern Screech-Owl, Great Horned Owl, Long-eared Owl, and Short-eared Owl.  We recommend that these species and the Northern Saw-whet Owl be removed from the Montana Species of Highest Inventory Need as a result of the information gathered during these surveys

2014 Statewide Winter Owl Surveys (Oral Presentation and Poster)

Localized winter owl surveys have been conducted in Montana in the past, but a coordinated statewide effort had never been undertaken.  Eleven owl species were, therefore, listed as Species of Highest Inventory Need by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks and the Montana Natural Heritage Program.  We coordinated statewide winter owl call surveys in 180 of the 185 quarter latitude/longitude (QLL) blocks that encompass Montana.  Call transects each consisted of 10 call stations spaced at 1-mile intervals along a 9-mile long road transect within a QLL block.  At each call station, observers alternately silently listened for owl calls and played owl calls for species likely to occur in the surrounding habitat.  A total of 1,829 call stations were surveyed and a total of 511 owls across 11 owl species were detected.  Detections during the 2014 surveys nearly, or more than, doubled the number of records with indirect evidence for breeding that have been gathered in Montana across all time for Eastern Screech-Owl, Great Horned Owl, Long-eared Owl, and Short-eared Owl.  We recommend that these species and the Northern Saw-whet Owl be removed from the Montana Species of Highest Inventory Need as a result of the information gathered during these surveys

Keeping Common Species Common: Inventory And Monitoring For A Diversity Of Wildlife Species

Many of the over 500 vertebrate species found in Montana lack formal status assessments. Few monitoring efforts exist for these species and very few are statewide to include public and private lands. In 2008, the Montana Natural Heritage Program and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks designed a protocol for simultaneous multi-species survey. We sampled quarter-quadrangle grid cells selected at random over 3 yrs and covered the entire state. We surveyed all lentic sites for amphibians and all south-facing rocky slopes for reptiles within each cell. We also surveyed dominant habitats for bats using acoustic detectorsand small-mammals using standard trap line techniques. The largest challenges included: securing private landowner contact information and permission, automating map creation for the hundreds of selected cells, the preservation of collected specimens, maintaining working acoustic equipment in inclement weather, housing and backing up huge amounts of data from remote locations, and analyzing large quantities of acoustic data. Small mammal and acoustic call identifications are ongoing. A preliminary summary of other data shows an investment of over 20,000 person hours for a total of: 211 grid cells surveyed, 40 small mammal species detected in 2486 captures, 16 bat species detected through thousands of acoustic calls, 12 amphibian species and eight reptile species detected, and 304 species detected as incidental observations. We intend to conduct occupancy modeling for many of the species detected using the grid cells as site. We discuss prospects for using this sampling scheme and methods for future monitoring

Acoustic Assessment of Year-round Bat Activity and Distribution in Montana and Surrounding Areas

Montana’s bat species face an array of conservation issues including wind energy development and disease. A collaborative project between state and federal agencies was initiated in 2011 to collect baseline data prior to the arrival of White-nose Syndrome and help inform surveillance and future mitigation strategies. In the last 6 years, we deployed a network of Song Meter ultrasonic acoustic detector/recorder stations at 76 sites across the region for an average of 1.8 years per station. Each detector recorded nightly bat passes across all seasons. To date 9.5 million sound files have been recorded. Using automated scrubbing and identification software we identified call sequences and generated initial species identifications, then hand confirmed species presence by month at each site. Over 54,000 bat passes have been reviewed by hand and used to track activity of all species at each site. To date we have 2,770 new records of monthly species presence, regular winter activity of 3 resident species, and year-round presence of 1 species previously considered migratory. Through integrating National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association weather station with our call data, we have found positive correlations in activity with temperature and barometric pressure, and negative correlations with wind speed. Our experiences with these data highlight the importance of: (1) maintaining common settings across recording devices and consistent processing standards; (2) maintaining publicly available call libraries that can be reanalyzed using the latest software and made available to software developers; and (3) making standards used for species determinations available for peer review

Accessing Information on Montana’s Animals, Plants and Biological Communities Through the Montana Natural Heritage Program’s Web Applications: Recent Updates (Poster)

The Montana Natural Heritage Program (MTNHP) was established by the Montana State Legislature in 1983 and charged with statutory responsibility for acquisition, storage and retrieval of information documenting Montana’s flora, fauna and biological communities (Montana Code Annotated 90-15).  Information managed by MTNHP includes taxonomy, biology, ecology and conservation status information for nearly 8,000 plant and animal species and nearly 150 terrestrial and aquatic communities, nearly 1.7 million animal observation records, over 182,000 locations where a formal structured animal survey protocol has been followed, predictive distribution models for animal and plant species, species occurrence and wetland and riparian mapping polygons that are used in environmental reviews, land cover mapping and land management information.  We deliver this information via staff facilitated requests and web applications that include the Montana Animal and Plant Species of Concern reports, the Montana Field Guide, the Natural Heritage MapViewer and the Species Snapshot.  In this presentation we will provide a brief overview of how biologists and natural resource managers can access information via our websites.  We will focus on recent updates to our Species Snapshot and Montana Field Guide applications that allow users to create custom species summaries and field guides using spatial, taxonomy and conservation status filters and our vision for the development of an environmental review tool that can be used by agency resource managers, planners and consultants to speed environmental reviews

In-Hand Measurements of Adult Bats in the Northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountains

Researchers rely on keys and other published records of pelage and morphological characteristics to identify bat species in the field. However, these records may not reflect the variability of measurements taken in a field setting, particularly if they are based upon museum specimens or a small number of live individuals. To assist in the identification of similar bat species, we created a supplement to the “Key to Idaho, Montana, and South Dakota Bats.” We compiled 3,222 records of 11 species of adult bats captured between 1994-2016 in Montana, northern Idaho, and northwestern South Dakota. Using this dataset, we have provided distributions of body measurements as well as insight into the timing of reproduction, parturition, and seasonal body condition for 14 of the 15 species occurring within Montana. Following data analyses, we concluded that: (1) lengths of smaller appendages such as the thumb and tragus show substantial variation, demonstrating that more precise measurements are required; (2) parturition dates appear similar across all species present in the study area, including migratory bats; (3) trends of low body mass in late summer captures may represent older juveniles that are difficult to distinguish from adults by current methods;  and (4) we require more data to analyze the traits of species that are infrequently captured. This document will be available on the Montana Natural Heritage Program website (mtnhp.org) to assist researchers in the field

Volunteer Contributions to Montana's Statewide Bat Monitoring Project

Over the last two years, the State of Montana has established a network of passive acoustic monitors to study bat activity patterns at selected locations throughout the state. These monitors, many of which are in remote areas, record bat calls each evening of the year. Their purpose is to document the number and species of bats as a function of time and location, with the intention of generating a statewide database on bat activity. These data could serve as an “early warning system” for the appearance of white-nose syndrome, a deadly fungal infection caused by Geomyces destructans that is ravaging bats in eastern portions of North America. WNS has not been detected in Montana, so the data being presently collected can be considered to be representative of bat behavior in the absence of the disease. A noticeable change in recorded bat activity could be an early indicator of the arrival of WNS. Whether or not WNS reaches Montana, the network is generating an extensive knowledge base about Montana’s bats that will help address a variety of management issues. The Montana caving community has provided help in installing and maintaining the bat monitoring network and in recording observations about bats. Cavers are familiar with the state’s caves, are experienced in working safely in caves, and have an interest in cave biota and the welfare of bats. They are well-suited to assist in a number of capacities, including maintaining the monitoring equipment, recording observations of bats, identifying hibernacula, and installing data loggers. This talk will describe volunteer activities around the state and the partnership between cavers and state organizations to increase the effectiveness of the bat monitoring project

Baseline Indices for Calling Amphibians and Western Toads Across Montana

Amphibian populations are undergoing global decline, and nearly one-third of the world’s amphibian species are threatened.  Structured surveys can use a variety of invasive and noninvasive techniques to assess the status of a species while repeatable surveys allow for longterm monitoring to identify population trends.  To establish baselines for species occupancy and indices for abundance we conducted two projects to inventory amphibians during May and June of 2016.  We conducted roadside calling surveys for species that advertise breeding through calls and lentic surveys at known breeding locations of the Western Toad (Anaxyrus boreas).  Roadside surveys were broken into west and east regions based on species distributions.  We detected two species at seven of the eight western transects, Pacific Tree Frog (Pseudacris regilla) and American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus).  The Pacific Tree Frog was identified at 19% of the stations sampled, but at low densities.  In the east, we detected five species of amphibians at 18 of the 19 transects, Boreal Chorus Frog (P. maculate), Northern Leopard Frog (L. pipiens), Great Plains Toad (A. cognatus), Woodhouse’s Toad (A. woodhousii), and Plains Spadefoot Toad (Spea bombifrons).  The Boreal Chorus Frogs were most commonly detected (39%) followed by Woodhouse’s Toad (13%) and Plains Spadefoot (12%).  Of the 76 sites we surveyed for Western Toad, 63% had evidence of breeding.  These surveys can be used as primary indices for future surveys to determine trends in abundance and occupancy through time and inform state status ranks