Barred owls and forest fragmentation in Oregon Coast range spotted owl sites

Little information is available on northern barred owl (Strix varia varia) life history in the Pacific Northwest but their invasion into northern spotted owl habitat (Strix occidentalis caurina) appears to be significant and detrimental to conservation of the latter species. Forest fragmentation has been suggested as a possible factor in barred owl expansion and competitive advantage over spotted owls but until now, this hypothesis has not been evaluated. Forest fragmentation, elevation, and distance to water was measured in 60 spotted owl nest sites in the Siuslaw National Forest using satellite imagery and a Geographic Information System (GIS). Comparisons were made between sites with and without barred owl detection within 0.8 km and between sites with and without spotted owl displacement by barred owls. Comparison of forest fragmentation between owl sites and 74 random sites within the study area were also made to evaluate performance of the methodology. Total habitat and mean nearest-neighbor distance to habitat were the metrics used to estimate forest fragmentation. Measurements were made in 400, 800, and 1600-meter radius plots around each owl site to investigate effects of scale. Logistic regression was used to draw inferences on the effect of forest fragmentation, elevation, and distance to water on the odds of barred owl detection and spotted owl displacement. These variables were found to have no effect on the odds of detection and displacement in all three plot sizes. This suggests that macrohabitat resource partitioning is not yet occurring and this has implications for the longterm survival of the northern spotted owl

Protocol for Surveying Bat Use of Lava Tube Caves during Winter in Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, Standard Operating Procedures

Background The Upper Columbia Basin Network I&M (Inventory and Monitoring) program and Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve are collaborating to monitor winter bat use in Arco Tunnel, which is a safely accessed cave in the northern portion of the monument that consistently has been found with the largest number of bats (~30/year) among the set of caves recently inventoried. The standard operating procedures documented here and the methods described in the associated protocol narrative will also be used to periodically inventory other caves within the monument and surrounding preserve as park resources and safety (winter environmental and accessibility) conditions permit. This protocol addresses the survey objective to regularly count bats in Arco Tunnel during winter (January-March) and in other caves as environmental conditions and staff resources allow. Purpose This SOP describes the step-by-step procedures for preparing for field work and for preparing and organizing field equipment prior to the personnel training and entry into the field. Adequate preparation of equipment for the field and is crucial to a successful monitoring program

Protocol for Surveying Bat Use of Lava Tube Caves During Winter in Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, Version 1.0

Executive Summary The mission of the National Park Service (NPS) is “to conserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment of this and future generations” (NPS 1999). To uphold this goal, the Director of the NPS approved the Natural Resource Challenge to encourage national parks to focus on the preservation of the nation’s natural heritage through science, natural resource inventories, and expanded resource monitoring (NPS 1999). Through the Challenge, 270 parks in the national park system were organized into 32 inventory and monitoring (I&M) networks. The Upper Columbia Basin Network Inventory and Monitoring Program (UCBN) and Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve (CRMO) are collaborating to inventory and monitor winter bat use of selected lava caves in CRMO following common methods described in this document that have also been implemented in Lava Beds National Monument (LABE). Collaboration among these two parks and the UCBN will help the National Park Service as an agency move toward more efficient and effective conservation of bat resources. Winter surveys of bat use in CRMO lava tubes and other volcanic cave features will be implemented by CRMO staff. The UCBN will also assist CRMO with data management, analysis, and reporting at annual and 5-year intervals. Bats at CRMO are at risk of contracting the fungal disease white-nose syndrome, and also face elevated risk of fatal collisions with large commercial wind turbines which are increasingly common in southern Idaho. An additional concern to bats in the region over time is the threat of increasing aridification associated with accelerated climate change, which is predicted to stress female bats during reproduction and possibly cause some hibernacula to become unsuitable for prolonged torpor. CRMO actively manages visitor use in all caves and the methods outlined in this protocol will provide much needed baseline information about bats that will be used to guide cave management. This protocol details the why, where, how, and when of the CRMO bat cave use survey program for its lava tube caves. As recommended by Oakley et al. (2003), it consists of a protocol narrative and a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) which detail the steps required to collect, manage, and disseminate the data representing the status and trend of bat use in select caves that are safely accessed in winter, and that are at risk of undesirable human impacts on bats. The SOPs are published in a separate document (Rodhouse et al. 2017), but references to individual SOPs will not be cited in the protocol narrative. An important and highly dynamic aspect of this protocol is the decontamination procedures required to prevent accidental introduction of the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans that causes white-nose syndrome. Decontamination procedures are updated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as new information becomes available about effectiveness of cleaning agents. As part of the preparation for field work, the CRMO Project Lead and crew lead will review the most recent decontamination guidelines and train assisting field staff in its implementation. At this time, this protocol does not support the collection of bats under any circumstances. The intent of the protocol is to ensure that the park has the ability to safely and responsibly collect qualitative and quantitative information about the use of CRMO caves by bats during winter

Estimating Temporal Trend in the Presence of Spatial Complexity: A Bayesian Hierarchical Model for a Wetland Plant Population Undergoing Restoration

Monitoring programs that evaluate restoration and inform adaptive management are important for addressing environmental degradation. These efforts may be well served by spatially explicit hierarchical approaches to modeling because of unavoidable spatial structure inherited from past land use patterns and other factors. We developed Bayesian hierarchical models to estimate trends from annual density counts observed in a spatially structured wetland forb (Camassia quamash [camas]) population following the cessation of grazing and mowing on the study area, and in a separate reference population of camas. The restoration site was bisected by roads and drainage ditches, resulting in distinct subpopulations (“zones”) with different land use histories. We modeled this spatial structure by fitting zone-specific intercepts and slopes. We allowed spatial covariance parameters in the model to vary by zone, as in stratified kriging, accommodating anisotropy and improving computation and biological interpretation. Trend estimates provided evidence of a positive effect of passive restoration, and the strength of evidence was influenced by the amount of spatial structure in the model. Allowing trends to vary among zones and accounting for topographic heterogeneity increased precision of trend estimates. Accounting for spatial autocorrelation shifted parameter coefficients in ways that varied among zones depending on strength of statistical shrinkage, autocorrelation and topographic heterogeneity—a phenomenon not widely described. Spatially explicit estimates of trend from hierarchical models will generally be more useful to land managers than pooled regional estimates and provide more realistic assessments of uncertainty. The ability to grapple with historical contingency is an appealing benefit of this approach

Habitat availability and gene flow influence diverging local population trajectories under scenarios of climate change: a place-based approach

Ecological niche theory holds that species distributions are shaped by a large and complex suite of interacting factors. Species distribution models (SDMs) are increasingly used to describe species’ niches and predict the effects of future environmental change, including climate change. Currently, SDMs often fail to capture the complexity of species’ niches, resulting in predictions that are generally limited to climate-occupancy interactions. Here, we explore the potential impact of climate change on the American pika using a replicated place-based approach that incorporates climate, gene flow, habitat configuration, and microhabitat complexity into SDMs. Using contemporary presence–absence data from occupancy surveys, genetic data to infer connectivity between habitat patches, and 21 environmental niche variables, we built separate SDMs for pika populations inhabiting eight US National Park Service units representing the habitat and climatic breadth of the species across the western United States. We then predicted occurrence probability under current (1981–2010) and three future time periods (out to 2100). Occurrence probabilities and the relative importance of predictor variables varied widely among study areas, revealing important local-scale differences in the realized niche of the American pika. This variation resulted in diverse and – in some cases – highly divergent future potential occupancy patterns for pikas, ranging from complete extirpation in some study areas to stable occupancy patterns in others. Habitat composition and connectivity, which are rarely incorporated in SDM projections, were influential in predicting pika occupancy in all study areas and frequently outranked climate variables. Our findings illustrate the importance of a place-based approach to species distribution modeling that includes fine-scale factors when assessing current and future climate impacts on species’ distributions, especially when predictions are intended to manage and conserve species of concern within individual protected areas.Keywords: genetic neighborhood, species distribution modeling, functional connectivity, Random Forest, realized niche, American pika, Ochotona princeps, National Park

Predicting foundation bunchgrass species abundances: model-assisted decision-making in protected-area sagebrush steppe

Foundation species are structurally dominant members of ecological communities that can stabilize ecological processes and influence resilience to disturbance and resistance to invasion. Being common, they are often overlooked for conservation but are increasingly threatened from land use change, biological invasions, and over‐exploitation. The pattern of foundation species abundances over space and time may be used to guide decision‐making, particularly in protected areas for which they are iconic. We used ordinal logistic regression to identify the important environmental influences on the abundance patterns of bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata), Thurber's needlegrass (Achnatherum thurberianum), and Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda) in protected‐area sagebrush steppe. We then predicted bunchgrass abundances along gradients of topography, disturbance, and invasive annual grass abundance. We used model predictions to prioritize the landscape for implementation of a management and restoration decision‐support tool. Models were fit to categorical estimates of grass cover obtained from an extensive ground‐based monitoring dataset. We found that remnant stands of abundant wheatgrass and bluegrass were associated with steep north‐facing slopes in higher and more remote portions of the landscape outside of recently burned areas where invasive annual grasses were less abundant. These areas represented only 25% of the landscape and were prioritized for protection efforts. Needlegrass was associated with south‐facing slopes, but in low abundance and in association with invasive cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum). Abundances of all three species were strongly negatively correlated with occurrence of another invasive annual grass, medusahead (Taeniatherum caput‐medusae). The rarity of priority bunchgrass stands underscored the extent of degradation and the need for prioritization. We found no evidence that insularity reduced invasibility; annual grass invasion represents a serious threat to protected‐area bunchgrass communities. Our study area was entirely within the Wyoming big sagebrush ecological zone, understood to have inherently low resilience to disturbance and resistance to weed invasion. However, our study revealed important variation in abundance of the foundation species associated with resilience and resistance along the topographic‐soil moisture gradient within this zone, providing an important foothold for conservation decision‐making in these steppe ecosystems. We found the foundation species focus a parsimonious strategy linking monitoring to decision‐making via biogeographic modeling

Ocean acidification and temperature rise: effects on calcification during early development of the cuttlefish Sepia officinalis

This study investigated the effects of seawater pH (i.e., 8.10, 7.85 and 7.60) and temperature (16 and 19 °C) on (a) the abiotic conditions in the fluid surrounding the embryo (viz. the perivitelline fluid), (b) growth, development and (c) cuttlebone calcification of embryonic and juvenile stages of the cephalopod Sepia officinalis. Egg swelling increased in response to acidification or warming, leading to an increase in egg surface while the interactive effects suggested a limited plasticity of the swelling modulation. Embryos experienced elevated pCO2 conditions in the perivitelline fluid (>3-fold higher pCO2 than that of ambient seawater), rendering the medium under-saturated even under ambient conditions. The growth of both embryos and juveniles was unaffected by pH, whereas 45Ca incorporation in cuttlebone increased significantly with decreasing pH at both temperatures. This phenomenon of hypercalcification is limited to only a number of animals but does not guarantee functional performance and calls for better mechanistic understanding of calcification processes

A macroecological perspective on strategic bat conservation in the U.S. National Park Service

North American bat populations face unprecedented threats from disease and rapid environmental change, requiring a commensurate strategic conservation response. Protected-area networks have tremendous potential to support coordinated resource protection, disease surveillance, and population monitoring that could become a cornerstone of 21st-century bat conservation. To motivate this idea, we develop a macroecological perspective about bat diversity and associated conservation challenges and opportunities on U.S. National Park Service (NPS) lands. We compared occurrence records from parks against published range maps. Only 55 (19%) of parks reported as present ≥90% of the bat species expected based on range maps, highlighting the information-gap challenge. Discrepancies suggest substantial under-reporting and under-sampling of bats on NPS lands; inadequate range maps and habitat specificity are implicated for some species. Despite these discrepancies, 50 species, including several range-restricted and endangered taxa, were reported in at least one park unit, including those in the Caribbean and tropical Pacific. Species richness increased with park area at a rate (z) of ~0.1, a pattern confounded by covariation with latitude, elevation, and habitat. When accounting for these factors, richness decreased predictably at higher latitudes and increased at mid-elevations and with greater numbers of keystone underground habitat structures (caves and mines), reflecting a strong species–energy relationship. The inclusion of covariates that represented percentage of natural vs. human-modified (converted) landscapes and elevation range—a proxy for environmental heterogeneity—was uninformative. White-nose syndrome (WNS) presents a tremendous challenge to the NPS: All 12 species currently known to be affected by the disease or to host the causal fungus are represented in the NPS system. One hundred and twenty-seven NPS parks are in counties currently or likely to become WNS-positive by 2026. All parks are expected to experience increasing temperatures in coming decades; forecasted climate change velocity is particularly high (\u3e1 SD) for 50 parks. Seventeen parks are in the vicinity of high (\u3e1 SD) wind turbine density. Based on these biogeographic patterns, we suggest ways to prioritize NPS parks for additional inventories, monitoring, and resource protection. Our results demonstrate how macroecology and bioinformatics together can guide strategic conservation capacity-building among protected areas