TWS welcomes 3 new staff members

Three new TWS staff members will help bolster the organization’s communication and policy efforts.

TWS welcomes staff writer Megan Radke, digital content manager Katie Perkins and government relations contractor Christy Plumer to its team.

Megan Radke

In Radke’s new role, she will write articles for www.wildlife.org and The Wildlife Professional. She will especially focus on bringing to light the work TWS Sections, Chapters and others are doing as well as the Society’s policy work.

Radke comes to TWS with experience working and volunteering for natural resource-based agencies and institutions as a communicator, science writer and outreach professional. Her previous roles include statewide press officer for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Wildlife Division, and communications coordinator for the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the University of North Texas and a Master of Agriculture degree with a focus in natural resources conservation from Sul Ross State University. Based in Texas, Radke is an avid runner and enjoys outdoor recreation and travel.

Katie Perkins

Perkins also joins TWS from the Lone Star State. In her new role, Perkins will curate and create visual content for The Wildlife Society and oversee its social media channels. Perkins holds a Bachelor of Arts in creative media industries with a minor in natural resource management from Texas Tech University. In her previous position, Perkins was a multimedia specialist at Texas A&M AgriLife. Born and raised in Texas, Perkins is a passionate photographer, filmmaker and outdoor enthusiast.

“I’m very excited to round out our communications team with the addition of Megan and Katie,” said TWS CEO Ed Arnett. “Both bring a wealth of skills we need to help deliver on all three of our new strategic plan priorities to build community, support our professionals, and exercise our external influence with a wide range of audiences.”  

Christy Plumer

The Wildlife Society is also growing its policy department. Christy Plumer, a longtime policy expert, Hill staffer and conservationist, joins TWS as a government affairs contractor. Plumer previously served as the Chief Conservation Officer at the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership for eight years. Prior to her work with the TRCP, she spent a year working to advance solar and renewable energy policy with SolarCity as their northeast campaign director. She served as director of federal land programs at The Nature Conservancy and lobbied for improving conservation funding levels through the federal appropriations process, enhancing natural resources policy, and creating proactive solutions for fish and wildlife habitat conservation. Plumer also spent two years as director of government relations for The Conservation Fund, and seven years on Capitol Hill working for moderate Republicans, including Sen. John Chafee and Sen. Bob Smith. Plumer also served as staff director for the Senate Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Water under then-chairman Sen. Lincoln Chafee. Plumer holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and environmental studies from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Arts in environmental studies from Brown University. She loves science, wildlife, too many recreational activities to list, and helping to conserve the great outdoors.

“Christy brings decades of policy experience and instant credibility to the TWS government relations team, and she’ll hit the ground running for us in Washington, D.C.,” Arnett said. Chief Program Officer Cameron Kovach and Conservation Policy Manager Kelly O’Connor will work closely with Plumer on TWS policy priorities and linking our strategy for Capitol Hill with the Conservation Affairs Network.

Radke started with The Wildlife Society in early August, and Perkins and Plumer will begin in September.

Alaska curtails bison hunt after dozens drown in pond

Wildlife officials in Alaska have limited hunting permits on bison after dozens of the large ungulates drowned in a pond. Wildlife managers were tracking the bison (Bison bison bison) using GPS collars in central Alaska south of Delta Junction when a number of the collars stopped working in the spring. When one finally sent out a signal, staff with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game went to investigate and found nearly 40 dead and decomposing bison in and around a small pond. They speculated that the animals may have fallen through thin ice and drowned. As a result, the state agency reduced the permits for bison harvest by 56, allowing only 79 permits for harvest, and restricted harvest to males.

Read more at Anchorage Daily News.

Wildlife Vocalizations: Marsha Barnes

In fourth grade science class, I had to write a report on an animal. The homework was to pick a couple animals you are interested in, and then the next day, students would all sign up for their specific animals.

That evening, while doing my homework, my mother gave me an illustrated encyclopedia of animals she had gotten for my brother when he was younger. As I was flipping through, I came across a photo of a Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) and accidentally fell in love. They were so fascinating!

I continued flipping through the book, and another animal caught my attention. It was a larger photo than most of the others, and it was of an animal that I had never heard of. The okapi (Okapia johnstoni), with its mismatched characteristics, was so interesting.

The next day, I returned to school bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, especially once we started science. I was so excited to select my animal, but when I eventually got the sign-up sheet in my hands, someone else had already signed up for Komodo dragons. I ended up doing my report on the okapi. 

Barnes collects data from a logger for wetland water quantity monitoring in Minnesota. Credit: Dawn MacDonald

It was this moment in life that made me realize I wanted to be a wildlife biologist. In complete honesty, I actually decided that I wanted to be a field biologist studying Komodo dragons in the wild. Sadly, I have not made it to Indonesia yet, though I will someday.

My current position as wildlife biologist in the tallgrass prairie is still very satisfying. I spend my days counting ducks, frolicking in the flowers, and trudging through wetlands. I’m living the dream. 

That day in fourth grade, I chose to reach for the moon. I may have missed the moon, but I landed beautifully in the stars. Becoming a wildlife biologist is one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me. Even after a hard day, when I am in pain, bleeding, exhausted, limping, covered in poison ivy or blowing things out of my nose that shouldn’t be there, I still drive home from work with a smile on my face and a song in my heart because I am a wildlife biologist!

Wildlife Vocalizations is a collection of short personal perspectives from people in the field of wildlife sciences

Learn more about Wildlife Vocalizations, and read other contributions.

Submit your story for Wildlife Vocalizations or nominate your peers and colleagues to encourage them to share their story. For questions, please contact tws@wildlife.org.

Arizona Chapter named 2024 TWS Chapter of the Year

The Wildlife Society has named its Arizona Chapter the 2024 Chapter of the Year following its success building and nurturing relationships with state, national and Tribal partners.

“I can’t think of a more deserving chapter,” said Sarah Rinkevich, biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and past president of the Arizona Chapter of The Wildlife Society (AZTWS). “We are all so honored to have received this award. The amount of dedication put forth by chapter members throughout the year is just unmatched.”

Of the chapter’s many accomplishments over the past year, its 2024 Joint Annual Meeting Conference, which is a joint meeting with the New Mexico and Arizona TWS Chapters and New Mexico Chapter of American Fisheries Society, stands out. The event boasted record attendance, including professionals from both states. Attendees represented the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, APHIS-Wildlife Services, the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and the TWS Southwest Section.

The conference’s plenary session theme, “Wildlife Stewardship on Tribal Lands,” featured many Tribal partners, including speakers from the Navajo Nation’s Department of Fish and Wildlife and the San Carlos Apache Tribe, among others.

“Geographically, Tribal lands make up approximately 29% of the state of Arizona, and we all share the same mission,” Rinkevich said. “They want their resources protected and conserved just as we do, so we want to bring Tribal partners into our conversations so that we can all learn from one another.”

Gloria Tom, director of Navajo Nation Game and Fish, received the 2023-24 AZTWS Tribal Conservationist Award from Chris Carrillo, current president of the Arizona Chapter of The Wildlife Society. Credit: Courtesy Arizona Chapter of The Wildlife Society

The Arizona Chapter’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion doesn’t end at its conference. Its diverse executive board actively recruits Tribal wildlife and fisheries biologists and people of color to become members. Additionally, in 2022, the chapter’s board approved a new AZTWS Award—the Tribal Conservationist Award—presented to a Tribal natural resources director, biologist or technician who is working on behalf of a Native American Tribe in Arizona.

In an effort to share knowledge and expertise as well as encourage wildlife conservation and education throughout the state, the Arizona Chapter continually works to engage both students and the general public in wildlife projects and activities. These efforts include wildlife workshops and statewide BioBlitz events, which call on the general public to get outside and document the flora and fauna they find in their local parks, neighborhoods and natural areas via the iNaturalist app, often with the help of biologists.

Each April, the Arizona Chapter and the Arizona Fish and Game Department host a free wildlife techniques workshop, providing the next generation of natural resources managers with an opportunity to learn hands-on wildlife management tools and techniques. While this particular workshop takes place once per year, Rinkevich said that the Arizona Chapter provides young professionals with scholarships and learning opportunities and supports student TWS chapters throughout the year.

During the yearly wildlife techniques workshop, students have opportunities to learn hands on from wildlife biologists. Credit: Courtesy Arizona Chapter of The Wildlife Society

“It’s all about sparking their interest and giving them a chance to work with and be mentored by different professionals,” Rinkevich said.

The Arizona Chapter hopes to increase membership year over year, with the executive board taking it upon themselves to recruit at least one person to sign up during the 2024 calendar year.

“We always want to increase membership and continue to increase interaction with our Tribal partners,” Rinkevich added. “We also hope to get more students who are interested in natural resources, whether they’re already in college or just graduating from high school, to connect with TWS.”

Interested in learning more about the AZTWS Chapter and how to join? Visit their website.

Avian detectives work to prevent aircraft bird strikes

Carol Dove, program manager at the Smithsonian Institution’s Feather Identification Lab, leads a small team that makes up the only full-time bird-strike lab in the world. When a bird collides with an aircraft, researchers at the lab sample bird feathers or other bits and pieces that may be left behind to determine the species. Identifying which species are colliding with both civilian and military aircraft can help wildlife managers determine the most effective means to keep these birds away from flight paths. “One of the chief things we’re trying to do is change the habitat at the airport so that those bird species don’t want to be there anymore,” Mike Begier, the USDA’s airport wildlife hazards program national coordinator told the Washingtonian. In addition to changing the habitat, this research helps aircraft makers design planes that can better withstand bird strikes while also ensuring the current designs are holding up to potential so-called “feathered bullets.”

Read more at Washingtonian.com

Do golf courses help rabies spread in Arizona?

Rising numbers of rabies outbreaks in Arizona have prompted researchers to wonder whether golf courses are facilitating disease transmission by attracting high numbers of host species like bats, raccoons, foxes and skunks.

Lias Hastings, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services, and his colleagues, “thought all three mesocarnivores would show high activity” around golf courses.

But their findings were a bit more complicated.

Scientists have recorded a number of rabies outbreaks in northern Arizona, with the earliest in 2001 and the most recent in 2018. While raccoons largely drive rabies transmission in eastern North America, the disease dynamic is different in Arizona. Gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) and striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) in the state primarily transmit the virus. Big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) in the state also carry a unique strain of the virus, and researchers believe these flying mammals may be transmitting the disease to foxes, raccoons or skunks.

Big brown bats were detected more often around golf course ponds. This one is equipped with a radiotransmitter. Credit: Lias Hastings

It’s unclear where these species may come into contact, though. Some radiotelemetry data showed that bats and skunks both used the same human structures. But Hastings and his colleagues also wondered whether artificial ponds in golf courses may be hot spots for cross-species rabies transmission, attracting the species in an otherwise dry ecosystem around Flagstaff.

Research on the greens

In a study published recently in Urban Ecosystems, Hastings and his colleagues set up pairs of trail cameras and sound recorders around golf ponds and adjacent dry areas in Flagstaff.

Researchers placed recorders around golf course ponds. Credit: Lias Hastings

After collecting two years of data, the team detected big brown bats more often around these ponds. Raccoons also used areas close to water sources more than the dry areas. But striped skunks and gray foxes were surprisingly found less often around the ponds.

Hastings said that these results are difficult to interpret—at least regarding their importance to rabies transmission. But the fact that raccoons used these ponds at high levels shows that this species may be more important to rabies transmission in the Southwest than researchers previously believed. It’s also possible that as housing and human development increase in Arizona, raccoons will play a greater role in rabies transmission there, similar to in the eastern U.S.

Striped skunks used some of the same human buildings as big brown bats. Credit: Lias Hastings

It’s also possible that the ponds are still bringing bats, foxes and skunks into closer contact—just not directly to the water. Foxes and skunks may be using golf sheds near ponds or other structures, for example, burrowing underneath to create dens. Bats may come into more frequent contact with these mesocarnivores in these areas.

Researchers still aren’t clear how rabies transmission usually happens in Arizona. They have found bats with bloody faces in mist nets or struggling on the ground in other parts of their range, Hastings said, suggesting that attacks between these creatures may be causing the spread of rabies. Mesocarnivores may also contract the disease by eating dead, infected bats, or bats may attack them directly while they’re alive. 

Raccoons may play a larger role in rabies transmission as development increases in northern Arizona. Credit: Lias Hastings

Humans may be passing COVID-19 to common wildlife species

Food waste that humans leave outside may be helping COVID-19 pass from humans to common wildlife species. The authors of a study published recently in Nature detected the coronavirus at high rates in six common species in Virginia: deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus), Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana), raccoon (Procyon lotor), groundhog (Marmota monax), eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), and eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis). They found that animals that use hiking trails or other places with many humans had three times higher rates of COVID-19 than those farther from people. The researchers believe the virus is infecting animals through discarded food. “The virus can jump from humans to wildlife when we are in contact with them, like a hitchhiker switching rides to a new, more suitable host,” Carla Finkielstein of Virginia Tech told The Hill.

Read more at The Hill.

Natural disasters put some species at greater risk of extinction

Humans aren’t the only ones at risk from natural disasters. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes can affect wildlife, too. For species already at risk of extinction, these natural disasters can add new perils.

In a recent study, researchers identified species particularly at risk from natural hazards as well as the management actions that could protect them.

“We’re not just losing one species,” said Fernando Gonçalves, a postdoctoral researcher at the Globe Institute at the University of Copenhagen. “We’re losing a multitude of ecosystem functions that these species provide.”

Gonçalves and fellow Globe Institute postdoctoral researcher Harith Farooq led a team of 26 authors from around the world for the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“By overlapping the occurrence of four types of natural hazards with species that have limited distributions or occur in small numbers, we were able to identify which species may be more susceptible to these threats,” Farooq said. 

The researchers discovered that 3,722 reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals are at risk of extinction because they live in areas where hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes are most likely to occur. Most were found in the tropics, especially on islands. About half were considered at high risk of extinction due to these hazards. 

These species include the Puerto Rican parrot (Amazona vittate), an endangered species found only on that island. At risk from human activities, hurricanes can place the parrot in even greater danger, but researchers say captive breeding and reintroduction efforts are helping the species persist.

The authors hope the study will spur efforts to protect these species and better understand the broader ecological impacts if they disappear.

Wolf influx on Isle Royale only temporarily affects mesocarnivores

Wolf recolonization curtails mescocarnivore numbers on an island in the Great Lakes—but the effect doesn’t last.

“The return of wolves created this really strong effect initially,” said Mauriel Rodriguez Curras, now a postdoctoral researcher in environmental science at the University of California-Berkeley.

The small population of wolves (Canis lupus) on Isle Royale in Michigan may be among the most studied canids in North America. Researchers’ interest is partly due to the unique conditions the island presents—it’s a relatively closed system, with only the occasional animal coming across the lake during years when it completely freezes over. Since this doesn’t happen often, Isle Royale acts like a natural laboratory for a closed ecosystem, where researchers can track the large animals that they reintroduce or that occasionally cross over naturally.

The island has also gone through significant fluctuations in the past two decades. Wolves were once absent from Isle Royale but crossed Lake Superior when it was frozen over in the mid-20th century. Population numbers eventually died down until 2018 when the wolves were functionally extirpated, with only two severely inbred wolves left. In 2019, another 19 wolves were reintroduced from Minnesota, Ontario’s Michipicoten Island and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to build back a healthy population.

A number of other species also inhabit the island. Jonathan Pauli, a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, had been tracking American martens (Martes americana) on Isle Royale for years—these small carnivores had recolonized the island in the 1990s. Pauli supervised Rodriguez Curras’s PhD work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which focused more on red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) on Isle Royale.

In a study published recently in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, the research team examined how the most recent wolf reintroduction affected the behavior and number of foxes and martens on the island.

The research team collected data on foxes and martens from 2018—the year that wolves were functionally extirpated from the island—through 2020, after wolves had settled in.

A pipe with a comb on the end was designed for gathering marten hair. Credit: Jonathan Pauli

They conducted stable isotope analysis of hair collected from martens and foxes around the island to determine what the animals were eating. They also collected and genotyped scat on the island to determine where foxes and martens were appearing. That information was fed into an occupancy model and demographic model.

The researchers then used GPS collars to determine where the wolves were occurring.

The initial shake-up

The researchers saw the biggest effect of wolves on mesocarnivores in 2019.

“The initial introduction really did shake up the distribution and the behaviors of those small carnivores,” Pauli said.

Researchers Mauriel Rodriguez Curras (left) and Jonathan Pauli (right) work with a trapped red fox. Credit: Jonathan Pauli

Foxes, the larger of the two mesocarnivores, were most negatively affected. At the beginning of their reintroduction, the wolves tended to displace foxes from prime locations. Without foxes to compete with them for food—or to even kill them as a result of competition—marten numbers and range sizes increased.

The researchers also examined the stable isotope ratios of the hair to determine whether there were changes in diet for the mesocarnivores after wolf reintroduction.

The behavior of all three animals also changed. This suggests that the reintroduction of wolves shook up the system. For wolves, there were high movement rates in 2019 compared to the following year. The canids also ate more beavers (Castor canadensis) than they normally would as they went—they typically prey more on moose (Alces alces) in this ecosystem type. The researchers believe the high beaver exploitation is partly due to the wolves not developing a regular strategy for hunting moose in the first year.

A beaver pond. In the first year after reintroduction, wolves preyed more on beavers than usual. Credit: Mauriel Rodriguez Curras

The new normal

By 2020, these effects had settled down. Fox range increased again and numbers went up, while marten range and numbers did the opposite and returned to normal levels. Meanwhile, wolves didn’t prey on beavers as much, focusing their attention on moose.

Pauli said this is likely a response to the wolf population settling into a more predictable pattern after its first year of relative chaos.

“A lot of those effects relaxed as wolves began to form those social dynamics,” Pauli said.

There was also another factor that affected the carnivore community: humans. Both wolves and martens typically stay away from humans, while foxes are well-adapted to take advantage of some of the extra resources that humans may provide, whether it’s garbage left behind or directly feeding the creatures.

“Foxes are really good at exploiting human habitats,” Rodriguez Curras said.

Israel-Hamas war stresses lizards

The sound of rocket explosions during the Israel-Hamas war may be causing stress in geckos, researchers have found. In a study published recently in Ecology, researchers discovered that bombing noise prompted a doubling in the metabolic rates of dune geckos (Stenodactylus sthenodactylus) in the lab—an effect that lasted for at least four hours. Researchers also found that the lizards’ breathing rate increased, and they showed visible signs of stress. “In a situation of ongoing conflict, such as the current reality in Gaza, the Gaza Envelope, and along the Israeli-Lebanese border, the metabolic cost can be significant and have a real impact on the energy reserves and activity periods of reptiles and other animals,” said Eran Levin, a professor at Tel Aviv University, in a press release. “This can exacerbate their conservation status, especially for species that are already endangered.”

Read more at Phys.Org.