2014 TWS Fellows Appointed, 2015 Nominations Now Open

January 13, 2015 by The Wildlife Society

TWS Fellows Awards 2014

The nomination period for TWS Fellows has officially opened, with nominations due by February 15, 2015. This is your opportunity to encourage recognition of members who have distinguished themselves through exceptional service to wildlife resources and our profession.

TWS Fellows are appointed for life and serve as ambassadors for The Wildlife Society. They are encouraged to engage in outreach and other activities that will benefit and promote TWS and the wildlife profession.

To nominate a deserving individual, review the criteria and nomination process here, and then download and submit the Fellows Program Nomination Form.

At the Society’s 2014 Annual Conference in Pittsburgh, 10 deserving individuals were appointed as TWS Fellows. The Wildlife Society congratulates them for their achievement and thanks them for their contributions.

You can view the complete list of Fellows appointed since 2003 here.

Information on other TWS Awards deadlines and nominations processes will be announced on the homepage and in the Awards section here at wildlife.org, and through our members-only weekly eWildlifer newsletters.


2014 TWS Fellows

Jane E. AustinJane E. Austin
Jane’s research has focused on the ecology of wetland birds and their habitat, habitat management practices, and information transfer through publications, synthesis products, and workshops. Her work includes 49 peer-reviewed publications, more than 30 reports and other products, and three workshops that were designed to provide useful information to land managers and policy makers in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other natural resource agencies. These studies often involved work across broad geographic areas of the United States that dealt with the interrelation between populations and habitats across a regional scale and the similarity of habitats, animal ecology, and problems across the northern Great Plains and Intermountain West.

Mike ConnerMike Conner
Mike has a distinguished record of serving TWS in a variety of capacities since 1988. A charter member of the student chapter at the University of Tennessee at Martin, he also was a member of the Mississippi Chapter from 1989 to 1993 and the Arkansas Chapter from 1993 to 1997. He is a member of the Georgia Chapter, the Southeastern Section, and the Wildlife Damage Management Working Group. Recently, Mike served as the interim secretary-treasurer for the newly formed Hunting, Trapping, and Conservation Working Group. His other TWS activities include servind as secretary-treasurer of the Southeastern Section, co-editor of a TWS technical review on prescribed fire, and member of the Editorial Advisory Board for The Wildlife Professional.

Brian L. CypherBrian L. Cypher
Brian has been very active in TWS throughout his career. A member since 1980, he has participated in several subunits including the Western Section, the North Central Section, the Illinois State Chapter, and the San Joaquin Valley Chapter. He also has chaired seven sessions at Western Section annual conferences. A Certified Wildlife Biologist since 1993, Brian has held a wide range of positions including associate editor for the Journal of Wildlife Management from 2003 to 2004 and associate editor/editor for the Transactions of the Western Section from 1999 to 2004 and in 2007. For the San Joaquin Valley Chapter, he served as president, secretary, representative to the Western Section, and newsletter editor.

Jaqueline L. FrairJaqueline L. Frair
Jacqui has been a TWS member for nearly a decade and has demonstrated a clear and deep commitment to the profession and the Society. She consistently publishes in TWS journals and reviews papers for the journals. Jacqui also has hosted workshops at TWS annual conferences and encourages both undergraduate and graduate students to present at local and national TWS meetings. She has been active in the New York Chapter, most recently as vice president and in a variety of working groups over the past decade. Her biggest contribution to the profession is mentoring students as the SUNY-ESF Student Chapter advisor, for which she received the Student Chapter Advisor of the Year Award in 2011. She also brings an ESF team to the Student Quiz Bowl each year at the TWS annual conference.

Ralph J. GutierrezRalph J. Gutierrez
Ralph has been a TWS member since 1968, serving as the Humboldt Chapter Representative to the Western Section in 1981, as an appointed TWS representative to The Nature Conservancy from 1990 to 1998, as a member of the Donald Rusch Memorial Scholarship Committee from 2004 to 2006, and as a member of the Caesar Kleberg Memorial Award Committee from 2007 to 2008. He also has served as an associate editor for the Journal of Wildlife Management since 2011. Ralph was recognized as an honorary member of TWS in 2007. He also received TWS’ Publications Award in 2001 for an ecological monograph publication he co-authored on spotted owl population ecology and in 1997 for a studies in avian biology volume on spotted owl demography. The North Coast Chapter honored Ralph in 2000 with their Career Achievement Award.

John L. KoprowskiJohn L. Koprowski
John has demonstrated leadership and commitment as a TWS member since 1986. He has been a member of the Arizona Chapter and the Southwest Section since 2001. Now residing in Arizona, John has become has been an active member of the state’s chapter. He has served as president-elect and president of the chapter from 2003 to 2005 and on the executive board from 2005 to 2007. In addition, John has supported the chapter as chairperson of the Awards, Plenary Program and Nomination Committees from 2003 to 2006. In 2006, he initiated a funding program for student chapter attendance at the Joint Annual Meeting (JAM) of the TWS Arizona and New Mexico Chapters and the Arizona and New Mexico Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, which still continues today. He also initiated funding for the Student-Mentor Lunch program, served as the convener and host of JAM in 2006, JAM Advisory Board from 2002 to 2009, and session moderator in 2002 and 2011.

Joshua J. MillspaughJoshua J. Millspaugh
An active member of TWS since 1993, Joshua is a Certified Wildlife Biologist. He has demonstrated outstanding leadership and service in promoting TWS activities and its mission. In particular, he has been actively involved in organizing TWS conference activities. He also has been an associate editor for the Wildlife Society Bulletin and the Journal of Wildlife Management, and he has served TWS through various educational activities and working groups. Joshua has published many papers in TWS journals and other TWS publications. In 2003, he was the Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference Wildlife Program Chair and a member of the conference executive committee.

Sara H. SchweitzerSara H. Schweitzer
Sara has made outstanding contributions to our profession and to wildlife conservation within state agencies and academia since the early 1990s. She is an outstanding biologist at the field and laboratory level, a talented educator, and productive researcher and management specialist. The diversity of Sara’s talents is impressive and definitely noteworthy. Her research and conservation interests focus on ecology, management, and conservation of waterfowl, wading birds, seabirds, and shorebirds, especially relative to human activities and responses of avian communities to enhancement and restoration of coastal wetland habitats. Her contributions to conservation efforts in research, management, and education also have benefitted the entire species assemblages of the ecosystems in which she works.

James S. SedingerJames S. Sedinger
Jim joined TWS as a graduate student while attending the University of California Davis in 1977 and has remained a member for 37 years. During that time, he has been active in chapter, section, and international levels. At the state level, he served as the Northern Alaska representative to the Alaska Chapter from 1996 to 1997 and as the president-elect from 2010 to 2011 and president from 2011 to 2012 of the Nevada Chapter. As president-elect, he organized the 2011 Nevada Chapter Annual Meeting and Symposium. In 2014, the TWS Western Section recognized Jim with the Barret A. Garrison Award for outstanding mentorship.

Thomas L. SerfassThomas L. Serfass
Tom is an active and dedicated TWS member who supports the overall mission and vision of the Society. He promotes a high standard of professional ethics and is committed to the development of conservation and management initiatives based on sound scientific principles. Tom has dedicated his professional life to wildlife conservation and has distinguished himself as a leader in our profession. He began his affiliation with TWS as a student at East Stroudsburg University and a student chapter member at Penn State University. He regularly attended chapter meetings and became a contributor at chapter functions and events.

Spring Snow Goose Hunt in Alberta

January 12, 2015 by The Wildlife Society

Snow Geese

Alberta announced plans for its first spring snow goose hunt in order to combat overabundant populations (a fall hunt is already in place). Nesting colonies of snow geese can contain thousands of individuals and disrupt their Arctic habitat through overgrazing.

Read more about the spring hunt on Global News.

Wildlife Video: First Bear Sighted at Park’s Crossing Tunnel

January 12, 2015 by The Wildlife Society

Wildlife Tunnel

Roads and fences can be dangerous for wildlife, accounting for a large number of deaths every year across North America. Conservationists have also long pointed to habitat fragmentation as a significant threat faced by wildlife as roads, fences, and other elements of human development can limit their movement. One of the solutions has been to connect wild areas by creating tunnels or overpasses covered in vegetation where animals can safely cross roads or fences. The first video, posted by Parks Canada, shows the first bear sighted crossing through a new tunnel built in Kootenay National Park, British Columbia during the structure’s first spring.

The sighting is significant because it sometimes takes years for animals to adapt to using these structures in their travels.

The second video — also posted by Parks Canada — shows a montage of five years of remote images of wildlife taken on the Redearth Wildlife Overpass in Banff National Park, Alberta.

Hundreds of Dead Seabirds Wash up on Pacific Coast

January 8, 2015 by The Wildlife Society

Dead Seabirds

Hundreds of Cassin’s aucklets (Ptychoramphus aleuticus) — a small white-bellied seabird — have been washing up dead on the shores of the Pacific ocean from British Columbia down to San Luis Obispo, Calif. While extreme winter conditions can often cause deaths, these birds appear to have died from starvation in unprecedented numbers and experts are struggling to find out why.

Read more about the phenomenon at CBS.

Network with the Arizona and New Mexico Chapters of TWS

January 8, 2015 by The Wildlife Society

The Arizona and New Mexico Chapters of TWS will hold their 2015 Joint Annual Meeting on Thursday, February 5 – Saturday, February 7, 2015 at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces in Las Cruces, NM.   Early registration discounts are available through January 10, 2015.

The Joint Annual Meeting will include a plenary session, with the theme New Technologies in Fish and Wildlife Science, as well as a student mentor lunch, a student quiz bowl, a photo contest, socials, and an awards banquet. The schedule and registration information for can be found here.

The Southwest Section of TWS will be holding their annual business meeting during the Joint Annual Meeting, along with a breakfast, which is open to all meeting attendees.   The cost to attend the breakfast is just $10 for members of the SW Section and $15 for non-members.

For more information on the Southwest Section’s breakfast and annual business meeting click here.

Parasite Treatment in Buffalo Could Help Spread of TB

January 8, 2015 by The Wildlife Society

Buffalo

A helicopter flew close to the ground in Krueger National Park, South Africa, executing a series of aerial acrobatics in order to steer the herd of African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) towards a good area for a park veterinarian to start shooting tranquilizer rounds.

Meanwhile, Vanessa Ezenwa, associate professor of ecology and infectious diseases at the University of Georgia, and a group of other researchers waited in a 4X4 on the ground nearby for the right moment to go in and tag the buffalo with satellite tracking devices.

“It can be highly dramatic,” Ezenwa said. But tranquilization was a relative term as it applied to the buffalo, and park technicians had to go in first, grab the animals by their thrashing horns, and hold them relatively steady while the researchers did their work.

Buffalo

Darting buffalo from a helicopter.
Image Credit: Vanessa Ezenwa, University of Georgia

“They’re still quite aggressive by nature. They’re feisty even though they’re darted,” she said.

Ezenwa was working on a project to test the relations between parasitic worm treatments and tuberculosis — a study that had wide-ranging implications for managing interactions between cattle and wildlife and potentially even human health and treatment strategies. The study, published today in the journal Science, found that treating the buffalo for worms could actually cause larger populations of buffalo to become infected by tuberculosis.

The line of thinking goes like this: If you treat an individual buffalo that also has tuberculosis for parasitic worms, the animal’s immune system will be stronger and allow it to survive longer with the lung disease.

While this may be good for the infected individual, Ezenwa said that it could be bad for larger populations of buffalo. “The negative side effect is that the individual who lives longer is able to spread the infection for a longer period of time.”

After initial tagging and testing operations, technicians working with her team had to go back in 4X4s with tranquilizer guns twice a year to re-catch the animals and test them for disease — a comparatively smaller operation than the initial tagging.

Her research also showed that treating uninfected buffalo for parasitic worms doesn’t make them more resistant to tuberculosis. “De-worming has no effect on an individual’s chance of getting infected.”

Bovine tuberculosis was introduced to African buffalo via cattle populations and while the buffalo aren’t endangered, Ezenwa said sustaining populations of the species is important because they contribute to the local economy through hunting and ecotourism.

Buffalo

A radio-collared female buffalo.
Image Credit: Vanessa Ezenwa, University of Georgia

Ezenwa also said that the study could have larger implications for understanding diseases in wildlife and disease-control strategy. She said that American bison also have common parasitic worm infections that could interact in some way with brucellosis — a disease that is currently creating hurdles for the animals’ recovery in western provinces as bison can transmit the disease to cattle.

“These worms potentially affect other things,” she said. “We have a lot of diseases that are shifting their geological regions.”

In order to look more closely at potential interactions, Ezenwa said her next study will likely look at the interactions between parasites and brucellosis among the African buffalo, which also carry the disease.

“You can translate that story to issues in the U.S.,” she said in reference to the fact that these future studies could be useful when looking at management strategies for American bison and brucellosis.

Finally, Ezenwa said the information could have an impact on the way we plan disease treatment for human populations. She said that some people have considered using parasite treatments in poorer areas where the problems are endemic as ways to reduce the overall number of people who contract HIV or tuberculosis.

“Worm drugs are relatively cheap and effective” in comparison to treating these more serious diseases, she said. But the results of her study show that using anti-parasitic treatments as a way to indirectly reduce the spread of HIV or tuberculosis may not work, and that the interaction between parasites and diseases “is more complicated than we previously thought.”

The Impacts of Energy Development on Wildlife

January 7, 2015 by The Wildlife Society

Pinedale Anticline

TWS members can now access the most current science and management strategies regarding energy development through three new fact sheets. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Impacts of Wind Energy Development on Wildlife, and Oil and Gas Development in the Rocky Mountain Region fact sheets were developed and released by the Society to inform wildlife professionals, decision-makers, and the general public on the potential impacts of energy development on wildlife resources.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge fact sheet details potential impacts of oil and gas development in the Alaska-based refuge. The 1002 Area of the refuge may contain substantial amounts of oil and gas, but is also of vital importance to many wildlife species.

The Oil and Gas Development in the Rocky Mountain Region fact sheet also provides information on oil and gas development, but in a different area of the U.S. Unlike in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, oil and gas development has boomed in the Rocky Mountain region since the 1970s. This development has impacted wildlife through displacement, reduced recruitment, and mortality.

The Impacts of Wind Energy Development on Wildlife informs members on one of the new renewable energy options available to replace traditional oil and gas energy sources. Wind energy, although renewable, can impact wildlife, through collisions and habitat degradation.

These energy development fact sheets, along with other policy resources, can be accessed at wildlife.org/policy.

Fleeing Birds Sense Distant Tornadoes

January 7, 2015 by The Wildlife Society

Golden-winged warblers

Hold on to your ruby red slippers, Dorothy. Mother Nature may have her own tornado-warning system. Just days before a series of tornadoes hit the Central and Southern United States this past April, five small, neotropical birds showed some strange behavior. Golden-winged warblers (Verminvora chrysoptera), from a population that winters in Eastern Colombia, South America, and summers in the Cumberland Mountains of Eastern Tennessee, vacated their summer breeding territories in what researchers believe may have been anticipation of a major storm brewing hundreds of miles away and moving in their direction, according to a study published online in Current Biology.

“At the same time that meteorologists on the Weather Channel were telling us this storm was headed in our direction, the birds were apparently already packing their bags and evacuating the area,” said Henry Streby of the University of California, Berkley in a statement. In May, 2013, Streby and a team of researchers tagged 20 male golden-winged warblers with light-level geolocators—an electronic, tracking device that measures changes in light levels as a terrestrial animal migrates north or south or marine animals dive between shallow and deep waters. The researchers wanted to see if the small bird could carry the device for a year. Gold-winged warblers weigh about a third of an ounce, the heft of approximately four dimes, and the trackers weigh about five percent of their body weight.

Earlier this year, the team returned to recover the geolocators. On April 28, 2014, about a week after thier arrival in Tennessee, a sever thunderstorm system, called a supercell, swept through the survey area around 11 pm. Supercells sometimes give rise to tornadoes, and this particular storm system generated 84 confirmed tornadoes and caused at least 35 human fatalities. Afterward, the team recovered five warblers with geolocators.

The data showed that these warblers had evacuated their breeding grounds a day or two before the supercell hit, when the storm was 250-550 miles away. Additionally, the warblers appeared to fly around the supercell, taking different routes from one another. Three of the birds travelled more than 900 miles round-trip. “It is the first time we’ve documented this type of storm-avoidance behavior in birds during breeding season,” Streby said, though what exactly cued the birds to leave remains a mystery. When the birds left, local weather conditions were normal.

The researchers believe the birds could hear rumblings of the storm before it arrived. Tornadoes produce strong low-frequency sounds, called infrasounds, occurring at frequencies below the normal range of human hearing. According to the National Institutes of Health, humans can normally hear sounds from 20-20,000 hertz. Because lower frequencies travel farther, the infrasonic sound resonating from the supercell storm system could have gone hundreds to thousands of miles before petering out. This means it is possible that the warblers could hear the storm coming from only a couple of hundred miles away days before it passed through their breeding grounds.

“Biologists had not been looking at the use of infrasound in this way, but it certainly makes sense to me,” said Streby. “We may find that acoustics are a pretty significant way that birds in general view their environment, much like dogs use olfaction and humans use sight.”

White-Nose Syndrome Better Explained

January 7, 2015 by The Wildlife Society

Researchers have confirmed the way a lethal fungal disease has laid waste to huge populations of North American bats.

“This model is exciting for us, because we now have a framework for understanding how the disease functions within a bat,” said Michelle Verant, a scientist with the University of Wisconsin and the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Wildlife Health Center and the lead author of a study released in BMC Physiology. “The mechanisms detailed in this model will be critical for properly timed and effective disease mitigation strategies.”

The new study proves the previous hypothesis that white-nose syndrome — a disease caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans (formerly Geomyces destructans) — killed bats by attacking their immune systems during hibernation when they are weakest. By comparing healthy and infected bat populations during hibernation, USGS researchers discovered that bats with the fungus used twice the energy as uninfected bats. The energy depleted in the infected bats was so great that it stops the bats from performing basic body functions during hibernations, causing bats to die from suffocation or other causes.

But the researchers also discovered that contrary to previous findings, the fungus began to cause the hibernating bats to move around more and waste energy much earlier than more serious symptoms of WNS such as wing damage became evident.

“Clinical signs are not the start of the disease — they likely reflect more advanced disease stages,” Verant said. “This finding is important because much of our attention previously was directed toward what we now know to be bats in later stages of the disease, when we observe visible fungal infections and behavioral changes.”

The researchers measured energy depletion in bats by tracking the ratio of lean tissue to fat mass. Infected bats had much less fat.

The study also found that mild wing damage in bats had more acidic blood due to increased carbon dioxide levels as well as potassium levels high enough to inhibit normal heart function.

Fall Festival Highlights Busy Semester for Central Missouri

January 6, 2015 by The Wildlife Society

Whitetailed Deer

The fall 2014 semester was very busy for The Wildlife Society Student Chapter at the University of Central Missouri. Student members have been very involved this semester; from aging deer for the Missouri Department of Conservation to attending various conferences, members have accomplished a great amount.

Several members attended the Central Plains Society of Mammalogists in October, where students learned about research being conducted in the Central Plains and by Central Plains’ researchers, including information about black bears and bats. Soon after that another large group attended the Kansas Herpetological Society Conference. At KHS there were many speakers that discussed research being done throughout the state of Kansas and there were a lot of live animals present for attendees to observe and learn about. All members in attendance reported having a great experience at these conferences and brought back lots of new information.

In November the Chapter had a record number of members sign up and participate in the annual deer aging event with the Missouri Department of Conservation. The days were long and cold but very educational. It was interesting to talk to different hunters and to learn more about how Missouri Department of Conservation monitors deer populations, particularly for members who had never been hunting.

The student chapter’s biggest accomplishment this semester was a new event, the Fall Festival, which was held during the first weekend in November and was a huge success. This outreach event had many volunteers teaching adults and children about all kinds of wildlife. There were discussions about herpetology, mammalogy, and ornithology, as well as face paintings, a petting zoo, hayrides and lots of soup and chili. It was a great success and all the proceeds will go towards the chapter’s trip to a White Tailed Deer Ranch located in Texas in January. The student chapter will be doing a prescribed burn and learning other management practices.

Overall The Wildlife Society Student Chapter at the University of Central Missouri had a successful and fun semester and members look forward to what the spring semester will bring. For more information on the student chapter visit their website and Facebook page.