Great Lakes Wolves Back on ESA List

A federal judge has placed gray wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan back under Endangered Species Act protections. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service originally de-listed the species in 2011.

Read more at the Star Tribune.

Discovering the World’s Largest Land Crab

Coconut Crab

Have you heard of the coconut crab? Found on small islands in the tropical Indian and Pacific oceans, this crab is so large it can break open coconuts with its pincers and even hunt rats. Read about it on BBC Earth.

Study Finds Feral Cats Likely Driving Disease Among Deer

Columbian White Tailed Deer

Free-roaming domestic cats (Felis catus) are widely understood to have substantial negative impacts on wildlife. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists cats among the world’s worst non-native invasive species, and cats on islands worldwide have contributed to 33 species extinctions (Lowe et al. 2000, Medina et al. 2011). In the United States free-roaming cats are the top source of direct anthropogenic mortality to birds and mammals, killing approximately 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals each year (Loss et al. 2013).

The indirect impacts of cats on wildlife are less obvious, but one of the greatest emerging threats from free-roaming cats is infection with Toxoplasma gondii. T. gondii is a parasitic protozoan that can infect all warm-blooded species but relies on felids to complete its life cycle. According to a new study published in EcoHealth, feral cats are likely driving white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) infections in northeastern Ohio (Ballash et al. 2014). Cats that host T. gondii excrete oocysts into the environment in their feces, and a single cat can deposit hundreds of millions of oocysts, which may remain infectious for up to 18 months (Tenter et al. 2000).

The study’s authors collected white-tailed deer samples at the Cleveland Metroparks as part of a deer management program. Cat serum samples were collected from cats in a trap, neuter, release (TNR) program in the Greater Cleveland area. TNR programs spay/neuter feral cats and then release them into the environment. Nearly 60% of white-tailed deer and 52% of feral cats tested positive for T. gondii. Older deer and deer in urban environments were more likely to be infected, suggesting horizontal transmission from environmental exposure.

The study’s findings have implications for people as well. Widespread environmental contamination increases the likelihood of human infections. In people, infection has been linked to schizophrenia and can lead to miscarriages, blindness, memory loss, and death (Torrey and Yolken 2013, Gajewski et al. 2014). Due to the creation of tissue cysts in infected deer, people that consume undercooked venison can also acquire T. gondii and the subsequent disease, toxoplasmosis.

The Wildlife Society actively supports the humane removal of feral cats from native ecosystems. See our position statement and fact sheet for more information on how feral and free-ranging domestic cats impact wildlife.

This article was written in cooperation with the American Bird Conservancy.

Flying Dragons Hide Behind the Colors of Christmas

Flying lizard

Flying dragons in Borneo adopt Christmas colors to mimic the red and green hues of falling leaves in an effort to hide from predatory birds, according to new research. But the red and green colors of different Draco populations have nothing to do with a festive spirit.

“It’s a cool finding because these gliding lizards are matching the colors of falling leaves and not the leaves that are still attached to the tree,” said Danielle Klomp, a researcher at the University of Melbourne and the University of New South Wales and the lead author of the study released today in Biology Letters. “In the mangrove population the leaves on the trees are bright green, but turn red shortly before falling to the ground, and it is this red color that the lizards mimic in their gliding membranes. This allows them to mimic a moving part of the environment—falling leaves—when they are gliding.”

Dracos

The wing-like membranes of gliding Dracos match the colors of falling leaves in their habitat.
Image Credit: Danielle Klomp

The gliding lizard Draco cornutus uses extendable membranes to escape from predators in the treetops by letting them glide through the forest—the only lizard genus known to fly in the world. The lizards typically only come down to the ground when the females lay eggs in the dirt.

Klomp and a team of others working on the project observed two different populations of flying dragons on the island and found that each had a distinct set of colors that matched their respective habitats.

While the coastal mangrove population matched the red color of falling leaves, a population of flying lizards in the lowland rainforest took on more of a dark brown and green color to match local leaves in that area.

“Perhaps these populations may have originally had the same gliding membrane colors. But as they have moved into different forest types their colors have adapted to closely resemble the colors of falling leaves in the different forests,” Klomp said, adding that the phenomenon was known as divergent evolution.

She said that birds can perceive the same colors humans can as well as ultraviolet light, so the colors on lizard membranes could confuse them.

The researchers spent hours filming lizard flights in an attempt to determine whether they also used these colors to communicate the same way other reptiles do but they found it was strictly used for camouflage.

Obama Bans Drilling in Bristol Bay

Togiak National Wildlife Refuge

President Obama banned oil and gas development in Alaska’s Bristol Bay last week. The President’s memorandum removes approximately 32.5 million acres from development. This is the third time a President has used the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to permanently withdraw an area from development.

Read more about the memorandum in The New York Times.

Feisty Fire Ants Could Cause “Invasional Meltdown”

Fire ants

Feisty invasive fire ants known for their painful bite could be helping the spread of invasive plant species in the parts of the North American Northeast in what some scientists call “invasional meltdown.”

“We were interested in finding out whether the arrival and spread of this ant was going to change plant dispersal because it acts differently from native ants in our area,” said Megan Frederickson, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Toronto and senior author of the paper released Dec. 23 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Fire ants

Image Credit: K.M. Prior

Frederickson and other researchers conducted a study using dozens of miniature ecosystems created in kiddie pools north of the Canadian city in the university’s Koffler Scientific Reserve to see the different ways the invasive Myrmica rubra – also known as the common red ant – interacted with plant seeds compared to a native species of ant (Aphaenogaster rudis).

Both ants are known to be seed dispersers. The native species is found from Quebec throughout the Eastern seaboard down to South Carolina, while the invasive fire ants have been spreading over various parts of North America during the past few decades. The fire ants have been here for some time, and Frederickson said they are believed to have come in with agricultural shipments but the researchers wanted to know if the European ants would favor invasive seeds from a plant that came from their native Europe over local plant varieties.

They needed 42 kiddie pools to create all the different ecosystem mixtures between the two kinds of ants and four plant species – three native varieties and one invasive species: the greater celandine (Chelidonium majus).

They found that the invasive ants tended to help the spread of the invasive celandine plants.

“The kiddie pools that had the invasive ants in them were completely run over by this invasive plant,” Frederickson said.

The greater celandine is a perennial plant commonly found in roadside ditches and forest edges in North America. Its seeds can bud anytime whereas the native plants they used in the experiment depended on seasonal conditions. So even while the researchers noticed the invasive ants were dispersing seeds from the native plants as well as the invasives, the invasive plant benefited more than the others because it wasn’t dependent on seasonal conditions.

“It’s something called invasional meltdown,” she said, speaking about the phenomenon that occurs when one invasive species helps another.

Fire ants

Image Credit: K.M. Prior

“Because we don’t have any historical data, we actually don’t know how long this might have been going on for,” she said. “The ant may have been helping it spread all along but we never knew it until now.”

The implications are that the ants – and potentially other invasive species – could be altering ecosystems in complex ways.

“The ants reach pretty high abundances where they’ve been introduced, especially in very moist systems,” Frederickson said. “We think that they can really change communities of arthropods.”

Effects like this are poorly studied though, and many invasive species tend to be studied in isolation without looking at the way they interact with other species.

But she said that the ants could be helping plants like the greater celandine spread into more pristine forest ecosystems.

“This is a case of the plant potentially piggybacking off the success of the ant,” she said. “The results might make ecologists wonder how commonly these kinds of invasional meltdowns are happening.”

Three Additions to Policy Brief Series

Eagletail Mountain Wilderness AZ

The Policy Brief Series, TWS’s go-to resource for federal policies and programs, welcomes three new additions. Members of The Wildlife Society can now readily access information regarding the Farm Bill: Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Improvement Program (VPA-HIP), the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), and the Wilderness Act.

Download the policy briefs to learn more about these programs and how they conserve lands and enhance public access to them.

VPA-HIP is a competitive grants program within the Farm Bill that enables state and tribal governments to increase public access to private lands for recreational opportunities and enhance habitat for game, fish, and other wildlife. The Natural Resource Conservation Service awarded $20 million to ten states and tribal government in 2014 through VPA-HIP.

LWCF is used by government agencies to acquire lands for conservation and public access to natural areas. Over $16.8 billion have been appropriated into the LWCF since its inception in 1965. These funds have been used to purchase and conserve over 7 million acres across the United States

The Wilderness Act established the National Wilderness Preservation System to designate and preserve pristine undeveloped lands. Wilderness is the highest protection that can be given to wild lands by the federal government. Over 750 areas covering 109.5 million acres have been designated as wilderness since 1964.

The Government Affairs team is currently working on additional policy briefs on both American and Canadian conservation policy. The complete Policy Brief Series, along with other policy resources, can be accessed at wildlife.org/policy.

Reindeer Populations Are In Trouble Worldwide

Reindeer

Reindeer populations around the world are declining. Currently, these ungulates live in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Alaska, Canada, Russia, Mongolia, and China, where the population has declined about 28 percent. Read more about the challenges reindeer face in China at the Journal for Nature Conservation.

President’s Podium: Have You Answered My Question?

Rick Baydack

I hope that you have had a productive, fun-filled, and joyful year in each of your respective endeavors that relate to our wildlife resources. For me, 2014 no doubt represents the culmination of my career as a wildlife professional, as I took on the role of President of The Wildlife Society. I remain humbled by the honor and trust that the membership has bestowed upon me, and I wish to reiterate my commitment to adhere to the principles expressed in our 2014-2019 Strategic Plan.

The five Strategic Themes in the Plan – Sustainability of wildlife; Recognized and trusted organization; Member support; Networking; Professionally managed – provide a framework for TWS to succeed in the coming years. TWS Council worked to develop an all-encompassing Plan that would resonate with all members of our Society, and with additional comments from many members, the strategies for the coming years have been set in place. And in my view, the achievements of the current Strategic Plan and its measures of success, ultimately rest with all of us as members of the best wildlife organization in the world.

To that end, and as I noted in my remarks when taking on the role of President at the Annual Conference in Pittsburgh, it is time for us to clearly express our views to society-at large on the question of ‘Why Do Wildlife Matter?’ It seems that if we each have an answer to that question, all of the Plan’s strategic directions can be better addressed and publicized.

I expect that each of us may have a different answer to the question, yet the beauty of the question, is that there is no wrong answer. Clearly each of us may have a different answer, or many answers, that differ from those of our colleagues. But I firmly believe that each of us MUST have developed our response(s) to the question. Whether you focus on consumptive reasons, wildlife viewing, cultural values, spiritual needs, personal enjoyment, or other aspects, it is time to develop an answer that you can express to others about ‘Why Do Wildlife Matter?’

But having the ‘answer’ is not sufficient. Your answer needs to be communicated to others. It is the perfect time of year with family gatherings, work-related parties, and countless other social occasions to ‘break the ice’ and ask the question of ‘Why Do Wildlife Matter?’

Why not try it out at your next outing – you might be amazed at the responses! And by each of us having our ‘own’ answer, just think of the power that we can bring forward to convince others of the importance of the work that we hold so dear to us. As Past-President Wini Kessler expressed when she became TWS President, wildlife represents ‘The Greatest Story Never Told.’ And especially at this time of year, it is time to tell your story, perhaps convince others of the importance of what we do, but also listen to and appreciate additional views and feelings that might exist ‘out there.’ I hope that you accept this challenge, and look forward to hearing from you about what happened!

And finally, all the best to you and yours during this ‘Most Wonderful Time of the Year!’

Wildlife Students Learn About Hunting

Local Hunting Workshop

Wildlife students in Indiana are learning to hunt with help from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Indiana Chapter of TWS. The Wildlife Student Hunting program was developed “in response to a decline in the presence of a hunting background among students enrolled in a wildlife related college level program.” The program’s goal is to provide future wildlife professionals with a positive hunting experience and to educate students on the importance of hunting in wildlife management.

Hunting Workshop

Image Credit: Wayne Myers

The most recent program took place on November 23, 2014 at Deer Creek Fish and Wildlife Area in Greencastle, IN. Fourteen students from Ball State, Indiana State, Indiana University, and Purdue participated in a hunter safety course, talks on basic bird hunting technique, and a guided put-take pheasant hunt.

The workshop was also a great way for students to develop a relationship with their local DNR.

“I think I speak on behalf of all of our participating members [when I say] that the workshop was extremely beneficial. Throughout the hunt, we exchanged information and spoke about future employment opportunities…[as well as] experiences and skills that DNR personnel developed throughout their careers,” said Mari Aviles, President of the Purdue Student Chapter of TWS.

“The day was considered a success, with most students harvesting a pheasant. For several students this was a first time hunting experience,” said Sam Whiteleather, a CWB and the Property Manager at Sugar Ridge and Blue Grass Fish and Wildlife Areas.

The program was first developed because the DNR wanted to get more involved with hunter recruitment in the state. Sam Whiteleather contacted Tim Carter, advisor to the student chapter of TWS at Ball State University, to see if any of his students were interested in being involved. Many were interested so the program was organized and held its first quail hunt four years ago.

“I find these events especially important for [students in wildlife] programs because it helps them to understand and even appreciate hunting. We see more and more wildlife students that are coming from urban settings and did not hunt or have anyone close to them that hunted. While they learn about its importance to wildlife conservation in class, these events provide [valuable] firsthand experience,” said Carter.

Hunting Workshop

Image Credit: Wayne Myers

The program has been held annually since 2010 and has included students from Ball State, Indiana State, Indiana University, Purdue, and Vincennes. A variety of activities have been offered, such as clay pigeon shooting, duck hunting, and quail hunting. As of 2013, hunting workshops have been funded through the Indiana Chapter of TWS’s Wildlife Student Hunting Education Fund.

“These hunting workshops are fantastic ways to demystify hunting and to show people how easy it is to get involved. Hosting these [programs] should almost be a mandatory event for student chapters of TWS,” said Carter.

TWS endorses the principle that hunting, when properly regulated following biological principles, is an appropriate means of managing wildlife populations. Read more on TWS’s position on hunting here.

For more information on hunter education and workshops contact your local DNR.

Sources: Sam Whiteleather, Timothy Carter