Recreational restriction periods in some parts of Yellowstone National Park may not match up with the times grizzly bears use the areas.
Researchers looking at how bears use resources on the landscape found ways the National Park Service may improve a system intended to reduce human-bear conflict that was developed decades ago.
“It’s helpful for managers to continually assess [management restrictions] and continue to explore these questions,” said TWS Elise Loggers, a graduate student at Montana State University.
In the 1980s, Yellowstone park managers restricted recreational activity in some parts of the park at times when they typically had heavy bear activity. These restrictions varied depending on the area, since grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) tend to move around throughout the year searching for the best available food.
Researchers have been tracking grizzly bears in Yellowstone using GPS collars for the past two decades. The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team has collected GPS locational data for decades. Loggers led a study published recently in the Journal of Wildlife Management, tapping into this data and comparing it to the restriction zones.
Grizzlies seem to prefer using bear management areas. Credit: NPS/A. Falgoust
The data revealed that overall, during certain times of the year, the bears spent more time inside these bear management areas with recreational restrictions than outside of them.
But Loggers and her colleagues found the sex of the bear made a difference regarding when the bears used these zones. While females typically stayed in the area whether or not it was during periods when recreation was restricted, male grizzlies actually spent more time in bear management areas when there were no restrictions on human recreation.
Loggers said that this discrepancy might reflect changes within the park. Over the past century, wildfire has burned about 60% of Yellowstone. In addition, some tree species, like whitebark pine, have decreased in the park. Meanwhile, food resources for bears like cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii) have become scarcer. Predator-prey dynamics have shifted since gray wolves (Canis lupus) were reintroduced and altered. These predators altered the time and place ungulate prey is available for bears in some cases.
Any or all of these factors may have contributed to changing the places where bears forage for resources at different times of the year.
“There’s probably a mismatch in when bears are using their food resources that are in bear management areas now versus in the 1980s,” Loggers said.
This mismatch has implications for the way the National Park Service organizes the bear management areas, since there is a greater chance for human-bear conflict in areas used more densely by bears.
She hopes that park managers will be able to use the results of this study to inform restriction planning in the future that would benefit bears while still providing people with as many opportunities for recreation in the park as possible.
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Decades ago, a trove of Cold War spy satellite images was declassified, offering unique glimpses into the past in key sites around the world.
Scientists have tapped into these images from a wide range of disciplines, including archeologists and civil engineers. Their use in conservation and ecology have been limited, researchers say, but it may be time for that to change.
In a recent paper published in BioScience, researchers considered how these spy images could be used to study changes in ecosystems, species populations and land use since the 1960s. A 2020 study by the same scientists looked at how these images revealed unexpected declines in bobak marmots (Marmota bobak) in Eurasia.
But using the images will mean overcoming some challenges in accessing and sharing them, the researchers say.
“Our few prior studies have revealed that without considering the past, we may draw erroneous conclusions about the current state of the environment,” said lead author Catalina Munteanu, of the University of Freiburg in Germany.
The Asian giant softshell turtle is quickly disappearing from its known range, but scientists still have a lot to learn about their populations.
Researchers are working to educate communities in areas where the turtles are found in an effort to boost conservation for this critically endangered reptile.
“I truly believe that the Asian turtle crisis can be solved if we involve enough people,” said TWS member Ayushi Jain, a PhD student in ecosystems science and policy at the University of Miami.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature considers the Asian giant softshell turtle (Pelochelys cantorii) critically endangered due to a combination of hydrological changes, habitat loss, water pollution and harvesting of the species for food in many of the countries where it is found.
A top predator in many river ecosystems, the turtle usually ambushes its prey of mollusks, fish and crustaceans but also eats carrion and, occasionally, dead plant matter. “They are very essential for maintaining the river ecosystems,” Jain said of the turtle.
Credit: Akshay V Anand
Among the largest freshwater turtles in the world—Asian softshell turtles can reach up to 2 meters in length—not many species prey on them other than crocodiles and humans. The creatures are rather flat for a turtle—their form is reminiscent in some ways of a manta ray with arms. Their snouts protrude from their heads like a straw.
According to the IUCN, the range of these turtles mostly hugs coastal areas, from southeastern China down through most of Southeast Asia and even into parts of Bangladesh.
In India, researchers hadn’t confirmed their presence, but Jain had heard some anecdotes and a single scientific report about their presence in Kerala, a state in the southwestern end of the country.
“I had the species on my radar because I was interested in working on softshell turtles,” Jain said.
Filling knowledge gaps
As detailed in a presentation at The Wildlife Society’s 2023 Annual Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, and published recently in a study in Oryx, Jain, who is from Agra, a city in the northwest of the country famous for the Taj Mahal, traveled down to Kerala to learn more about the Asian giant softshell turtle population there.
With the help of a translator, she talked to people who lived close to or fished on the river system in Kerala. She built a network of locals with knowledge about the species, asking them how often they used to see these turtles compared to more recently.
She found that locals would sometimes find Asian giant softshell turtles in their nets as bycatch. In these cases, they’d sometimes eat the turtle or sell it for meat—the locals were largely unaware that the species was considered critically endangered, Jain said.
Credit: Ayushi Jain
Some would send Jain photos of the turtle, but it took seven months in the field before someone finally called her, saying they had caught a live one. “During that time, I lost hope that I would ever see a turtle,” she said.
Once she began seeing more live specimens, Jain quickly realized she was faced with a conundrum. Some of the people who captured these reptiles expected money from her in exchange for releasing the turtles back into the water. If the researchers complied, the locals might end up hunting more turtles so they could get more money to release them again.
Credit: Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI)
Jain organized educational sessions with locals to explain that they weren’t conducting these efforts for money but rather for conserving an important species for the success of the native freshwater ecosystem.
Many locals began to come around after about a year of these efforts. “People changed pretty fast,” Jain said. There were still some challenges—some locals get angry at the turtles, since they destroy nets when they are accidentally caught. They see the sale of their meat as a kind of compensation for the problems they cause, she said.
Credit: Nandan Vijayakumar
Hard work pays off
After about a year of work in Kerala, some locals directed Jain to a nest they had found. The eggs were only partially developed and not viable, but the discovery was still encouraging due to the rarity of the species. “That was a big win for us because we never thought we’d find a nest, even if it was destroyed,” Jain said. In that year, two of the three nests Jain and her colleagues found were destroyed due to flooding.
Credit: Ayushi Jain
While Jain is now in Florida pursuing her PhD, a team of researchers is in Kerala looking for nests and creating incubation areas to protect them when they are discovered. So far, the local community and the Kerala Forest Department have discovered eight nests with more than 300 eggs. They incubated these in captivity, which has so far resulted in 45 “happy and healthy” hatchlings.
The release of these hatchlings back into the ecosystem has become something of a “sacred ritual” in the community, Jain said. Meanwhile, the turtles are also growing fast. “They are now all set to become heavyweight champions,” she said.
Continuing to educate the local community and keep them involved is important, she said. In 2021, one of the trail cameras that the team set up captured footage of a poacher removing an adult female from the water in one location.
“The key here was to keep going [to visit local stakeholders], even if just to say, ‘Hi, how’s it going,’” she said. She believes that overall, these efforts are improving the conservation ofAsian giant softshell turtles in Kerala.
Credit: Akshay V Anand
Jain intends to return to Kerala during and after her PhD work, as there are still other challenges to protecting Asian giant softshell turtles there. Farmers often create small dams and reservoirs to preserve water to last through drier seasons, for example, while there are also larger dams in some areas. These hydrological changes have led to the disappearance of some of the sand banks where turtles bury their eggs. It’s impractical to ask farmers to remove these dams, though.
“This regulation of water is critical and very important for the local communities who depend on these local rivers and waters for their livelihood,” she said.
But Jain hopes that the seasonal use of the dams may be shifted a little to favor the egg-laying season of the turtles. To improve the species’ outlook in Kerala, it’s important to continue to find “common ground” with local stakeholders, she said.
Credit: Ayushi Jain
This photo essay is part of an occasional series from The Wildlife Society featuring photos and video images of wildlife taken with camera traps and other equipment. Check out other entries in the series here. If you’re working on an interesting camera trap research project or one that has a series of good photos you’d like to share, email Josh at jlearn@wildlife.org.
On a single day in May, people around the world will be heading to the lake—hundreds of lakes around the world, actually—for a first-of-its-kind global citizen-science effort.
The LeDNA effort seeks to gather water samples from across the planet to search for bits of genetic material from the species that occupy those leaks. This environmental DNA—or eDNA—is increasingly helping biologists monitor species they may never see, but the genetic material they leave behind offers proof that they are there.
Researchers hope they can create a fuller picture of the Earth’s biodiversity.
“By involving citizens, we not only increase the geographical scope of our sampling but also foster a sense of public ownership and awareness regarding global biodiversity issues,” Cátia Lúcio Pereira, the project’s coordinator at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, told Nature.
The project has already received applications from more than 500 people across 101 countries to participate in collecting eDNA from their local lakes and shipping the samples to ETH Zurich. Organizers hope to have citizen scientists gather their samples on May 22—the International Day of Biological Diversity—but there is a two-week window for collections.
New recently introduced legislation backed by bipartisan support aims to improve recreational access on U.S. federal lands and waters.
Chair Bruce Westerman (R-AR) introduced the “Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences (EXPLORE) Act” (H.R. 6492) on Nov. 29, 2023, with support from representatives including Ranking Member Raúl Grijalva (Raza Unida Party-AZ). The legislation aims to expand public land access by streamlining permitting processes, enhancing outdoor recreation infrastructure, and fostering collaborative land management between agencies and communities.
“Recreation in our great natural spaces is invaluable to our physical and mental health and spiritual well-being. Like our members and me, millions venture into national forests, grasslands and public waterways for ethically harvested, organic protein through hunting and fishing,” said Jason Burckhalter, the co-CEO, National of the Wild Turkey Federation, in a press release. “The EXPLORE Act opens opportunities and provides infrastructure to support these and other recreational users and is vital to ensuring access to people of all walks of life who want to enjoy what nature has to offer.”
Various conservation organizations and federal agencies actively support the bill, recognizing its potential to promote sustainable, and easily accessible, outdoor recreation experiences.
The proposed EXPLORE Act seeks to modernize the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA), last updated in 2005, which governs recreational access on federal lands. One of the standout features of the proposed legislation is its push for digitalization and modernization. The EXPLORE Act aims to create a digital version of the “America the Beautiful” pass, making it easier for outdoor enthusiasts to obtain passes for federal land access and pay fees online.
The act also includes plans for assessing trail accessibility, increasing parking opportunities, installing broadband internet in national parks, offering free access to military personnel and veterans, and boosting visits and youth engagement. This initiative comes at a crucial time of growing demand for outdoor recreation experiences on federal lands and waters.
In addition, the EXPLORE Act aims to enhance outdoor recreation and infrastructure by conducting assessments of federal recreational resources, establishing an interagency council for outdoor recreation, and developing the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program, which would enable the Secretary to award grants for projects such as acquiring land for parks and outdoor recreation purposes, renovating existing facilities, and providing recreation opportunities in low-income communities.
Following its passage by the House Committee on Natural Resources, the EXPLORE Act has entered a phase of review and consideration. Most recently, on Jan. 24, 2024, it was referred to two subcommittees within the Committee on Agriculture: The Subcommittee on Forestry and the Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets and Rural Development.
Researchers are trying to figure out why fishers are declining in New Hampshire.
The University of New Hampshire is partnering with the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service and the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department to try to determine why this member of the weasel family is dying out in the state.
“Fishers are an important part of the forest ecosystem and tell us a lot about the dynamics of the carnivore community,” says Rem Moll, a UNH assistant professor in natural resources and environment. “They help control rodent populations and are also one of the few predators that can successfully hunt porcupines, and that might have benefits for forest health by minimizing bark and tree damage caused by porcupines.”
Researchers plan to use remote cameras and GPS collars to monitor their movements and mortality. After gathering the carcasses of dead fishers, researchers plan to look for toxins and signs of disease. Recent tests have found high levels of rodenticides in fishers throughout New England, and biologists believe that may be a leading cause of mortality in New Hampshire.
“We’ll be looking for data on that as well as any other specific diseases, using tests like blood work, to look for any trends in overall survival rates,” says David Needle, pathology section chief at the state Veterinary Diagnostics Laboratory and a clinical associate professor at the university.
Canada lynx populations rise and fall with the populations of snowshoe hares, their primary prey. Credit: Alice Kenney
For 50 years, biologists in Yukon have been measuring the ups and downs of snowshoe hare and Canada lynx populations the old-fashioned way. Trudging into the boreal forests of the Shakwak Trench each winter, they set traps to capture, tag and recapture the hares and estimate population densities based on what they find. For lynx, they head out by snowmobile and count the tracks they come across.
“I’ve been studying these things most of my life,” said Stan Boutin, emeritus professor at the University of Alberta, who started researching the relationship between these two intertwined species as a graduate student in 1977 and is still at it in his retirement.
The old method worked well for half a century. But in a new study led by Alice Kenney, of the Outpost Research Center, researchers asked if remote cameras—increasingly used in wildlife biology—might offer scientists an easier way to make estimates. If triggering a camera can tell them an animal is present, could the number of triggers tell them how dense the population is?
Like Canada lynx, showshoe hare populations in the Yukon go through roughly 10-year cycles. Credit: Alice Kenney
“It’s dead obvious—intuitively obvious,” said Boutin, a co-author on the study published in the Journal of Wildlife Management. But that didn’t mean it would work.
With 50 years of experience in the forests around Lhù’ààn Mânʼ—or Kluane Lake—Kenney and the team felt it would be the perfect place to see if camera traps could take the place of biologists on the ground. “We have detailed knowledge of that whole ecosystem,” Boutin said. “It was an excellent opportunity to compare camera traps to more tried-and-true methods.”
The team set up 72 remote cameras throughout the forest and gathered images over seven years to see if camera hit rates could allow them to accurately estimate population densities.
Remote cameras were able to be used to estimate population density for a variety of mammals, including coyotes (Canis latrans). Credit: Alice Kenney
Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) and snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) go through roughly 10-year population cycles. When hare numbers rise, lynx numbers go up, too. When hares peak and fall, lynx numbers tumble after them. Biologists could see that pattern from Hudson Bay fur trade records going back into the 19th century. But before the 1970s, they didn’t know why it was happening.
“We figured out what’s mainly driving the cycle,” Boutin said. “It’s a pretty straightforward predator-prey relationship. But there are always sideline questions.”
This time, the sideline question was if camera traps could take the place of live traps. When the researchers compared their calculations based on camera hits to their estimates based on traditional methods, they found the cameras worked well—and they were cheaper, less time consuming and less invasive.
Red squirrels spent too much time off camera for remote cameras to help in estimating their populations. Credit: Alice Kenney
“It turns out it’s a very simple relationship,” Boutin said.
The method also worked to estimate coyote densities (Canis latrans). Red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), on the other hand, spent too much time in trees to appear on camera.
It could probably provide estimates for species around the world, Boutin said. That’s particularly important now as researchers try to track how climate change is affecting populations. Those efforts need long-term data, but 50-year studies like the Yukon project are rare.
Other species, including wolverines (Gulo gulo) and gray wolves (Canis lupus), pictured above, also appeared in researchers’ remote camera images. Credit: Alice Kenney
“Not many studies have done that,” Boutin said. “Once cameras come into play and are tested further, there’s no reason we won’t have this sort of long-term data becoming more commonplace.”
This photo essay is part of an occasional series from The Wildlife Society featuring photos and video images of wildlife taken with camera traps and other equipment. Check out other entries in the series here. If you’re working on an interesting camera trap research project or one that has a series of good photos you’d like to share, email Josh at jlearn@wildlife.org.
A recent multi-agency study points to the role that strategic cattle grazing can play in restoring the declining greater sage-grouse population.
The study found that the intensity and timing of grazing has a significant impact on the availability of certain insects and plants that serve as vital food sources for the species. Sagebrush is the predominant plant species in much of the Great Basin. However, a U.S. Geological Survey report indicates that nearly half of the region’s rangelands have been lost due to widespread habitat destruction, primarily from wildland fire. Greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) rely on these ecosystems for food and nesting.
The study, published most recently in the Journal of Environmental Management, used time-lapse imagery to assess the impact of grazing on seven meadows in central Nevada. Researchers found increased grazing in the spring and summer, when sage-grouse depend on flowering plants to feed their young, had a significant impact on vegetation. However, grazing did not reduce insect abundance and could benefit some insects.
“Our results show that strategic grazing has the potential to have a positive impact on the biodiversity of meadow habitat, which not only benefits other species, but more so the sage-grouse, which is high up in the sagebrush food chain,” said William Richardson, the study’s lead researcher and a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Nevada.
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California is home to three subspecies of elk. In a study in the April issue of the Journal of Wildlife Management, researchers conducted genetic testing on 1,271 elk to better understand their ranges and genetic diversity and establish a baseline to inform future management efforts.
Other articles look at bear deterrence with scare devices, harbor porpoise distribution in Washington state’s Hood Canal, human disturbances on giant pandas and more. Log in to read the April issue today.
A team of scientists traveling with a film crew in the Amazon made a striking discovery for the documentary. The researchers were searching for what was rumored to be the largest anacondas in the world. After examining several individuals, they determined the newly named northern green anaconda (Eunectes akayima), had never been described before.
“This discovery is the highlight of my career,” said Bryan Fry, a professor at the University of Queensland, in Australia and an author on the study describing the anaconda as a distinct species in MDPI Diversity.
Researchers say one female anaconda measured 6.3 meters.
The species was found while filming with National Geographic for an upcoming Disney+ series, Pole to Pole with Will Smith. The team’s Waorani collaborators in the Amazon were co-authors on the paper.
