570 items found
Type: Article
Subjects: Dynamics
Evolution
Genome
Mitome
Northwestern
Shiras
Taxonomy
Yellowstone
Evolution
Genome
Mitome
Northwestern
Shiras
Taxonomy
Yellowstone
Type:Article
Subject:Dynamics
Evolution
Genome
Mitome
Northwestern
Shiras
Taxonomy
Yellowstone
Evolution
Genome
Mitome
Northwestern
Shiras
Taxonomy
Yellowstone
Description:Subspecies designations within temperate species’ ranges often reflect populations that were isolated by past continental glaciation, and glacial vicariance is believed to be a primary mechanism behind the diversification of several subspecies of North American cervids. We used genetics and the fossil record to study the phylogeography of three moose subspecies (Alces alces andersoni, A. a. gigas, and A. a. shirasi) in western North America. We sequenced the complete mitochondrial genome (16,341 base pairs; n = 60 moose) and genotyped 13 nuclear microsatellites (n = 253) to evaluate genetic variation among moose samples. We also reviewed the fossil record for detections of all North American cervids to comparatively assess the evidence for the existence of a southern refugial population of moose corresponding to A. a. shirasi during the last glacial maximum of the Pleistocene. Analysis of mtDNA molecular variance did not support distinct clades of moose corresponding to currently recognized subspecies, and mitogenomic haplotype phylogenies did not consistently distinguish individuals according to subspecies groupings. Analysis of population structure using microsatellite loci showed support for two to five clusters of moose, including the consistent distinction of a southern group of moose within the range of A. a. shirasi. We hypothesize that these microsatellite results reflect recent, not deep, divergence and may be confounded by a significant effect of geographic distance on gene flow across the region. Review of the fossil record showed no evidence of moose south of the Wisconsin ice age glaciers ≥ 15,000 years ago. We encourage the integration of our results with complementary analyses of phenotype data, such as morphometrics, originally used to delineate moose subspecies, for further evaluation of subspecies designations for North American moose. [show more]
Type: Text
Subjects: Northern bobwhites
Northeast Colorado
Tamarack State Wildlife Area
Wildlife management
Northeast Colorado
Tamarack State Wildlife Area
Wildlife management
Type:Text
Subject:Northern bobwhites
Northeast Colorado
Tamarack State Wildlife Area
Wildlife management
Northeast Colorado
Tamarack State Wildlife Area
Wildlife management
Description:Widespread suppression of historic disturbance regimes have reduced heterogeneity in vegetation communities on which many wildlife rely for various life events and stages. Northern bobwhites require areas of thicker grass cover for nesting within close proximity to more open areas with bare ground and abundant food producing forbs for brood rearing and feeding. Altered or eliminated vegetation disturbance has been implicated in the rangewide decline of northern bobwhite populations. Lack of disturbance on state wildlife areas in Northeast Colorado has caused the vegetation to become uniformly dense and tall which is likely not meeting the needs of all parts of the northern bobwhite life cycle. Some type of disturbance is required to reduce the vegetation biomass and create some of the open structure on which bobwhites rely. Grazing represents one of the only options for disturbance at Tamarack State Wildlife Area and other similar riparian areas in northeast Colorado. Whereas unmanaged continuous grazing has been linked to degradation of bobwhite habitat quality, short-duration intensive grazing holds promise to reduce the vegetation biomass and rejuvenate the habitat to become more attractive to bobwhites. [show more]
Type: Text
Subjects: Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
Northeastern Colorado
Birds
Wildlife management
Northeastern Colorado
Birds
Wildlife management
Type:Text
Subject:Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
Northeastern Colorado
Birds
Wildlife management
Northeastern Colorado
Birds
Wildlife management
Description:The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is a government program in which landowners are paid to maintain grass cover on land that was, and would otherwise be, used for row-crop agriculture. Overall, the CRP has had many documented benefits to wildlife, specifically grassland birds, many of which are experiencing range-wide declines due to habitat loss and degradation. However, as CRP fields age with no disturbance, litter increases, bare ground decreases, vegetation density increases, and plant species and structural diversity decrease, which can reduce the value of CRP fields to certain bird species. Therefore, beginning in 2004, some type of “mid-contract management” was required on CRP fields. In northeastern Colorado this management typically consists of haying, disking, or disking and interseeding with forbs. Although there is some evidence that disking and interseeding can provide benefits to ring-necked pheasants in other regions, we lack a thorough understanding of how these various management practices affect pheasants and grassland dependent songbirds in northeastern Colorado. In an effort to provide guidance to managers and landowners regarding grassland management on CRP fields in northeastern Colorado, we will monitor the response of pheasants and songbirds to the three most common CRP mid-contract management practices (haying, disking, disking & interseeding). [show more]
Type: Text
Subjects: Pinyon jays
<em>Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus</em>
Breeding status
Habitat
Southwest Colorado
<em>Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus</em>
Breeding status
Habitat
Southwest Colorado
Type:Text
Subject:Pinyon jays
<em>Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus</em>
Breeding status
Habitat
Southwest Colorado
<em>Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus</em>
Breeding status
Habitat
Southwest Colorado
Description:Pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus) are thought to be declining range-wide (Boone et al. 2018). Very little is known about their breeding status and habitat use in Colorado. In 2020, Colorado Parks and Wildlife examined six breeding colonies in Montrose and Delta counties to assess colony size and structure, hatching and fledging success, potential threats to reproductive output, and colony site fidelity. Six additional colonies located in western Colorado in 2019 were surveyed a single time during the breeding season to determine site fidelity. [show more]
Type: Fact Sheet
Subjects: Gunnison’s prairie dog
<em>Cynomys gunnisoni</em>
Plague
Fact sheet
<em>Cynomys gunnisoni</em>
Plague
Fact sheet
Type:Fact Sheet
Subject:Gunnison’s prairie dog
<em>Cynomys gunnisoni</em>
Plague
Fact sheet
<em>Cynomys gunnisoni</em>
Plague
Fact sheet
Description:Plague, caused by a non-native bacteria and carried by fleas can kill all prairie dogs in a colony, leading to local extinctions that threaten the overall survival of the Gunnison’s prairie dog (Cynomys gunnisoni) in Colorado. Unmanaged plague has the potential to reduce populations of the Gunnison’s prairie dog to the point that a listing as federally endangered or threatened becomes more likely. Such a listing would not only underscore the need for additional conservation, it could also limit land uses for agriculture and recreation. [show more]
Type:
Subjects: Plains fish identification training
Subject:Plains fish identification training
Description:Abstract: Species misidentifications during field surveys of aquatic organisms results in mis-estimated distributions, biased occupancy analyses, and possibly, inappropriate conservation actions. Morphologically similar organisms, including some native fishes of Great Plains streams, demand rigorous attention during identifications. However, fish identification for technicians is sometimes conducted informally by staff whose training may have occurred years prior, or who may not have been properly trained themselves, which can result in perpetuation of incorrect characteristics being used and species misidentifications. In addition, a common practice is training workers only to identify species they are likely to encounter, which results in confusion if a nearby species invades, but is misidentified as a more common native taxa in the study area. We used a timed-testing approach implemented before and after a 2-day identification short course to quantify potential Great Plains fish misidentification rates and to demonstrate the utility of formal training to reduce these errors. Post-workshop results showed participants with 0 and up to 8 years of plains stream fish experience improved species identification scores. As expected, improvement was greatest in participants who had the least amount of experience; post-workshop scores increased up to ten-fold compared to pre-workshop. Consistent improvement of even experienced participants demonstrates the value of ongoing training. An unexpected result was reduced use of the answer “don’t know” in the post-workshop exam. This behavior occurred even with appropriate cautions against guessing if participant identification was uncertain, knowing false-positive identifications are particularly problematic in analyses. Repeated supervisor checks on identification proficiency during the field season may reduce overconfidence. A formalized training program will improve identification proficiency during field surveys of plains stream fishes, which should aid conservation decision-making. [show more]
Description:
Led By
Study Area
Plains streams of eastern Colorado in the South Platte and Arkansas River basins
Project Status
Ongoing (this site selection tool will be used on an annual basis to guide sampling efforts)
Research Objectives
To guide biologists to the most efficient sampling locations to reduce uncertainty given logistical and financial constraints.
Collaborators
Dr. Kristin Broms and Dr. Mevin Hooten, Colorado Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Colorado State University
Project Description
Due to logistical, financial, and time constraints on staff, it is important that field activities are conducted as efficiently as possible and result in data that are statistically rigorous and defensible. This is especially essential when there are several species of interest. This project provides a site selection tool for eastern plains native fishes that is adaptable to changing management priorities, and can be accomplished within the logistical parameters set by CPW staff. The site selection process consists of five steps (Figure 1):
- The data. The data provide structure for the model, the desired inference, and the design criterion. Defining the data includes setting the boundaries, scale, and resolution of the area of inference, checking and cleaning the data that have been collected, and obtaining potential covariates.
- The model. The model structure and output make the inference associated with the monitoring efforts explicit and concrete.
- The design criterion. The design criterion is a formal connection between monitoring and the model, and is the quantity of interest about which improved inference is desired. It is a single statistic that summarizes the uncertainty associated with the study and is used to compare the efficiencies of sampling at various sets of locations in the future.
- Selecting sites for future sampling. This step involves finding the set of sites that minimizes the design criterion, which in this case is uncertainty regarding native species’ distributions.
- Collect more data and repeat. After future sites are selected and sampled, the model is re-fit with the new data and modified as necessary. Because the design criterion is based on the parameter estimates or posterior distributions, the next set of optimal sites will change with the newly fitted model. It is this responsiveness to new data that makes the procedure ideal for optimal long-term monitoring.
This protocol results in a sampling design that is statistically rigorous and biologist friendly. Biologists tell the model how many sites they are able to sample, and the model optimizes on those constraints. This protocol is optimal in that it optimizes on one metric—uncertainty.
Uncertainty across the species and weights selected according to management priorities. The protocol is adaptive in that it incorporates new data learning—as management objectives change, this protocol can change with them. This procedure has been used by biologists for the previous three field seasons, and is scheduled to be an ongoing, annual site selection tool.
Associated Publications
Broms, K. M., M. B. Hooten, and R. M. Fitzpatrick. 2015. Accounting for imperfect detection in Hill numbers for biodiversity studies. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 6:99–108.
Broms, K. M., M. B. Hooten, and R. M. Fitzpatrick. 2016. Model selection and assessment for multi-species occupancy models. Ecology 97:1759–1770.Broms, K. M. and R. M. Fitzpatrick. 2016. A procedure manual for optimal adaptive sampling design for multiple species of plains fishes in eastern Colorado. Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Fort Collins, Colorado.
[show more]
Description:
The eastern plains streams of Colorado are home to the highest fish species diversity in the state, which historically consisted of 36 native species. Unfortunately, six species have been extirpated, and 12 more are currently listed as special status by the State of Colorado. These species are part of our state’s natural history, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife is tasked with conserving them.
Plains Fish Research Projects:
[show more]Type: Text
Subjects: Habitat restoration
Biological monitoring
Upper Colorado River
Windy Gap Reservoir
Biological monitoring
Upper Colorado River
Windy Gap Reservoir
Type:Text
Subject:Habitat restoration
Biological monitoring
Upper Colorado River
Windy Gap Reservoir
Biological monitoring
Upper Colorado River
Windy Gap Reservoir
Description:The upper Colorado River is an iconic drainage in Colorado that has been severely impacted by impoundments and reduced flows. Trans-basin and local water use divert approximately 67% of the flow of the upper Colorado River and future projects will deplete flows further. There are ongoing discussions on how to implement mitigation measures to reduce the impact of increased trans-basin water diversions. One component is to reduce effects of the diversions by taking Windy Gap Reservoir off channel and constructing a bypass around the reservoir. This would reconnect the river and ameliorate various impacts of a large, on channel impoundment but would not reduce the impacts of water withdrawals from the system. The planned bypass channel offers a unique opportunity to evaluate the effects reconnecting the river through the reservoir as well as investigate mitigation measures to offset the impacts of large water diversions on the ecology of the river. The objectives of these projects are to evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation measures in restoring and improving the ecological function of the upper Colorado River. [show more]