Progress 10/24/13 to 09/30/18
Outputs
Target Audience:This project provides information to wildlife managers in Connecticut and southern New England. Project Director participated in regular conference calls with several working groups for the New England Cottontail Conservation Strategy and attended the three day annual meeting for the New England Cottontail Technical Meeting every January for the duration of this project. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project provided training opportunities for three MS students. All three student pursued research that improved our understanding of wildlife response to successional changes in vegetation. All three students successfully wrote and defended their theses and all three are currently employed in state government within the wildlife divisions. Kelly O'Connor works at Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Cristina Macklem works at New York Department of Environmental Conservation Jenny Kilburn works at CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?As reported in previous annual reports, this project has resulted in two published peer reviewed journal articles and a third paper has been submitted for review in a peer reviewed journal.Resultswere presented via sixconference presentations and one conference poster (4 presentations and 1 poster at Connecticut Conference ofNatural Resources, 1 presentation at Northeast Associate of Fish and Wildlife Agencies,and 1 presentation at The Wildlife Society). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
New England Cottontail wasthe focal species for much of the research completed, becausemanagers had many information needsprior to US Fish and Wildlife making a determination about listing status in fall 2015. Completed research included a comparison of New England Cottontail and Eastern Cottontail microhabitat use and survival when the species co-occurred in the same habitat patches. Mammalian community composition was also quantified among patches with and without New England Cottontails. These resultsdescribe the predatorsassociated with high quality cottontail habitat. Tracy Rittenhouse received a New England Cottontail Conservation Award from the US Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service for contributions to New England Cottontail conservation strategy. In addition,salamander abundanceand occupancy was quantified as vegetation regrewin neighborhoods of varyinghousing densities and age of the housing developments.Our results quantified how forest regrowthamong housescan have a positive effect on some forest associated species that are initially negatively affected by disturbance and habitat loss that occurs during construction of house developments. Housing density in the surrounding landscape affects wildlife response within remaining patches of natural habitats.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Macklem, Helton, Tingley, Dickson, Rittenhouse In Review. Stream salamander persistence influenced by the interaction between exurban housing age and development. Urban Ecosytems.
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Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17
Outputs
Target Audience:This project provides information to wildlife managers in Connecticut and southern New England. I participated in conference calls with working groups for the New England Cottontail Conservation Strategey. Jenny Kilburn, MS student, presented a poster and D.Cristina Macklem, MS student, presented a talk at the Connecticut Conference of Natural Resources in March 2017. This conference is attended by natural resource prefessionals working for DEEP, NGOs, and environmental consulting firms. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?D. Cristain Macklem and Jenny Kilburn interacted with biologists at the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Following graduation Cristina worked for 6 months in Oregon, but then was hired into seasonal position with DEEP Wildlife in fall 2017. The networking opportunities during her graduate research likely contributed to her obtaining this job following graduation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We presented a poster and a talk at the CT Conference of Natural Resources. I also gave a presentation at COVERTS, a UConn extension program for privatre landowners interested in managing their property for wildlife species that use early successional habitats. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?I plan to re-submit manuscripts for publications. I am also in the begining phase of a bobcat project, a predator that uses early successional wildlife habitat.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
D. Cristina Macklem, MS student, successfully defended her MS thesis in May 2017. D. Cristina Macklem, MS student presented a talk at CT Conference of Natural Resources Jenny Kilburn, MS student presented a poster at CT Conference of Natural Resources The research presented at this conference described cottontail use of brushpiles and slashpiles within clear cuts, as well as, stream salamander response to forest age including changes in salamander abundance in response to forest succession.
Publications
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Macklem, D. Cristina 2017. Influence of multi-scale drivers on stream salamander occupancy, abundance, and reproduction in an exurban landscape. Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut. M.S. Thesis 112.
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Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience: Target audience included wildlife managers and research scientist. There is a regional NEC Technical Meeting every January to coordinate New England Cottontail management activities through the region. Project Director attended the meeting on January 27, 2016 at the Kettle Pond Visitor Center in Charlestown, RI and presented research results on New England Cottontail survival and microhabitat selection within patches of habitat co-occupied by both species of cottontails. MS student also presented these results at The Wildlife Society Conference in Raleigh North Carolina in October 2016. These conferences were attended by natural resources professionals working for state agencies, NGOs, and environmental consulting firms. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Kelly O'Connor & Jennifer Kilbur, MS students, conducted research in close collaboration with biologist at CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We presented talks at multiple venues include New England Cottontail management meeting and The Wildlife Society Annual Conference. Also, we gave a presentation at the COVERTS program, a UConn extension program for private landowners interested in managing their property for wildlife species that use early successional habitats. Finally- our research in early successional habitats was highlighted to the public in two different blog posts. http://naturally.uconn.edu/2016/07/19/wildlife-conservation-pilot-project-uses-trained-k-9-to-scout-cottontail-nests/ http://naturally.uconn.edu/2016/01/19/graduate-student-studies-new-england-native-rabbits-interaction-with-habitat/ What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We have two manuscripts currently in review that I anticipate will be published next year. I intend to initiate a project on bobcat, which is a dominate predator within early successional wildlife habitats.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Kelly O'Connor, MS student, successfully defended her MS thesis in November 2015. The thesis included two data chapters and both were submitted to peer-reviewed journals. One manuscript was published and the second manuscript is currently in review. A third manuscript was written following graduation and that manuscript is currently in review. Jennifer Kilburn, MS student, completed a targeted research project to quantify predator use on brushpiles constructed using NRCS guidelines. This wildlife camera project was completed in Spring 2016. A report summarizing the results was given managers at DEEP who work with private landowners.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
OConnor, K.M., and T.A.G. Rittenhouse. 2017. Daily activity levels of mammals within patches of early successional and mature forest habitat. American Midland Naturalist. 177(1): 15-28.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
The Wildlife Society 2016 Annual Conference. Paper by Kelly O'Connor. Fine-scale selection of winter cover habitat by sympatric New England and Eastern Cottontail
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Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:There was a three day regional NEC Technical Meeting to coordinate New England Cottontail management activities through the region. I attended two days (13-14 Jan 2015)of the three day meeting at Sessions Woods Wildlife Management Area in Burlington, CT. We presented results on mammalian activity levels in young forest, includinga talk at the 71st Annual Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies in Newport, RI in April 2015 and a poster at The Wildlife Society 22nd AnnualConference in Winnipeg, Canada in October 2015. These conferences were attended by natural resources professionals working for state agencies, NGOs and environmental consulting firms. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Kelly O'Connor, MS student, conducted researchin close collaboration with biologist at CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Project Director (PD) co-authored one talk and one poster this reporting period. In addition, PD gave a presentation at the COVERTS program, a UConn extension program for private landowners interested in managing their property for wildlife species that use early successional habitats. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The primary goal during the next reporting period is to ensure manuscripts are completed and submitted for publication. Kelly O'Connor should defend her MS thesis on New England Cottontails in late fall 2015. Anticipated pilot research will go in one of three potential directions:cottontail reproduction,bobcats as dominate predators within early successional wildlife habitats, orwildlife use of brushpiles.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
A masters student completed a second year of data collection on New England Cottontails and Eastern Cottontails. We expanded the sampling from one site to four sites in this second year, which required setting greater than 200traps daily from 1 Oct 2014 through 1 March 2015. We radio-collared18 cottontails after a total of 11,664 traps-nights worth of effort. We collected detail micro-habitat data at used locations. We also monitored 40 wildlife cameras monthly foran entire year Nov 2014 - Nov 2015. Thisdata will allow us to look atmammal activity patterns withinearly successional habitats.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Connecticut Conference on Natural Resources, Storrs, CT 2015
Paper by Kelly OConnor: Overwinter mortality in sympatric New England and Eastern Cottontail
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
71st Annual Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Conference, RI 2015
Paper by Kelly OConnor: Quantifying mammalian activity in mature hardwood and young forest patches in the northeast via remote camera-trap data
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Stupik, A. E., T. Sayers, M. Huang, T.A.G. Rittenhouse, and C.D. Rittenhouse. 2015. Survival and movements of post-fledging American kestrels hatched from nest boxes Northeast Naturalist. 22: 2031.
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Progress 10/24/13 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: I initiated contact with the New England Cottontail Technical Committee, includingAnthonyTur, Endangered Species Biologist with US Fish and Wildlife Service and Steve Fuller, Biologist with Wildlife Management Institute. This group developed the Conservation Strategy for the New England Cottontail, a regional plan for managing this rare species. Through conversations with this group of wildlife professionals, I will ensure that the research I conduct withinyoung forest and other early successional forests are applicable to wildlife management. At the CT Conference of Natural Resources in April 2014, I co-authored two presentations that included results from research conducted on wildlife within early successional forest habitats. This conference is attended by natural resources professionals working for state agencies, NGOs, and environmental consulting firms. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? I hired a master student, Kelly O'Connor. She has worked closely with biologists at CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, including spending many days in the field learning trapping techniquesfrom the person who is the most successional trapper of cottontails in New England. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? I co-authored two presentations at CT Conference of Natural Resources on wildlifespecies within early successional habitats.I also gave a presentation at the COVERTS program, a UConnextension program for private landowners interested in managing their property for wildlife species that use early successional habitats. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? The data collection on the New England Cottontail research project will continue. We are expanding camera trapping in early successionalhabitatsto quantify the mammal community within these habitats.I also anticipate finalizing study designfor research thatfocuses on wildlife use of brushpiles. I anticipate poster or presentations at the Northeast Fish & Wildlife conference.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
I hired a master student and initiated research on New England Cottontails and Eastern Cottontails. We completed the study design for the research project and initiated data collection. We trappedcottontails from Oct - Dec 2013, deploying radio-transmitters on 40 cottontails, and then monitored the transmitters for the entire reporting period. We also collected preliminary data on within-patch habitat selection of cottontails. This data is being used to refine data collection procedures for next year.
Publications
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