UNDERSTANDING HABITAT USE AND SPATIAL ECOLOGY OF FISH AND WILDLIFE POPULATIONS IN FORESTED LANDSCAPES

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: MCINTIRE-STENNIS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1015915
• Project Start Date: Apr 10, 2018
• Project End Date: Mar 31, 2023
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI
(N/A)
COLUMBIA,MO 65211

Performing Department
School Of Natural Resources

Non Technical Summary
Both regionally and globally, fish and wildlife population are impacted directly by loss of, and changes to, habitat resulting from human activities such as urbanization and agriculture. Additionally, impacts of global climate change, such as changes in precipitation, temperature, and seasonal timing can alter habitat and potentially result in large-scale shifts in the geographic distributions and population dynamics of some species. To sustain fish and wildlife populations in the face of such uncertainty requires an understanding of what habitat elements are important to a species during different life history stages. This will allow habitat management decisions to be made in order to best provide fish and wildlife species with the proper resources they require to continue to thrive on a changing planet.The proposed study is designed to answer questions regarding how fish and wildlife in forested ecosystems and closely associated rangelands and waterways use habitat. Specifically, the project targets identifying how animals use habitat during different life-history stages (reproduction, migration, etc), identify what aspects of habitat are most important at different life-history stages, and assess the impacts of habitat management and disturbance on fish and wildlife populations and communities. This information will allow researchers to develop models to make predictions on the potential effects of future habitat management and climate change scenarios on populations and communities. This in turn will help guide future management and conservation efforts in a scientifically sound manner.The project will incorporate data collection at the individual and population level. At the individual level, fish and wildlife will be tracked using radio telemetry to study movement and habitat use patterns. This information can be tied directly to measures of fitness that have consequence at the population level, such as survival and reproductive success. Inferences from tracking individuals can be scaled up to model predictions in habitat use and distribution at landscape scales. Population level data will come from camera surveys, mark-recapture studies, and long-term data recorded by fish and wildlife agencies, such as harvest rates and population estimates. Such data provides information on population trends and changes over time, as well as information on general distributions of fish and wildlife species that can be used to test hypotheses generated by studies of individual animals.

Animal Health Component

60%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

30%

Applied

60%

Developmental

10%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
135	0830	1070	80%
136	0830	1070	20%

Knowledge Area
135 - Aquatic and Terrestrial Wildlife; 136 - Conservation of Biological Diversity;

Subject Of Investigation
0830 - Wild animals;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology;

Keywords

animal movement ecology

fish

forest management

habitat

population ecology

telemetry

wildlife

Goals / Objectives
1. Elucidate the drivers of animal movement and space use during important life-history stages to assess habitat selection and identify important habitat features.2. Identify relationships linking animal movement and habitat use with measures of fitness.3. Quantify the population and individual-level response of wildlife to habitat management actions and disturbance.

Project Methods
Objective 1: Knowledge of habitat selection and space use (i.e. home range shape and size) is vital to implementing sound habitat conservation and management strategies. The resource needs of a species are temporally dynamic, changing during different life stages and during the annual cycle as different life-history functions (i.e. young rearing, migration, etc.) take precedence. Thus, from a habitat management perspective, it is important to design studies targeted at identifying habitat requirements associated with specific life-history needs. The previously mentioned advances in animal tracking technology and statistical methodologies facilitate such targeted studies, from which a multitude of fish and wildlife species within MO forests and closely associated rangelands and waterways would benefit.GPS telemetry is a powerful tool to acquire fine-scale movement data (i.e. animal locations collected at sub-hour time intervals) on terrestrial vertebrates large enough to carry tracking devices. Numerous bird and mammal species of importance in MO forested landscapes are suitable for GPS tracking, including game species such as wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and waterfowl; furbearers and mesocarnivores such as bobcat (Lynx rufus) and coyote (Canis latrans); and larger mammals such as black bear (Ursus americanus) and invasive wild pig (Sus scrofa). My research will focus on using GPS telemetry and state-of-the-art statistical methods to understand how terrestrial vertebrates use forested landscapes and associated rangelandss to provide guidance to management of these ecosystems both in MO and beyond.The development of statistical approaches to analyze animal movement data is an area of active research, however two emerging methods are particularly well suited to high resolution GPS telemetry; step-selection functions and hidden Markov models. Step-selection functions (SSF) are a form of resource selection function (RSF) that directly incorporate animal movement in the selection process (Thurfjell et al. 2014). Selection in RSFs is based on comparing used and available resources, and SSFs are advantageous in that they allow the movement path to define resource availability. In a SSF, each pair of successive GPS locations is considered a "step." Each step at time t is paired with a set of randomly generated steps representing alternative paths the animal could have taken during the time interval between relocations. Environmental covariates, for example habitat type or distance to the nearest road are recorded at both random (available) and used steps. The goal of the model, formatted as a conditional logistic regression, is to determine how environmental covariates influence the selection of movement steps.Hidden Markov models (HMM) are a form of time-series analysis that attempt to classify location data into several discrete behavioral states (i.e. transiting or foraging), where each state is associated with a characteristic distribution of step lengths and turning angles (Langrock et al. 2012). The sequence of behaviors is assumed to be generated by a Markov chain, where the probability of the animal being in behavior x at time t is dependent on behavior at time t - 1, and animals have a tendency to remain in one state for some time before transitioning to a new state. The probability of transitioning between states can be modeled as a function of environmental covariates, allowing inferences to be made regarding what environmental features are associated with different behaviors.GPS telemetry is not appropriate for all species. Smaller terrestrial vertebrates (such as many reptiles) and fishes must be tracked manually via very high frequency (VHF) radio telemetry, or acoustic telemetry in the case of fish. These technologies have been used by ecologists for decades and still provide important information regarding space use, habitat selection, dispersal, and survival, albeit at a lower temporal resolution that GPS. I will make use of VHF and acoustic technology when it is situationally appropriate to do so; specifically when studying reptiles and fish, such as lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) and invasive Asian carp. Objective 2: Objective 2 naturally flows from the results of objective 1. Tracking provides not only data on an individual's movements, but also data on important parameters related to fitness, such as survival and reproductive success. I will combine these data streams to understand the fitness consequences of habitat use and movement patterns. For example, within a forest landscape, it is possible to identify what habitat characteristics and behaviors are associated with predation events of GPS-tracked individuals. This will allow us to identify and model when, and where, on a landscape a species is most vulnerable to mortality. These models can guide habitat management decisions to reduce predation risk and improve survival, as well as be incorporated into spatially explicit population dynamics models. Similar modeling approaches can be used with other factors important to fitness, such as reproductive success, road crossing mortality, and juvenile dispersal.The use of additional bio-logging technology, such as accelerometers and heart-rate monitors, allows researchers to construct activity budgets and calculate field metabolic rates, which functions as a proxy of energy expenditure (Tomlinson et al. 2014). All biological functions require an animal to expend energy, and the environment can place limits on the energy available, or require animals to use more or less energy in a given situation. This can have import ramifications for an animal's ability to grow, reproduce, avoid predators and fight disease, all of which ultimately affect fitness. Where feasible, I will combine metabolic rate information from accelerometers and heart-rate monitors with spatial data gained through tracking to make inferences on times, locations, habitats and conditions in which animals are physiologically stressed, or energetically limited. Objective 3: An important component of adaptive management is the ability to quantify the results of management actions. This provides managers with vital information on whether management actions produce desired effects, or need to be reassessed. When logistically possible, studies will be designed to track the responses of individuals and populations before, during and following implementation of a management action, such as a prescribed fire or canopy thinning. When this is not logistically feasible, studies will be designed that compare multiple study sites simultaneously, such as along a gradient of urbanization or forest succession. To quantify individual-level response to management actions, the same procedures used to achieve objectives 1 and 2 will be used. At the population scale, methodologies such as distance sampling, occupancy modeling, and mark-recapture, and community sampling will be used. These methods will be applied to study populations and communities of large bodied organisms, as well as organisms too small to be feasibly tracked via telemetry for long periods of time; such as herpetofauna, small mammals, and stream fishes.

Progress 10/01/19 to 09/30/20

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience of my efforts is primarily scientists and resource management agencies. Changes/Problems:Several projects were negatively affected by complications arising from the global Covid-19 pandemic. Specifically: 1. I was unable to collect data on the prairie kingsnake study during 2020. This project is designed to be conducted primarily by undergraduates, and I was not able to recruit any students during the important spring portion of the field season. Work is resuming in 2021. 2. The study of mako shark post-release mortality was delayed a year. We rely on cooperating fishers to assist with deployment of tags in this study. Because of restrictions and restaurant closures, commercial fisherman severely cut-back on fishing during 2020 because of a poor seafood economy. 3. The project focusing on tiger spatial ecology and conservation was delayed as well. This is an international project in cooperation with the Wildlife Institute of India. Logistical and bureaucratic issues stemming from the pandemic slowed down work, which is resuming in 2021. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has provided several opportunities for training and professional development. The M.S student working on the grass carp project in Turman Reservoir student successfully defended his thesis, and was subsequently hired as a full time biologist by the USGS. Three graduate students hired in Fall 2019 (2 MS, 1 PhD) began work on their respective projects during the reporting period. This includes one M.S. student working on the wild turkey project in South Carolina, an M.S. student working on a project assessing post release mortality of shortfin mako sharks in the Atlantic pelagic longline fishery, and the Ph.D. student working identify occupancy and potential movement corridors of tigers in northern India. I have hired 3 additional graduate students during the reporting period. One M.S. student started in Spring 2020 to work on the study of gray fox and spotted skunk distribution in the Missouri Ozarks. An M.S. student was hired in Fall 2020 to work on the project assessing the use of drones and thermal imagery to survey wild turkey populations in Texas. A Ph.D. student was hired in Fall 2020 to work on the study of wild turkey reproductive ecology in northern Missouri. Opportunities for undergraduate involvement were relatively limited during this reporting period because of difficulties imposed by the COVID 19 pandemic. Still, I served as a faculty mentor for 2 undergraduate research projects. One student worked with the Missouri Department of Conservation to study the diets of young catfish in the Missouri River. The second student worked during Fall 2020 to assess the probability of detecting various mammal and reptile species using cover boards in a tallgrass prairie. Both students are scheduled to give presentations of their research during Spring 2021. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information about my research was disseminated to the scientific community through the publication of peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts and presentations at scientific meetings, including the International Symposium on Electronic Imaging 2020, in Burlingame, CA. Information about the wild turkey reproductive ecology study in Missouri was disseminated to the general public via various articles and online blogs, many of which cater specifically to hunters that target wild turkey. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The final year of data on a project assessing prairie kingsnake movements and habitat use will occur during the next reporting period. This project was delayed one year, because undergraduate researchers required to perform the field work could not be hired during the crucial early spring season because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The second year of field work for the study of wild turkey reproductive ecology at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, will commence in December 2020, a limited access nuclear research area operated by the Department of Energy. This will represent the 2nd year of field work for the M.S. student on the project, and will complete data collection on male movement ecology. Field work for a project investigating post-release mortality of shortfin mako sharks in the US Atlantic pelagic longline fishery will begin in January 2021. The project will require the attachment of satellite tags on mako sharks captured and released by pelagic longline fishermen targeting swordfish and tuna. The tags will provide data on the survival movements of mako sharks up to 28 days post-release and allow us to assess the effectiveness of new live-release regulation on reducing mako shark fishing mortality. Field work for this project was delayed a year because of complications related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Initial GIS-based work on a project investigating tiger spatial ecology and conservation will be completed during the next reporting period. This project is also delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, which continues to be a serious issue in India. Field work for the project surveying the distribution and occupancy of grey foxes and spotted skunks in the Missouri Ozark region in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Conservation will be completed during the next reporting period. At this time the analysis phase will begin. The first of two field seasons of a project to be conducted in cooperation with Texas Parks and Wildlife assessing the use of UAV's for surveying wild turkey populations will take place during the next reporting period. The first year of field work for the study of wild turkey reproductive ecology will occur during the next reporting period. During this time a second Ph.D. student will be recruited as well. Two new projects will begin in the next reporting period: 1. The first is a 5-year study investigating the effects of bison grazing on tallgrass prairie restoration. The study will take place at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in Illinois, and is in cooperation with the US Forest Service, and collaborators in the Biological Sciences department at the University of Missouri. Our goal is to use experimental restoration trials to assess if having bison present from the initial restoration stages has significant impact on restoration progress, which will be quantified based on use of treatment areas by grassland birds, and vegetation measures. The project will also involve studying the movements of bison across the study area to quantify time spent in different restoration treatments. Field work for this project will begin Spring, 2021 and a Ph.D student will be recruited for the position. 2. I am working with USGS and other regional collaborators (Ohio Department of Natural Resources, University of Toledo) on efforts to reduce the population of Grass Carp in the Sandusky River in Ohio - a major tributary of Lake Erie. I will be advising a graduate student (M.S.) who will begin field work in summer 2021. In addition to new and continuing field projects, I will continue to analyze and write scientific manuscripts on existing data that is available to me.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? I published several scientific publications during the reporting period representing work that aligns with the project goals. These publications represent work in which data collection primarily occurred prior to my current position at the University of Missouri, although final preparations, analyses, and submission of publications overlapped with the reporting period as well as work initiated during my time at the university. These included papers on using field data collected from wolves in Chernobyl to test assumptions of standard models of spatial contamination risk assessment, a paper comparing habitat selection and roost site fidelity of black vultures and turkey vultures based on GPS tracking data in the southeast United States, and a conference paper on the results of applying machine learning to detect wild turkeys from thermal imagery collected by drones. Two additional papers were accepted for publication during the report period. They include a study of whale shark movements in the northern Gulf of Mexico based on satellite telemetry, and a study of wild turkey nest site fidelity based on several years of GPs tracking data collected in various states in the southeast United States. The Grass Carp project started in 2018 in cooperation with USGS finished during the reporting period. The aim of the study was to elucidate what habitats invasive grass carp use in large lake systems in winter, and whether they gather in easily exploitable aggregations, as well as to compare spawning season behavior between reproductively viable diploid individuals and sterile triploid individuals. The graduate student doing the work successfully defended his thesis, and one publication focusing on winter habitat selection and exploitation potential was submitted to the North American Journal of Fisheries Management (it is currently in revision). A second manuscript focusing on migratory movements is currently being prepared for submission. In December, 2020, field work for a study of wild turkey reproductive ecology was initiated. The research is taking place on the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, a limited access nuclear research area operated by the Department of Energy. There is no public access to SRS and thus it represents a unique opportunity to study the reproductive ecology of wild turkeys that do not experience hunting pressure. This will provide important information on aspects of reproductive ecology, such as gobbling chronology, nest site selection, nesting chronology, reproductive success, and brood-rearing habitat selection that will serve as a case study of wild turkey behavior in the absence of hunting-related disturbance. This will serve as a reference which can be used as a baseline to assess the effects of hunting pressure on the behavior and success on wild turkey populations. This project will be conducted in partnership with the US Forest Service, the University of Georgia, and Louisiana State University. During the reporting period, and graduate student from the University of Missouri focusing on male reproductive ecology initiated the first year of the project by capturing male wild turkeys, fitting them with GPS tracking devices, and collecting blood samples for genetic analyses. A project to survey the distribution and occupancy of grey foxes and spotted skunks in the Missouri Ozark region in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Conservation began in Spring 2020. The project will gather data required ahead of a review of both species for potential ESA listing by the USFWS scheduled for 2022. A graduate student was hired and field work began in May - June 2020, and stared again in September 2020 with field work scheduled to continue until May 2021. Field work entails the deployment of camera traps and vegetation surveys at numerous sites throughout the Missouri Ozarks. A 4-year project to study the drivers of wild turkey reproductive success in northern Missouri was initiated during the reporting period. This project is in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Conservation, and will primarily take place in Putnam County. A portion of the study that required captive trials of transmitter attachment was started in September 2020, with field work slated to commence in January 2021.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Hinton, T.G., M.E. Byrne, S.C. Webster, C.N. Love, D. Broggio, F. Trompier, D. Shamovich, S. Horloogin, S.L. Lance, J. Brown, M. Dowdall and J. Beasley. 2019. GPS-coupled contaminant monitors on free-ranging Chernobyl wolves challenge a fundamental assumption in exposure assessments. Environment International 133:105152
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Holland, A.E., M.E. Byrne, J. Hepinstall-Cymerman, A.L. Bryan, T.L. DeVault, O.E. Rhodes, Jr. and J.C. Beasley. 2019. Evidence of niche differentiation for two sympatric vulture species in the Southeastern United States. Movement Ecology 7: 31
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Kassim, Y., M.E. Byrne, C. Burch, K. Mote, J. Hardin, and K. Palaniappan. 2020. Small object bird detection in infrared drone videos using mask R-CNN deep learning. Electronic Imaging, Imaging and Multimedia Analytics in a Web and Mobile World 2020: 85-1 - 85-8. DOI: 10.2352/ISSN.2470-1173.2020.8.IMAWM-085
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Byrne, M.E., B.S. Cohen, B.A. Collier, and M.J. Chamberlain. Nest site fidelity and nesting success of female wild turkeys. Proceedings of the National Wild Turkey Symposium
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Hoffmayer, E.R., J.A. McKinney, J.S. Franks, J.M. Hendon, W.B. Driggers III, B.J. Falterman, B. Galuardi, and M.E. Byrne. 2021. Seasonal occurrence, horizontal movements, and habitat use patterns of whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) in the Gulf of Mexico. Frontiers in Marine Science 7:598515.

Progress 10/01/18 to 09/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience reached by my work is primarily scientists and wildlife and fisheries professions employed by state and federal agencies Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has provided several opportunities for training and professional development. The kingsnake study involved 4 undergraduate student volunteers from the Fisheries and Wildlife program at the University of Missouri to help in drift fence deployment, animal capture and radio telemetry. Additionally, a part-time undergraduate research technician was hired to perform radio tracking during Summer 2019. Four undergraduate student volunteers from the Fisheries and Wildlife program at the University of Missouri participated in data collection of spring amphibians use of breeding ponds at the Baskett Research Forest in spring 2019. The grass carp project is being carried out by a graduate student pursuing a master's degree. He was consequently involved in all aspects of the fieldwork, data analysis, and presentation of results occurring during the reporting period. In addition to training a graduate student, the project employed a research technician to assist the student in data collection. This technician received valuable experience and instruction regarding acoustic tracking of aquatic species, as well as basic boat use skills. In Fall 2019 I hired 3 new graduate students (2 MS, 1 PhD) for projects slated to begin In January 2020. The students were in the process of completing their first semester of course work and writing their thesis/dissertation proposals during Fall 2019. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information about my research was disseminated to the scientific community through the publication of peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts and presentations at scientific meetings, including the Southeast Wild Turkey Technical Committee meetings, the Joint Meeting of the Wildlife Society and American Fisheries Society, and the Missouri Natural Resource Conference. Information about the prairie kingsnake study was disseminated to various school groups and other visitors to Prairie Fork Conservation Area (the location of the study). This information was disseminated by outreach staff located at the conservation area, as well as by the undergraduate working on the study. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Field work and data collection on the kingsnake project was extended to continue through 2021. Undergraduate volunteers will be recruited and one undergraduate will be employed part time to collect data during the summer. Amphibian monitoring at Baskett will continue. The final analyses and report writing for the grass carp project will be completed during the next reporting period. The student will graduate in Spring or Summer 2020, and two resulting scientific publications will be submitted before the end of the period. Information about the project will be included in USGS outreach activities and integrated into management strategies. Field work will begin in December of 2020 for a study of wild turkey reproductive ecology. The research will take place on the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, a limited access nuclear research area operated by the Department of Energy. There is no public access to SRS and thus it represents a unique opportunity to study the reproductive ecology of wild turkeys that do not experience hunting pressure. This will provide important information on aspects of reproductive ecology, such as gobbling chronology, nest site selection, nesting chronology, reproductive success, and brood-rearing habitat selection that will serve as a case study of wild turkey behavior in the absence of hunting-related disturbance. This will serve as a reference which can be used as a baseline to assess the effects of hunting pressure on the behavior and success on wild turkey populations. This project will be conducted in partnership with the US Forest Service, the University of Georgia, and Louisiana State University. Field work for a project investigating post-release mortality of shortfin mako sharks in the US Atlantic pelagic longline fishery will begin in December 2020. The project will require the attachment of satellite tags on mako sharks captured and released by pelagic longline fishermen targeting swordfish and tuna. The tags will provide data on the survival movements of mako sharks up to 28 days post-release and allow us to assess the effectiveness of new live-release regulation on reducing mako shark fishing mortality. The project will be conducted in partnership with cooperating fishers, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and Arizona State University. As part of the US Tigers United University Consortium, I have taken on an Indian PhD student to begin a project of tiger spatial ecology and conservation. During the next reporting period I intend to have the specific project details defined, and for the student to begin work on the project. Initial work is likely to be GIS-based and to begin in the US before the student eventual returns to India to collect field data. A project to survey the distribution and occupancy of grey foxes and spotted skunks in the Missouri Ozark region in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Conservation will being Spring 2020. This will include the initiation of field work and hiring of a graduate student. This project will entail the deployment of camera traps and vegetation surveys at numerous sites throughout the Missouri Ozarks during 2020 and 2021. The project will gather data required ahead of a review of both species for potential ESA listing by the USFWS scheduled for 2022. In addition to new and continuing field projects, I will continue to analyze and write scientific manuscripts on existing data that is available to me. Among other things, this includes but is not limited to: movement ecology of wolves in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, papers on reproductive and movement ecology of wild turkeys throughout the southeast United States.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? I published several scientific publications during the reporting period representing work that aligns with the project goals. These publications represent work that in which data collection primarily occurred prior to my current position at the University of Missouri, although final preparations, analyses, and submission of publications overlapped with the reporting period. These included papers on habitat selection of mottled ducks in relation to impoundment types in Atlantic coastal environments, two papers on the movement ecology and habitat use of shortfin mako sharks, a paper on the movement and foraging ecology of black and turkey vultures in the southeast coastal plain, the results of a large international collaboration published in Nature on the spatial distribution of pelagic sharks relative to commercial fishing activities, and a paper using field data collected from wolves in Chernobyl to test assumptions of standard models of spatial risk assessment. During the reporting period a second year of data was collected for a project to studying the influence of prescribed burning practices on the movements and habitat selection of prairie kingsnakes on a tallgrass prairie restoration area that began in 2018. The project has been extended to continue for at least two more years. The final field season of data collection was completed on the Grass Carp project started in 2018 in cooperation with USGS. The aim of the study is to elucidate what habitats invasive grass carp use in large lake systems in winter, and whether they gather in easily exploitable aggregations, as well as to compare spawning season behavior between reproductively viable diploid individuals and sterile triploid individuals. Results of the winter habitat selection and carp exploitability were presented at the joint Meeting of the Wildlife Society and American Fisheries Society in September 2019. I conducted a pilot study, in association with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and colleagues at the School of Engineering at the University of Missouri to assess the potential applicability of UAV-mounted thermal imagery to survey wild turkey populations. The results of the pilot were promising, resulting in a call for a larger project to begin in 2020-21. Results of the pilot study were presented at the Southeast Wild Turkey Technical Committee meeting in June of 2019. In winter of 2019 I installed a series of drift fences and pitfall traps around a pond located at the Baskett Research Forest owned by the University of Missouri with intend to start a long-term monitoring project of pond-breeding amphibians. The goal is to collect data on the timing and species composition of amphibians using the ponds for reproduction. Data collection is designed to be carried out primarily by undergraduate students, and several undergraduate students from the University of Missouri aided in data collection during spring 2019.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Francis, M., M. Shivji, C. Duffy, P. Rogers, M.Byrne, B. Wetherbee, S. Tindale, W. Lyon, and M. Meyers. 2019. Oceanic nomad or coastal resident? Behavioural switching in the shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus). Marine Biology 166:5
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Byrne, M.E., A.E. Holland, K.L. Turner, A.L. Bryan, and J.C. Beasley. 2019. Using multiple data sources to investigate mechanisms of co-existence in sympatric obligate avian scavengers. Ecosphere 10:e02548.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Queiroz, N, et al. (153 authors). 2019. Global spatial risk assessment of sharks under the footprint of fisheries. Nature 572:461-466
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Byrne, M.E., J.J. Vaudo, G.C. Harvey, M. Johnston, B.M. Wetherbee, and M. Shivji. 2019. Behavioral response of a mobile marine predator to environmental variables differs across ecoregions. Ecography 42: 1569-1578
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Hinton, T.G., M.E. Byrne, S.C. Webster, C.N. Love, D. Broggio, F. Trompier, D. Shamovich, S. Horloogin, S.L. Lance, J. Brown, M. Dowdall and J. Beasley. 2019. GPS-coupled contaminant monitors on free-ranging Chernobyl wolves challenge a fundamental assumption in exposure assessments. Environment International 133:105152
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Pollander, K., A.R. Little, J.W. Hinton, M.E. Byrne, G.D. Balkcom, and M.J. Chamberlain. 2019. Seasonal habitat selection and movements by mottled ducks. Journal of Wildlife Management 83:478-486.

Progress 04/10/18 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:The primary audience was the scientific community (ecologists and wildlife biologists), which was reached through scientific publications and a conference presentation. Information about my research also reached various portions of the general public through several media interviews which occured during the reporting period. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has provided several opportunities for training and professional development. Specifically, the kingsnake study employed an undergraduate student in the Fisheries and Wildlife program at the University of Missouri. This student was involved in all aspects of the studies field work in 2018, including: installing drift fences on the landscape, making, deploying and checking funnel traps, and VHF radio tracking of study animals. The student gained many hours of experience in radio tracking during the summer and fall of 2018. The grass carp project is being carried out by a graduate student pursuing a master's degree. He is consequently involved in all aspects of the fieldwork, data analysis, and presentation of results (anticipated graduation: May 2020). In addition to training a graduate student, the project afforded experience to one undergraduate student at the University of Missouri, and one recent graduate who volunteered and served as field technicians to assist the graduate student. These students received valuable experience and instruction regarding acoustic tracking of aquatic species, as well as basic boat use skills. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information about my research was disseminated to the scientific community during the reporting period through scientific publications and conference presentations. Information about my research was disseminated to the general public in several ways during the reporting period: Information about the prairie kingsnake study was disseminated to various school groups and other visitors to Prairie Fork Conservation Area (the location of the study). This information was disseminated by outreach staff located at the conservation area, as well as by the undergraduate working on the study. The graduate student working in the grass carp project interacted with several bow-fishing clubs that target grass carp during tournaments on Truman Reservoir. General information about my research program was disseminated to the general public through an article published online by the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri. I talked about my general research in an interview that aired on the U.S. Farm Report television program, a weekly program targeting the agricultural community. A scientific paper I published regarding the dispersal of a wolf from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone made international headlines and was covered on most major news outlets. I was personally interviewed by National Geographic, Live Science, and Mashable.com for articles published online. I was also interviewed on several radio programs, including BBC radio morning news, Canadian Public Broadcasting's "Quirks and Quarks" science show, "Mooney Goes Wild" on RTE radio in Ireland, and WGN Radio in Chicago. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Field work and data collection on the kingsnake project will continue during the 2019 period. Undergraduate volunteers will be recruited and one undergraduate will be employed part time to collect data during the summer. The final year of field work and data collection on the grass carp project will continue in 2019- with data collection regarding winter habitat selection and aggregation behavior occurring from January -March 2019, and data collection on spawning movements and behavior during April - July 2019. As soon as field work has ended we will begin the data analysis phase of the project. The goal is to have scientific publications ready to submit by early 2020. We will be submitting an abstract to present a talk summarizing the research at the 2019 meeting of the American Fisheries Society (AFS) in September, 2019. Information about the project will be included in USGS outreach activities. In 2019 I intend to start a long-term monitoring project of pond-breeding amphibians on the Baskett Research Forest owned by the University of Missouri. The project will set-up drift fence and pitfall arrays around several small ponds on the study area to collect data on the timing and species composition of amphibians using the ponds for reproduction. The project is designed to accommodate considerable involvement of undergraduate students who will assist in setting up pitfall arrays and collecting data. I will be working with the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife in winter 2019 on a pilot study to assess the potential efficacy of using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and thermal imaging technology to survey wild turkey populations. The project will involve GPS-tagging wild turkeys in a number of sites in Texas, and tracking them to their evening roost sites. Thermal imaging-equipped drones will be flown over known roost sites and video footage analyzed to ascertain if wild turkeys roosting in trees can be detected. In Fall of 2019 I intend to hire a graduate student (masters level) to begin a project focusing on the reproductive ecology of an un-hunted population of wild turkeys. Field work will begin in December of 2019. The research will take place on the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, a limited access nuclear research area operated by the Department of Energy. There is no public access to SRS and thus it represents a unique opportunity to study the reproductive ecology of wild turkeys that do not experience hunting pressure. This will provide important information on aspects of reproductive ecology, such as gobbling chronology, nest site selection, nesting chronology, reproductive success, and brood-rearing habitat selection that will serve as a case study of wild turkey behavior in the absence of hunting-related disturbance. This will serve as a reference which can be used as a baseline to assess the effects of hunting pressure on the behavior and success on wild turkey populations. This project will be conducted in partnership with the US Forest Service, the University of Georgia, and Louisiana State University. In addition to new and continuing field projects, I will continue to analyze and write scientific manuscripts on existing data that is available to me. Among other things, this includes habitat selection and movement ecology of wolves in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, long term movement analyzes of GPS-tagged black vultures and turkey vultures that have been providing data for > 5 years, and papers on reproductive and movement ecology of wild turkeys throughout the southeast United States.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? I published several scientific publications during the reporting period representing work that aligns with the project goals. These publications represent work that primarily occurred prior to my current position at the University of Missouri, although in several cases final preparations/analysis/submission of publications overlapped with the reporting period. These included papers on the survival and cause specific mortality of wild turkeys in bottomland hardwood forests; habitat selection of mottled ducks in relation to impoundment types in Atlantic coastal environments, and a note on the observation of a long-distance dispersal event of a GPS-collared wolf from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. In May of 2018 I initiated a project to study the influence of prescribed burning practices on the movements and habitat selection of prairie kingsnakes on a tallgrass prairie restoration area. The project involves radio tracking individual snakes, and is being conducted in partnership with the St. Louis Zoo who is performing surgeries to implant radio transmitters in snakes captured on the study area. Field work and data collection will continue for at least one more year. During the reporting period the first year of data collection on a project examining the movements and habitat selection of invasive grass carp in a large reservoir,in cooperation with the US Geological Survey (USGS), was completed. The aim of the study is to elucidate what habitats grass carp use in large lake systems in winter, and whether they gather in easily exploitable aggregations, as well as to compare spawning season behavior between reproductively viable diploid individuals and sterile triploid individuals. Preliminary results indicate that carp select shallow habitats very near shore even during the coldest winter periods, with little evidence of aggregation behavior observed thus far. While reproductively active diploid individuals all made significant upstream spawning migrations into large tributaries, the sterile triploid individuals did not show evidence of spawning migration. The second season of data collection is currently underway.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Byrne, M.E., Webster, S.C., S.L. Lance, C.L. Love, T. Hinton, D. Shamovich, and J.C. Beasley. 2018. Evidence of long-distance dispersal of a gray wolf from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. European Journal of Wildlife Research 64: 39
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Byrne, M.E., and M.J. Chamberlain. 2018. Survival and cause-specific mortality of adult female wild turkeys in a bottomland hardwood forest. Southeastern Naturalist 17:345-356.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Pollander, K., A.R. Little, J.W. Hinton, M.E. Byrne, G.D. Balkcom, and M.J. Chamberlain. 2018. Seasonal movements and habitat selection of mottled ducks in Georgia and South Carolina. Journal of Wildlife Management- DOI: 0.1002/jwmg.21605
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Byrne, M.E., S.C. Webster, S.L. Lance, C.N. Love, T.G. Hinton, D. Shamovich, P. Schlichting, V. Dombrovsky, and J.C. Beasley. 2018. Spatial Ecology of gray wolves in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Poster presentation at the 25th annual Wildlife Society Conference, Cleveland, OH.