MECHANISMS OF WILDLIFE COMMUNITY ASSEMBLY IN SOUTHERN FOREST ECOSYSTEMS

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: MCINTIRE-STENNIS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1015995
• Project Start Date: Apr 23, 2018
• Project End Date: Apr 22, 2023
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
STEPHEN F. AUSTIN STATE UNIVERSITY
BOX 6109
NACOGDOCHES,TX 75962

Performing Department
College of Forestry & Agriculture

Non Technical Summary
Non-technical summaryForest management practices alter landscapes which can affect how wildlife use resources which subsequently can affect ecosystem function. The persistence of species and the resources they utilize dependent on increasing our understanding of their needs and the impacts of forest change on them. Because they are located at the western extent of the region, the Western Gulf Coastal Plain, and Texas in particular, are likely to be most affected by many future changes to forest communities. As such, research examining forest and wildlife community organization and function will be informative for decision-making throughout the southern region.To understand the interactions between forest management practices and wildlife, it is important to understand what factors are most important affecting the distribution and persistence of wildlife communities, as well as what impact wildlife have on the integrity of forest ecosystems. Understanding these factors allows forest managers to enhance existing stands to make them more suitable for wildlife species of concern or to restore forest communities to states that are most beneficial to target species or overall diversity. If implemented properly, these results could increase wildlife diversity and abundance in the region while preserving other economic and societal benefits of forests.

Animal Health Component

100%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

100%

Developmental

0%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
123	0510	1070	100%

Knowledge Area
123 - Management and Sustainability of Forest Resources;

Subject Of Investigation
0510 - Wilderness;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology;

Keywords

amphibians

community ecology

diversity

fish

functional traits

reptile

pine

wildlife

Goals / Objectives
The primary objective for this project will be to quantify the structure and functional of wildlife communities in forests of the West Gulf Coastal Plain and estimate association of their presence/absence with various potential stressors (e.g., climate change, changing timber markets, invasive species). Specific objectives include:Research Objectives:Determine the factors influencing diversity, abundance, and community organization of wildlife species (particularly reptiles, amphibians, and fishes) using in forest ecosystems in eastern Texas.Quantitatively assess impacts of forest management practices on wildlife, including selective harvests, prescribed fire, and invasive plant controls.Education Objectives:Provide opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students to learn about and experience field, laboratory, and analytical techniques used in modern wildlife research in order to prepare them as future contributing members of the research profession making decisions to influence the future of the conservation community.Outreach Objectives:Based on sound science, provide input and guidance to the conservation community regarding priority lands for conservation at both local and regional scales.Disseminate knowledge gained through presentations, peer-reviewed journal publications, and stakeholder meetings.

Project Methods
The Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture is ideally positioned to address the research objectives described above. We are located the in heart of the Pineywoods ecoregion of East Texas, surrounded by corporate forest land and four national forests (Angelina, Davey Crockett, Sabine, and Sam Houston). The College possesses required expertise in wildlife ecology, with three full-time faculty members, and such diverse areas of forestry as fire ecology, pine and hardwood silviculture, bottomland ecophysiology, geographic information systems, and forest hydrology. The principal investigator (Dr. Christopher Schalk) has established collaborative relationships with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the USDA Forest Service. All of these can be leveraged to locate study sites and provide in-kind support (e.g., lodging or vehicle use) for research projects. More specific methods for the objectives include:Objective 1: I will use standardized methods to conduct surveys for target wildlife species in appropriate habitats across the region. Methods used will include electroshocking for fishes, acoustic surveys for anurans (Saenz et al. 2006), dipnetting for larval amphibians (Werner et al. 2007), and trapping (e.g., box traps, pitfall traps) for reptiles and amphibians (Willson and Gibbons 2010). Study areas will include a mix of federal, state, and private ownership to accurately reflect forest management in East Texas. Objective 2: Pending the availability of additional funds or in-kind contributions, I plan to conduct assessment of functional roles of wildlife in forest stands. Ideally, this will consist of replicated experiments quantifying functional roles, for example, in the context of their trophic roles using stable isotope analysis. In addition to basic parameters like species diversity and habitat use, I propose to evaluate more informative parameters reproductive success and tracking energy flow through the use of stable isotope mixing models. Objective 3: Under my supervision graduate research assistants and undergraduate or B.S. level research technicians/interns to perform the majority of fieldwork related to these projects. If sufficient funding can be obtained to support these students then this will increase the rate of student success.Objectives 4 & 5: The results of ongoing work will be communicated to various stakeholders through national conferences (e.g., Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, The Wildlife Society), regional organizations (e.g., Big Thicket and West Gulf Coastal Plain Science Conference), and state meetings (e.g., the Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society annual meeting). Findings from these studies will be submitted to and published in peer-reviewed journals, presented at professional meetings and disseminated at various outreach or educational events.

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

Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences reached includepersonnel from the U.S. Forest Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, U.S. FIsh and Wildlife Service, and the T.L.L. Temple Foundation via collaborations on research projects. Also through dissemination of our research via publications and presentations, we have reached out to professional wildlife ecologists,herpetologists, and natural resource managers. Also, through serval YouTube videos that were produced during this time period, we have targeted the general public to inform them on our research efforts. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One M.S. student working on snake communities across different forest types made significant progress on data analyses, disseminating results via scientific presentations, and interacting with personell from the U.S. Forest Service and the T.L.L. Temple Foundation. Three new M.S. students also started working on their research projects this year were trained in study deisgn, data collection, scientific writing as well as started making progress on data analysis. These students have also interacted with personell from the U.S. Forest Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, andthe T.L.L. Temple Foundation. A PhD student started this fall and has been making progress on being trianed in experimental design and statistical analyses as well as scientific writing. In addition, five undergraduate students were trained in experimental design, data collection, analysis, scientific presentations, and scientific writing. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?These results have been disseminated via peer-reviewed publication, poster presentations, oral presentations, and YouTube videos to the broader scientific community as well as the general public. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?I plan to continue to pursue additional external grants to support these project objectives. In addition, more peer-reviewed publications will continue to be produced over the next year as well dissemination of research results via poster and oral presentations at conferences. Also, I will continue to train graduate and undergradaute students in all facets of experimental deisgn, data analyses, and dissemination of research products.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We have completed two full field season examining food-web stracture between forests subjected frequent vs. infrequent management. We have analyzed the stable isotope samples and have found that increased freuqnecy of forest management increases the redundancy of predators in these ecosystems which in turn has implications for increased resilience of these ecolgoical communities in the face of disturbances. We are wrapping up the manuscripts as part of my M.S. student's thesis. I was successful in obtaining external funding from theState Wildlife Grant program to support these research objectives focused on the ecology and conservation of vertebrates across different land uses in East Texas.. Specifically, new projects include evaluating the distribution of Alligator Snapping Turtles across East Texas, understanding the factors that affect occupancy and detection of Bachman's Sparrow across different forest types, and changes in fish community structure across different land-use gradients in East Texas. This past summer was the first field season for the project and data are currently being analyzed. Through a series of systemetic surveys, we have begun to address the role of land-use practices including forest management on the persistence and abundance of vertebrates. Knowledge was disseminated via publication of peer-reviewed journal articles as well as presentations at scientic conferences.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Jobe, K.L., C.G. Monta�a, C.M Schalk. 2019. Emergent patterns between salamander prey and their predators. Food Webs. e00128.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Schiwitz, N.C., C.M. Schalk, D. Saenz. 2020. The activity level-predation risk tradeoff in a tadpole guild: Implications for community organization along the hydroperiod gradient. American Midland Naturalist. 183:223-232.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Ward, K.J, K.L. Jobe, N.C. Schiwitz, D. Saenz, C.M. Schalk. 2020. Risk of snake entanglement is affected by installation method of erosion control blankets. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management. 11:273-278. doi: 10.3996/102019-JFWM-087.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Ward, K.J, K.L. Jobe, N.C. Schiwitz, D. Saenz, C.M. Schalk. 2020. On the diversity of erosion control products and its implications for wildlife entanglement. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 75:82A-87A.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Saenz, D., K.A. Baum, L.A. Fitzgerald, C.M. Schalk. 2020. Refining the activity level-predation risk paradigm in larval anuran communities. Aquatic Sciences. 83:4. doi: 10.1007/s00027-020-00752-w
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: McInnerney, C., C.E. Comer, B.P Oswald, R. Masse, C.M. Schalk. In press. Avian responses to post oak savannah restoration in eastern Texas. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management.

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

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience were local forestry students (both undergraduate and graduate), local land manangers, the T.L.L. Temple Foundation, and research scientists of the U.S. Forest Service and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The M.S. student made significant progress on data analyses, disseminating results via scientific presentations, and interacting with personell from the U.S. Forest Service and the T.L.L. Temple Foundation. In addition, seven undergraduate students were trained in experimental design, data collection,analysis, scientific presentations, and scientific writing. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?These results have been dissemanted via poster presentations, oral presentations, and YouTube videosto the broader scientific community as well as the general public. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?I plan to continue to pursue additional external grants to support these project objectives. In addition, more peer-reviewed publications will continue to be produced over the next year as well dissemination of research results via poster and oral presentations at conferences.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We have completed one full field season examining food-web stracture between forests subjected frequent vs. infrequent management. We have analyzed the stable isotope samples and are exploring the food-web data. We are finding differences in the energy pathway flows across these two forest types. This project also provided opportunities to train undergradaute and graduate students. Results from this project were dissemated to U.S. Forest Service research scientists, land managers of Boggy Slough Conservation Areaat the T.L.L. Temple Foundation

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Ebert, S.E., K.L. Jobe, C.M. Schalk, D. Saenz, C.K. Adams, C.E. Comer. 2019. Correlatesof snake entanglement in erosion control blankets. Wildlife Society Bulletin. 43:231-237.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Kulhavy, D., C.M. Schalk, R. Viegut, D. Unger, S. Shockley, and I. Hung. 2019. Using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to quantify mistletoe in urban environments. Urban Naturalist. 20:1-10.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Schiwitz, N.C., C.M. Schalk, D. Saenz. In review. The activity level-predation risk tradeoff ina tadpole guild: Implications for community organization along the hydroperiod gradient. American Midland Naturalist.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Ward, K.J., K.L. Jobe, N.C. Schiwitz, D. Saenz, C.M Schalk. In review. Risk of snake entanglement is affected by installation method of erosion control blankets. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Ward, K.J., K.L. Jobe, N.C. Schiwitz, D. Saenz, C.M Schalk. In review. On the diversity of erosion control products and its implications for wildlife entanglement. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation.

Progress 04/23/18 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience were local students, local land manangers, the T.L.L. Temple foundation, and research scientistsof the U.S. Forest Service and Texas Parks and Wildlife. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The graduate student was well trained in experimental design, data collection, and analysis. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?A research grant development proposal was submitted with the goal of developing a proposal to submit to the National Science Foundation to help accomplish the goals of the project.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The project supported a project looking at the impacts of erosion control materials commonly used in forest ecosystems on snake species. Results from this project have implications for how land management practices impact wildlife in forest ecosystems. The project also supported a graduate student training in field and laboratory techniques assosciated with herpetofaunal surveys and community ecology in forest ecosystems.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ebert, S.E., K.L. Jobe, C.M. Schalk, D. Saenz, C.K. Adams, C.E.Comer. In review. Correlates of snake entanglement in erosion control blankets. Wildlife Society Bulletin.