Taza Schaming Meg and Bert Raynes Wildlife Fund Progress

Taza Schaming
Progress Report
Meg and Bert Raynes Wildlife Fund
January 18, 2015 The impact of whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) mortality on Clark's Nutcracker
(Nucifraga columbiana) demography and habitat selection
2014 Field Research: Multiscale landscape patterns of habitat selection and resource
tracking by the Clark’s nutcracker, an avian seed disperser
Overview of the project, worded for a lay audience
Whitebark pine and Clark’s nutcrackers have a fascinating relationship: the trees provide
rich, fatty seeds, and the birds “plant” the trees’ seeds —a single bird may bury up to 98,000
seeds in a year. The food caches help the birds get through the winter, and the leftovers grow into
new trees. This dependency has led to considerable concern for both species because whitebark
pine ecosystems are rapidly disappearing in the western United States, and anecdotal evidence
suggests that declining whitebark pine communities are leading to reduced local Clark’s
nutcracker populations. For the past six years, I have been radio tracking and surveying
nutcrackers to study movement, habitat selection, and foraging behavior. In 2014, to expand my
research from a local landscape to a larger geographic landscape scale, I fit satellite transmitters
to eight Clark’s nutcrackers to document their long distance movements, for the first time
studying habitat selection and movement at the ecologically relevant geographic spatial scale
over which this conservation-critical Clark’s nutcracker-whitebark pine mutualism takes place.
My ultimate goal is to determine which management actions will increase the persistence of
nutcrackers, and their important seed dispersal function, in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Overview
Since 2009, I have been working at the frontier of climate change and community
change, investigating the response of a keystone mutualism between whitebark pine and Clark's
nutcrackers, a specialized seed disperser, to a rapidly changing ecosystem. In 2014, I began to
gather one additional critical piece of information that will allow me to better answer the
fundamental question of how large-scale habitat fragmentation and degradation affects
mutualistic plant-animal disperser relationships. To expand my research from a local landscape
to a larger geographic landscape scale, I fit satellite transmitters to eight Clark’s nutcrackers to
document their long distance movements, for the first time studying habitat selection and
movement at the ecologically relevant geographic spatial scale over which this conservationcritical Clark’s nutcracker-whitebark pine mutualism takes place.
The goal of this portion of my project is to gather information on the mutualistic Clark's
nutcracker-whitebark pine relationship at a larger spatial scale, enabling me to compare patterns
of habitat selection and resource tracking between local landscape and larger geographic scales.
This portion of the project addresses the following questions: (1) Over what distances and at
what rate do Clark's nutcrackers track food and habitat resources? (2) Is Clark's nutcracker
movement in ecological landscapes a direct reflection of resource distributions? (3) Do Clark's
nutcrackers show fidelity to habitat types and specific locations across the larger geographic
landscape? (4) Is there a threshold level of habitat health on the larger geographic landscape at
which the Clark's nutcracker- whitebark pine mutualism begins to break down?
By adjusting forecast and habitat selection models to account for multi-scale movement
patterns, more accurate predictions of mutualism breakdown and extinction risk in the Clark’s
nutcracker-whitebark pine relationship is possible, and my conclusions will be more meaningful
and influential for science and management. I am determined to continue my research as a long1 Taza Schaming
Progress Report
Meg and Bert Raynes Wildlife Fund
January 18, 2015 term project as I move into a postdoctoral then a faculty position; therefore, this satellite data
will not only supplement my Ph.D. research and enhance the quality of my dissertation, but I am
using it as the platform for my subsequent postdoctoral project. My goal is to use this research as
a model system for testing key hypotheses regarding the impact of habitat disturbance and a
changing climate on high alpine and subalpine flora, fauna and ecosystems. The addition of
satellite tracking data to my previous five years of results will best enable me to generate results
and predictions more relevant and useful for management of whitebark pine and Clark’s
nutcrackers, as well as the complex, highly interdependent system they are a part of.
Progress
Between October 2 and December 9, 2014, I trapped fifteen Clark’s nutcrackers. Four of
the birds had been previously trapped and fit with radio transmitters, two in 2011 (one last seen
October 2011, and one last seen February 2012) and two in 2012 (both last seen in August 2012).
Approximately 10% of trapped nutcrackers (radioed tagged or only color-banded) are resighted
in subsequent years; therefore, it was excellent to recapture previously radio tagged birds to
know that they were alive and well after being fit with a radio then regularly observed for several
months. I will use data on all of the 2009-2014 trapped birds in a mark recapture analysis to
estimate survival and as one means of measuring local Clark’s nutcracker population size.
I fit eight of the nutcrackers trapped in 2014 with satellite transmitters. One of the
transmitters was originally fit to a bird in October, then because the transmitter wasn’t working
well, I recaught the bird in December, removed the transmitter, replaced the harness and fit it to
another individual. All seven transmitters are currently functioning well and are transmitting
regularly. The transmitters have invariant duty cycles (on/off intervals) of 6 hours on and 24
hours off, based on minimum time needed for accurate readings and funding limitations. I obtain
raw location data from the Argos system. The Argos system calculates the location of the
transmitter by using the measured Doppler shift in the radio frequency of transmissions from the
transmitters during satellite passes. The position is determined when multiple satellites receive
the signal. Working with staff at Microwave Telemetry, we estimated that the solar satellite
transmitters would remain functional for a minimum of two years.
To date, the eight satellite tagged birds have all remained in the same general locations as
where they were initially trapped. This is not a surprise as the whitebark pine cone crop was
depleted locally by the time I began trapping, and therefore the birds that were in the area, and
therefore available to be trapped, had already made the “decision” to stay in the area for the
winter, and had completed their caching. Of the 76 birds radio tagged between 2010 and 2012,
38% (n = 29) “disappeared” and were never observed again. I look forward to seeing where the
satellite tagged birds which “disappear” from the study area move to over the next several
months.
Currently, I am in the process of analyzing and writing up my 2009-2014 data for
publication. I have submitted my first chapter, "Population-wide failure to breed in the Clark's
nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana)", for publication. I am revising my second paper, “Interannual variability in the breeding season home range, habitat selection and foraging behavior of
Clark’s nutcrackers: Implications for conservation”, via special committee comments, and will
submit it for publication in late January. I am working with a statistician to complete analyses for
my third paper, “Occupancy patterns of Clark’s Nutcrackers in a region with large-scale
whitebark pine decline”, and plan to submit it for publication by March. I will then focus on
writing and submitting my fourth paper, “How adaptable are Clark’s Nutcrackers to
2 Taza Schaming
Progress Report
Meg and Bert Raynes Wildlife Fund
January 18, 2015 environmental change?” I currently plan to graduate August or December 2015. Finishing in
December would allow me to focus on writing up an additional three papers while I seek a
postdoctoral position.
I plan to continue this research as a long-term project as I move into a postdoctoral then a
faculty position. I will evaluate the initial satellite tracking data in late 2015, and with the
preliminary results in hand, will seek funding for additional satellite transmitters to be fit to
nutcrackers in early 2016.
2014 research presentations and outreach
Presentations
Clark's Nutcracker Demography and Habitat Selection in the Face of Habitat Decline.
Oral presentation at the Scientific Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Clark's Nutcracker Demography and Habitat Selection in the Face of Habitat Decline.
Oral presentation at the American Ornithologists’ Union/ Cooper Ornithological
Society/ Society of Canadian Ornithologists Conference.
Clark's Nutcracker Demography and Habitat Selection in the Face of Habitat Decline.
Oral presentation at the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation Annual Meeting.
Population-wide nonbreeding in the Clark’s Nutcrackers. Oral presentation at
Association of Field Ornithologists/Wilson Ornithological Society Conference.
Invited Talk. Clark’s Nutcrackers, pivotal players in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Oral presentation at Cornell Lab of Ornithology Monday Night Seminar.
Outreach
Radio interview on "A talk on the wild side", www.kaxe.org
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is planning a large outreach project based on my research for
summer/fall 2015. It will include a story in Living Bird, and multimedia featured on the
Lab’s website. A videographer and writer joined me in the field in October 2014 for this
project.
Jennifer Tennican is currently making a documentary film about Bert Raynes. In December,
Jennifer joined me in the field, at Bert’s house and in town for an interview, so I could
help contribute to the film.
Financial summary: Meg and Bert Raynes Fund
Total awarded 2014: $8,485.00
Expenses to date:
Two (2) Microwave Telemetry 5 g solar PTT transmitters $6,900.00
Argos tracking system, satellite usage costs
$812.61
Total remaining: $772.39, to be used for satellite usage costs, estimated to cover costs through
mid-March 2015
3 Taza Schaming
Progress Report
Meg and Bert Raynes Wildlife Fund
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