Most Wind Towers in Southern Great Plains Are Low Risk to Sandhill Cranes plus 2 more |
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- Most Wind Towers in Southern Great Plains Are Low Risk to Sandhill Cranes
- How Climate Change Might Affect Polar Bears' Bodies
- New Pump-house in Magnuson Park Provides Water for Scientific Research, Wetlands, Wildlife and Recreation
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Most Wind Towers in Southern Great Plains Are Low Risk to Sandhill Cranes Posted: 20 Apr 2016 10:47 AM PDT
Summary:
Sandhill Cranes fly in close proximity to wind turbines near Horicon National Wildlife Refuge in east-central Wisconsin, but to date no crane mortality has been associated with turbines in this area.
Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis)
The current placement of wind energy towers in the central and southern Great Plains may have relatively few negative effects on sandhill cranes wintering in the region, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study published today.
Contact Information: Marisa Lubeck ( Phone: 303-526-6694 );
The current placement of wind energy towers in the central and southern Great Plains may have relatively few negative effects on sandhill cranes wintering in the region, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study published today. Midcontinental sandhill cranes are important to sporting and tourism industries in the Great Plains, an area where wind energy development recently surged. Scientists with the USGS compared crane location data from the winters of 1998-2007 with current wind tower sites in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico prairies. Findings showed only a seven percent overlap between cranes and towers, and that most towers have been placed in areas not often used by cranes during the winter. “Great Plains wetlands are critical to preserving valuable sandhill crane populations,” said USGS scientist Aaron Pearse, the study’s lead author. “Our findings can help managers minimize risks of future wind energy development to cranes by highlighting potentially hazardous locations.” Using data from cranes tagged with satellite transmitters, the scientists estimated wintering crane distributions and habitat selection behaviors prior to and during wind tower construction, which began in 1999 but surged from 2004-2013. They then compared the early estimates with post-construction bird behaviors and current tower locations. “Although about 50 percent of cranes in our study used locations that had wind towers nearby – within 10 kilometers, or about 6.2 miles – there were few instances in which high densities of cranes and high densities of towers coincided,” Pearse said. The study further showed:
Eighty percent of the midcontinent sandhill crane population resides in the central and southern Great Plains for up to half of the year. Potential threats of wind towers to cranes include collisions and avoidance of areas near towers, which reduces available roosting and foraging habitat. For more information about USGS sandhill crane research, please visit the USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center website. |
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How Climate Change Might Affect Polar Bears' Bodies Posted: 20 Apr 2016 10:00 AM PDT
Summary: PORTLAND, Ore. — You really are what you eat. That’s the taking-off point for a new polar bear study, conducted by U.S. Geological Survey researchers with an assist from the Oregon Zoo — and published this week in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology.
Zoo polar bears help scientists understand effects of Arctic bears' shifting dietsContact Information: Paul Laustsen, USGS ( Phone: 650-329-4046 ); Hova Najarian, Oregon Zoo ( Phone: 503-220-5714 ); PORTLAND, Ore. — You really are what you eat. That’s the taking-off point for a new polar bear study, conducted by U.S. Geological Survey researchers with an assist from the Oregon Zoo — and published this week in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. As sea ice shifts in the Arctic, scientists have noted a corresponding shift in polar bears’ diets. In Western Hudson Bay, for example, sea-ice loss has been associated with declines in the consumption of benthic-feeding prey, such as bearded seals. In East Greenland, polar bears have increased consumption of hooded seals and decreased consumption of their more typical prey, ringed seals. The degree to which these types of changes are common throughout polar bear populations, and their implications on bear health, are not well understood. To determine whether bears are changing their diet in these remote Arctic regions, scientists are gathering baseline data from a couple of animals closer to home — Tasul and Conrad, two resident polar bears at the Oregon Zoo. “Science can sometimes be a slow process,” said Amy Cutting, who oversees the zoo’s North America and marine life areas. “And climate change is happening rapidly. Anything we can do to quickly gain information about how polar bears respond will help managers make critical decisions for protecting them in the wild.” Using a handy chemical tool called “stable isotopes” — which include the carbon and nitrogen atoms that exist in every living thing — researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey are revealing how polar bears, which currently boast the highest-fat diets of all the animal kingdom, process different types of meals. “This new tool is allowing us to use hair and blood samples to discover whether polar bear diets have changed since the ’80s, when we began keeping records,” said Dr. Karyn Rode, the USGS wildlife biologist who led the study. This is possible, Rode says, because when a polar bear eats a meal of seal, whale or walrus, it takes on that organism’s isotope load as well. These chemical markers can then be detected in the bears’ own tissue samples, such as their blood or hair, which grows at a predictable rate and reveals the bear’s past “dietary signature” — or what and where their meals were eaten, she says. But it’s not quite that simple. “It’s not just that a 50 percent salmon diet shows up as 50 percent salmon in the body,” Rode said. “Some gets routed toward body fat, some gets stored and some is transformed directly to energy. I need to understand how the bear body processes food before I can understand how different diets may affect them.” During data collection, the zoo bears participated in what zoo staff dubbed a “surf and turf” experiment — switching between marine and terrestrial foods. By comparing this new data to USGS archive samples from the Chukchi and Southern Beaufort Sea bear populations over the past 25 years, Rode and her team may reveal the effects of this new meal diversity on polar bears. “We’re hoping to study their diets over time to explain potential changes in resource use as a result of climate-related changes in this sensitive Arctic ecosystem,” said USGS research biologist Craig Stricker. This project, conducted by the USGS Polar Bear Team, is part of the USGS’s Changing Arctic Ecosystems research on the effects of climate change on polar bears. The zoo is a service of Metro and is dedicated to its mission of inspiring the community to create a better future for wildlife. Committed to conservation, the zoo is currently working to save endangered California condors, Oregon silverspot and Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies, western pond turtles and Oregon spotted frogs. Other projects focused on saving animals from extinction include studies on Asian elephants, polar bears, orangutans and cheetahs. Support from the Oregon Zoo Foundation enhances and expands the zoo’s efforts in conservation, education and animal welfare. Members, donors and corporate and foundation partners help the zoo make a difference across the region and around the world. The zoo opens at 9 a.m. daily and is located five minutes from downtown Portland, just off Highway 26. The zoo is also accessible by MAX light rail line. Visitors who travel to the zoo via MAX receive $1.50 off zoo admission. Call TriMet Customer Service, 503-238-RIDE (7433), or visit trimet.org for fare and route information. |
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Posted: 20 Apr 2016 09:00 AM PDT
Summary: SEATTLE –The U.S. Geological Survey announced the completion of its new Western Fisheries Research Center pump-house structure in the southeast part of Magnuson Park in Seattle. The pump-house provides water for scientific research, nearby wetlands and associated wildlife and recreation.
Contact Information: David Woodson ( Phone: 206-526-6569 ); Paul Laustsen ( Phone: 650-329-4046 ); SEATTLE –The U.S. Geological Survey announced the completion of its new Western Fisheries Research Center pump-house structure in the southeast part of Magnuson Park in Seattle. The pump-house provides water for scientific research, nearby wetlands and associated wildlife and recreation. The pump-house brings in water from nearby Lake Washington allowing USGS’ fisheries center to conduct research in its wet lab facilities. “Thank you to the USGS for their work to improve Magnuson Park for visitors and wildlife through the thoughtful design and construction of the new pump house,” said Seattle Mayor Ed Murray. In the early 2000s, new regulations, safety concerns and pump wear-and-tear indicated that a new pump-house was needed. USGS worked together with the City of Seattle Parks and Recreation Department, Magnuson Environmental Stewardship Alliance and other interested parties to come up with a plan that would allow the construction of a new pump structure, while improving the park for both wildlife and visitors. "USGS has been a good neighbor in the past by providing water for wetlands construction, improving wildlife passage and aesthetics, and by helping restore park land adjacent to their WFRC,” said Tom Kelly of MESA. The coordinated effort involved a design for the new pump-house, which serves a pipeline underground through an easement to USGS, and directing cleaned water from WFRC into the Magnuson Park wetlands. Since the project required removal of some trees and vegetation, USGS also invested in restoration and mitigation efforts. The pump structure needed to be an above-ground structure, so the USGS had local Seattle artist Jeff Jacobson create an environmentally themed mural on its walls and local interpretive designer and illustrator, Denise Dahn, provide educational signage near the structure and associated wetlands. “This piece has a sort of hyper-wildlife feel, where you celebrate and connect with wildlife,” said Jeff Jacobson, the mural artist. “I may live in downtown Seattle, but I love nature and am happy that people can come to the park, experience this piece, and enjoy nature along the way.” The wetlands in Magnuson Park—receiving year-round water from the USGS WFRC—provides habitat for a multitude of wildlife species, including waterfowl and other birds, frogs, insects and aquatic invertebrates, and is a wonderful place for wildlife watching and otherwise enjoying nature. “The USGS conducts cutting-edge fisheries research at this facility, this new pump ensures that vital management information is generated here,” said Jill Rolland, Director of the USGS WFRC. The USGS WFRC, located on the south side of NE 65th St., is one of 16 ecosystem-focused USGS science centers across the United States, and one of only two USGS science centers that focus exclusively on fisheries science. The WFRC focuses on critical natural resource issues facing the nation and provides impartial science to managers of fish and aquatic resources in the western United States. Magnuson Park was once a U.S. Navy airfield and later transferred to the City of Seattle and other state and federal agencies. It is the second largest park in Seattle and is continually transforming to provide a unique combination of enjoyable features and activities including boating, tennis, swimming, walking, sports fields, and nature and wildlife watching in an urban setting.
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