Jane L. Rodrigue

Soricid abundance in partial overstory removal harvests and riparian areas in an industrial forest landscape of the central Appalachians

Abstract Within eastern North America, soricid (shrew) diversity reaches its peak in the central and southern Appalachians. Though shrews are an important component of Appalachian mammalian fauna, most species are small, cryptic, and little studied. The understanding of basic life history and habitat preferences is considered problematic. To assess the response of soricids to partial overstory timber harvest, and to investigate the importance of riparian areas to soricids, we conducted pitfall trapping surveys during the summers of 1996–1998 in the Westvaco Ecosystem Research Forest. Pitfall transect lines were established in uncut control forest stands in upland sites, along uncut forest stands in riparian areas, and in upland stands subjected to heavy diameter-limit cutting or two-aged regeneration methods. Diameter-limit and two-aged regeneration harvests occurred in 1996 following our initial pitfall survey effort. Riparian areas were surveyed within the area that would constitute a Streamside Management Zone under West Virginia’s Best Management Practices guidelines. During 10,560 trapnights, we collected masked shrews (Sorex cinereus), rock shrews (S. dispar), smokey shrews (S. fumeus), pygmy shrews (S. hoyi), and northern short-tailed shrews (Blarina brevicauda). Of species collected in sufficient numbers to analyze statistically across treatments, the relative abundance of masked shrews, smokey shrews, and northern short-tailed shrews did not differ among harvest sites and control sites for any year, either pre-harvest or post-harvest. Uncut, control sites had higher relative abundances than did riparian sites of masked shrews in 1996 and of smokey shrews in 1997. Collections of all species were poorly correlated with most micro-habitat variables we collected. Rock shrews were restricted to uncut upland sites at higher elevations with large amounts of emergent rock.

Patterns of Acoustical Activity of Bats Prior to and Following White-Nose Syndrome Occurrence

White-nose Syndrome (WNS), a wildlife health concern that has decimated cave-hibernating bat populations in eastern North America since 2006, began affecting source-caves for summer bat populations at Fort Drum, a U.S. Army installation in New York in the winter of 2007–2008. As regional die-offs of bats became evident, and Fort Drum’s known populations began showing declines, we examined whether WNS-induced change in abundance patterns and seasonal timing of bat activity could be quantified using acoustical surveys, 2003–2010, at structurally uncluttered riparian–water habitats (i.e., streams, ponds, and wet meadows). As predicted, we observed significant declines in overall summer activity between pre-WNS and post-WNS years for little brown bats Myotis lucifugus, northern bats M. septentrionalis, and Indiana bats M. sodalis. We did not observe any significant change in activity patterns between preWNS and post-WNS years for big brown bats Eptesicus fuscus, eastern red bats Lasiurus borealis, or the small number of tri-colored bats Perimyotis subflavus. Activity of silver-haired bats Lasionycteris noctivagans increased from pre-WNS to post-WNS years. Activity levels of hoary bats Lasiurus cinereus significantly declined between pre- and post-WNS years. As a nonhibernating, migratory species, hoary bat declines might be correlated with wind-energy development impacts occurring in the same time frame rather than WNS. Intraseason activity patterns also were affected by WNS, though the results were highly variable among species. Little brown bats showed an overall increase in activity from early to late summer pre-WNS, presumably due to detections of newly volant young added to the local population. However, the opposite occurred post-WNS, indicating that reproduction among surviving little brown bats may be declining. Our data suggest that acoustical monitoring during the summer season can provide insights into species’ relative abundance on the landscape as affected by the occurrence of WNS.

Roost Selection by Male Indiana Myotis Following Forest Fires in Central Appalachian Hardwoods Forests

Abstract Despite the potential for prescribed fire and natural wildfire to increase snag abundance in hardwood forests, few studies have investigated effects of fire on bat roosting habitat, partic...

Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust) as day-roosts of male Myotis septentrionalis (northern Bats) on the Fernow Experimental Forest, West Virginia

Abstract During the summer of 2003, we captured and radiotagged ten male Myotis septentrionalis (northern bats) on the Fernow Experimental Forest (FEF) in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia to investigate day-roost selection. Of 16 roosts that were located, 13 were in Robinia pseudoacacia (black locusts), five in snags and eight in live trees. The other three roosts occurred in a Sassafras albidum (sassafras) snag and two live Acer saccharum (sugar maples). All live trees used as roosts were medium to large, canopy-dominant trees with considerable amounts of exfoliating bark and numerous broken limbs and cavities. Snags used as roosts were smaller than trees and other snags in surrounding stands, whereas live trees used as roosts were larger than other trees and snags in surrounding stands. Similar to previous research on female northern bats in the Allegheny Mountains, we observed a strong preference for both live and snag black locust as roosts over other available species. The high abundance of black locust as an important component on the FEF has been a relatively recent development dating to the early 1900s. Use of live canopy-dominant black locust with characteristics of mature forest trees lends support that older forests with decadent conditions provide important day-roost habitat, whereas use of both canopy dominant live trees and long-lasting black locust snags may support the ecological concept of roosting “areas” for northern bats.

Vascular flora and macroscopic fauna on the Fernow Experimental Forest

This report is the first comprehensive inventory of the vascular flora and macroscopic fauna known to occur within the Fernow Experimental Forest in north-central West Virignia. The compendium is based on information obtained from previous surveys, current research, and the personal observations of USDA Forest Service personnel and independent scientists. More than 750 documents on Fernow-related research have been published. The earliest report on the vegetation on what is now the experimental forest dates back to 1856.

A Most Dangerous Game: Death and Injury to Birds from Porcupine Quills

ABSTRACT Predation is dangerous, not only for the prey but sometimes also for the predator. Because these dangers to predators are not well understood, we document evidence of predation or scavenging by a Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) on a North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) in Pennsylvania, USA, with potentially lethal consequences to the eagle. We also review published literature on incidence of porcupine quills causing injury or death to birds. At least nine species have been documented as having contact with porcupine quills. A minimum of 39% of these interactions resulted in death to the bird, demonstrating the risk birds face when interacting with porcupines. Predation of porcupines should be selected against and irregular, yet it apparently persists and is likely more common than currently recognized.

Effects of acoustic deterrents on foraging bats

Significant bat mortality events associated with wind energy expansion, particularly in the Appalachians, have highlighted the need for development of possible mitigation practices to reduce or prevent strike mortality. Other than increasing turbine cut-in speed, acoustic deterrents probably hold the greatest promise for reducing bat mortality. However, acoustic deterrent effectiveness and practicality has not been experimentally examined and is limited to site-specific case studies. Accordingly, we used a crossover experimental design with prior control period to show that bat activity was reduced 17.1 percent by the deployment of ultrasonic deterrents placed around gauged watershed weir ponds on the Fernow Experimental Forest in West Virginia. We caution that while our results should not be extrapolated to the scope of a typical wind energy production facility, the results warrant further research on the use of acoustic deterrents to reduce bat fatalities.

Deriving habitat models for northern long-eared bats from historical detection data: a case study using the Fernow Experimental Forest

Abstract The listing of the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) as federally threatened under the Endangered Species Act following severe population declines from white-nose syndrome presents considerable challenges to natural resource managers. Because the northern long-eared bat is a forest habitat generalist, development of effective conservation measures will depend on appropriate understanding of its habitat relationships at individual locations. However, severely reduced population sizes make gathering data for such models difficult. As a result, historical data may be essential in development of habitat models. To date, there has been little evaluation of how effective historical bat presence data, such as data derived from mist-net captures, acoustic detection, and day-roost locations, may be in developing habitat models, nor is it clear how models created using different data sources may differ. We explored this issue by creating presence probability models for the northern long-eare...