Wildlife Monitoring

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Wildlife Monitoring

• Saltcedar Leaf Beetle Release
• Colorado
• Larry White
• Bureau of Reclamation, Denver

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Saltcedar good or bad.
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Purpose and Objectives

• Commitment of environmental assessment
• Fish and Wildlife Service recommendation
• Detect early warning signs of impacts
• Determine changes in wildlife populations

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Methods

• Emphasis on breeding birds
• Neotropical migratory and riparian obligate
  species
• Butterflies
• Riparian obligate species
• Bats

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Study Plots

• Affected - Near Release site (Downstream)
• Saltcedar/meadow ground zero
• Cottonwood/saltcedar
• Cottonwood/willow-saltcedar
• Control - away from Release site (Upstream )
• Cottonwood/willow and willow bar
• Monotypic saltcedar
• Willow-saltcedar
• Saltcedar wetland

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Avian Point Counts

• Quantifies relative abundance and species
  composition of birds during breeding season
• Sampling area 50 meter fixed-radius
• 5 minute duration at each sampling point
• 3 times from mid-May to-late June

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Nest Monitoring

• Determines productivity of breeding birds
• Species of nesting birds
• Percent nesting success and fledged/pair
• Failure due to parasitism, predation, etc.

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Constant effort butterfly survey

• Relative abundance and species of adults
• 3 times at staggered times of the day
• Total of 8 hours per plot

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Riparian obligate butterflies

• Mourning cloak
• Acadica hairstreak
• Golden skipper
• Red admiral
• Viceroy
• Tiger swallowtail
• Wood nymph
• others

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Bat Surveys

• Anabat II detector
• Measures relative use per hour ( bat-passes per
  hour)
• Release site and upstream control site

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Vocal signature of big brown bat
battery
Detector and analysis module
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RESULTS

• Baseline data collection

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Point counts

• Placed birds in categories of increasing
  management concern and dependence on riparian
  habitat
• All birds (45 species)
• Neotropical migratory birds (23 species)
• Riparian obligate songbirds (12 species)

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Riparian obligate birds

• Black-capped chickadee
• Black-headed grosbeak
• Blue grosbeak
• Bullocks oriole
• Common yellowthroat
• Gray catbird
• MacGillivrays warbler
• Orchard oriole
• Willow flycatcher
• Yellow warbler
• Yellow-breasted chat
• Yellow-billed cuckoo

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Point count calculations

• Mean species of each category detected per
  point
• Mean individual birds of each category detected
  per point
• Eliminated swallows

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ground zero
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ground zero
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ground zero
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ground zero
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Saltcedar Plots

• Plots with saltcedar had birds of all categories
• Saltcedar plots without natives including ground
  zero had lowest mean value of species and birds

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Saltcedar-wetland plot

• High values resulted from concentration of
  red-wing blackbirds and common grackles
• Use by orioles and yellowthroats
• Open water near saltcedar stands add habitat
  value for breeding birds

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Native Plots

• Plots dominated by native had higher mean values
  for neotropical migrants and riparian obligates
• Values were less in 2001 when sites were not
  flooded
• Native plots had breeding yellow-billed cuckoo
  and migrating willow flycatcher

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Nest monitoring
ground zero
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ground zero
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ground zero
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Butterfly monitoring

• butterflies per survey hour
• riparian obligates per survey hour
• Species richness of all butterflies
• Species richness of riparian obligates

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Bat surveys

• Total of at least 11 species foraging over
  saltcedar
• Release site and saltcedar control sites had
  similar species composition
• Activity ranges from 3.7 to 44.5 bat-passes per
  hour
• Future studies will include native habitats

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Conclusions

• Implications for saltcedar control

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Saltcedar has habitat value

• Ensure successful establishment of native
  vegetation at control sites
• Monitor vegetation establishment and wildlife
  response