Large-scale declines of grassland ecosystems in the conterminous United States since European settlement have led to substantial loss and fragmentation of lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) habitat and decreased their occupied range and population numbers by ∼85%. Breeding season space use is an important component of lesser prairie-chicken conservation, because it could affect both local carrying capacity and population dynamics. Previous estimates of breeding season space use are largely limited to one of the four currently occupied ecoregions, but potential extrinsic drivers of breeding space use, such as landscape fragmentation, vegetation structure and composition, and density of anthropogenic structures, can show large spatial variation. Moreover, habitat needs vary greatly among the lekking/prelaying, nesting, brood-rearing, and postbreeding stages of the breeding season, but space use by female lesser prairie-chickens during these stages remain relatively unclear. We tested whether home range area and daily displacement (the net distance between the first and last location of each day) of female lesser prairie-chickens varied among ecoregions and breeding stages at four study sites in Kansas and Colorado, U.S.A., representing three of the four currently occupied ecoregions. We equipped females with very-high-frequency (VHF) or Global Positioning System (GPS) transmitters, and estimated home range area with kernel density estimators or biased random bridge models, respectively. Across all ecoregions, breeding season home range area averaged 190.4 ha (±19.1 ha se) for birds with VHF and 283.6 ha (±23.1 ha) for birds with GPS transmitters, whereas daily displacement averaged 374.8 m (±14.3 m). Average home range area and daily displacement of bird with GPS transmitters were greater in the Short-Grass Prairie/ Conservation Reserve Program Mosaic and Sand Sagebrush Prairie Ecoregions compared to sites in the Mixed-Grass Prairie Ecoregion. Home range area and daily displacement were greatest during lekking/prelaying and smallest during the brood-rearing stage, when female movements were restricted by mobility of chicks. Ecoregion- and breeding stage-specific estimates of space use by lesser prairie-chickens will help managers determine the spatial configuration of breeding stage-specific habitat on the landscape. Furthermore, ecoregion- and breeding stage-specific estimates are crucial when estimating the amount of breeding habitat needed for lesser prairie-chicken populations to persist.

Like many large rivers in modern industrialized regions, the Ohio River mainstem is a heavily modified riverine habitat comprised of various reservoir-dam series and shaped channels, rather than a free-flowing system. However, many odonate species in such habitats, even species of conservation concern, have been shown to prosper in degraded lotic habitats due to key life history attributes, such as rapid recolonization following large disturbances. In this study we characterize the assemblage of odonates in a Pennsylvania section of the Ohio River mainstem and determined if any species of conservation concern were present. We also tested hypotheses on distributions in the channel by testing if proximity to banks and channel depths helped predict odonate abundance. Samples were acquired as bycatch to benthic fish sampling conducted using electrified benthic trawling, a novel approach for collecting benthic macroinvertebrates in large freshwater rivers. We found seven odonate species, all of which were known to be species of conservation concern in one or more U.S. states. We also concluded that gradients of bank distance and river depth only weakly predicted odonate abundance, suggesting that the Ohio River species regularly use mid-channel habitat that is several meters deep. Life histories of most of the species collected are typical of those living in large lotic, and occasionally lentic, environments. Studies of other large, temperate rivers show that the ability to persist is not uncommon for odonates in these modified environments, and may be due to their ability to use mid-channel resources successfully. Despite the substantial differences between contemporary and historic conditions of habitats in the Ohio River basin, an odonate assemblage worth conserving continues to be present in the mainstem channel.

Most stream fish communities have changed over time in response to common anthropogenic disturbances. Impoundments are a widespread anthropogenic stressor that can negatively impact stream fishes as they alter flow regimes, block movements, and act as fountainheads for the introduction and spread of invasive species. Recent studies, however, have reported the occurrence and reproduction of native fishes in impoundments, suggesting they might benefit some native fishes. Our primary objective was to evaluate whether impoundment construction has led to changes in fish community structure in prairie streams. To accomplish this, we compared fish occupancy in small impoundments (,5 ha) to temporal trends in stream occupancy among species to test whether species' increases in stream occupancy were related to their occupancy in impoundments. We examined stream fish communities in the Upper Cottonwood River basin, Kansas, from 1948–2018, and sampled small impoundments in 2016 and 2017. A third (32%) of fish communities in impoundments were similar to stream assemblages, whereas most impoundments (68%) were dominated by sport or bait fishes. In streams, six species showed increases in occupancy and four species showed decreases since small impoundment construction. Of the species that exhibited increased stream occupancy, five showed a positive, logistical relationship between a species' impoundment occupancy and its increase in stream occupancy. Species declining in stream occupancy experienced continued linear declines and may still be declining. Our research suggests stream fish communities have changed since impoundment construction, and are associated with locally-invasive, native species reaching a new stable state in streams accompanied by declines in other native stream fish species.

Determining habitat characteristics that influence the contemporary distribution of species is imperative for effective conservation planning. The Eastern Hellbender (Cryptobranchus a. alleganiensis) reaches its Midwestern northern range limit in Ohio, U.S.A.Most previous studies have focused on habitat within the mountainous core of the species' range. We assessed physical and chemical habitat characteristics across the extant range of the Hellbender in Ohio. Physical habitat characteristics were similar to habitat across the range. Hellbenders occupied stream segments typically in contact with steep hillsides that are the source of large shelter rocks. Stream substrate consisted of large boulders and cobble and contained moderate proportions of gravel and sand. Both water temperature (max = 29.4–33.0 C) and conductivity (range = 284–1323 µS/cm) were elevated in Ohio streams. Historic alterations to streams in combination with distinct hydrologic regimes and geology have resulted in habitat characteristics not commonly reported elsewhere. This may have contributed to Hellbender populations being dominated by large adults. Developing an understanding of the role habitat structure and perturbations play in egg and larval survival is critical for the implementation of effective conservation strategies.

Animals living underground deal with multiple physiological challenges, such as hypoxia and hypercarbia, but may have reduced thermoregulation demands because of the more stable underground microclimate. Southeastern pocket gophers (Geomys pinetis Rafinesque) occur in the fire-adapted, open-pine forests of the southeastern Atlantic Coastal Plain where prescribed fire is commonly used to manage understory vegetation. They are almost exclusively fossorial, and their tunnels provide ecological services, including shelter, for a suite of commensal vertebrates and invertebrates. To quantify potential thermoregulation benefits of southeastern pocket gopher tunnels, we compared temperatures in active tunnels (n = 31) to aboveground temperatures during winter (December 2018–February 2019), and to aboveground temperatures during prescribed fire events (n = 16) occurring in spring (March–May 2019). During winter, tunnels provided a more stable thermal environment (average range = 6.5 ± 0.8 C; mean ± se) relative to aboveground (average range = 24.8 ± 1.8 C) temperatures. Similarly, mean tunnel temperature range (2.05 ± 0.5 C) was significantly narrower than aboveground temperature range associated with fire events (497.0 ± 101.4 C). Clearly, tunnels provide a stable thermal environment for pocket gophers and commensals that use their tunnel systems.

American beavers (Castor canadensis) are emblematic of diverse and dynamic freshwater ecosystems across North America. Numerous studies have described positive associations between beaver-modified habitats and biodiversity across a wide range of taxa. Yet few studies have documented biodiversity associated with the epicenter of beaver-modified habitats – the beaver lodge. We used an internet-connected, solar-powered, time-lapse camera system to examine daily and seasonal temporal partitioning amongst vertebrate taxa that visited an American beaver lodge in south-central Nebraska over 9 mo. We observed at least 28 species on the lodge, and many organisms were present during discrete daily and seasonal time periods. These observations provide a more holistic view of a widely recognized, yet understudied, component of beaver-modified habitats. Future use of similar visual-recording systems may reveal that other animal structures, such as burrows, nests, and hives, are prominent ecosystem components in the wild.

Bats are important bio-indicators of ecosystem health and provide a number of ecosystem services. White-nose Syndrome and habitat loss have led to the decline of many bat species in eastern North America, including the federally threatened northern long-eared bat, Myotis septentrionalis. White-nose Syndrome was only recently found in Nebraska, which lies on the western extent of this species geographic range. To better understand how this forest-dependent species persists in an agriculturally dominated landscape amid a growing number of pressures, we investigated the roosting habits of this bat at the Homestead National Monument of America, located in southeast Nebraska. We mist-netted bats on eight nights in 2019 (16 August–26 August) and caught 55 bats across five species, including five juvenile northern long-eared bats. We located five unique roosts between two juvenile radio-tracked bats; most of the female roosts were in anthropogenic structures and tree cavities within 0.23 km of capture, while most of the male roosts were in snags and tree cavities as far as 2.73 km from the capture site. Fence cavities were also used by other undocumented northern long-eared bats. We recorded three radio-tagged bats that commuted between roosting sites and capture sites within hours after sunset. Our results provide evidence that at the distributional edge for this species, wooded areas, riparian zones, and human-built structures in an intensively managed agricultural landscape are used by this imperiled species.

Data on movement of grey wolves (Canis lupus) in island systems is largely restricted to coastal environments and little is known about their space use and movement in freshwater archipelagos. We used data from a GPS-collared wolf in a protected archipelago in Lake Superior, Ontario to examine broad seasonal patterns in space use, movement, and activity. Over approximately 1 y of monitoring, the wolf made 190 crossings between islands and showed more extensive use of the archipelago during the nonwinter season. When ice was present in the archipelago, the mean weekly inter-island crossing rate of the wolf (± se) was 6.08 ± 1.31, with crossings largely restricted to the interior islands bounded by ice, compared to 2.85 ± 0.45 during the open water season. Mean wolf activity was highest in the nonwinter season, but movement rates were comparable across seasons. Our study is the first to document wolf movements in a freshwater archipelago with seasonal ice cover and supports data collection at fine temporal scales to better understand trends in wolf space use and movement at small spatial scales.

Isle Royale National Park is generally considered a pristine ecosystem, but the island archipelago has a long history of human impacts that have altered the island's mammal communities through extirpations and introductions. The origin of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) on the islands are of particular interest given their ubiquity and uncertain colonization history. Red foxes were first reported on Isle Royale in 1925, shortly after the foundation of a small fox farm that began on Isle Royale in 1922. We sequenced two mitochondrial haplotypes from red fox scats collected on Isle Royale and compared them to haplotypes from the mainland surrounding Lake Superior, the predominant source of the island's other native mammals. Some Isle Royale foxes matched widespread haplotypes commonly found across Canada, but over half of our samples matched haplotypes previously detected only in Newfoundland. While we cannot conclude a singular origin, we offer a working hypothesis red foxes on Isle Royale are derived from a combination of natural colonization and human introduction. Specifically, we propose native red foxes may be admixed with fur-farmed foxes from an introduction in the early 20th century.

We analyzed the relationship between landscape context and the vigilance and foraging patterns of the black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) in urban and rural areas. We observed five colonies, two in urban areas and three in rural areas from 23 March–20 April 2016, 31 August–19 September 2016, 26 March–12 April 2017, and 7 September–17 October 2017. We measured vigilance by observing individual prairie dogs for 5 min and recording the amount of time the individual spent vigilant or foraging. In addition, the total number of individuals in the colony that were actively vigilant or foraging were counted every 10 min for 1 h. Prairie dogs in rural colonies were more vigilant than those in urban colonies and displayed a lower proportion of individuals that were non-vigilant in both the spring and summer. Because prairie dogs in urban colonies might be habituated to disturbance and have a relatively low risk of predation, individuals spent much less time vigilant. Our findings could be used to better understand behavioral changes in black-tailed prairie dogs caused by encroaching urban development.