The Midden, the Resource Management Newsletter of Great
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Great Basin National Park Park News National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior The Midden The Resource Management Newsletter of Great Basin National Park Treatment of Snake Creek to Restore Bonneville Cutthroat By Jonathan Reynolds, Fisheries Biologist In August of 2016, Great Basin National Park collaborated with the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) and staff from other National Park Service (NPS) units to conduct a rotenone treatment in Snake Creek. The goal of the treatment was to eradicate all by K. Eckholm NPS Photo nonnative fish from the section of Snake Creek located within the park boundary. Removing these nonnative fish is a necessary step in restoring Bonneville cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii utah, BCT) to Snake Creek, which is the largest A park employee collects an eDNA sample to determine if any brook trout DNA is still present in Snake Creek following a second rotenone treatment. If none is found, South Snake Range stream identified native Bonneville cutthroat trout will be reintroduced in the summer of 2019. as a BCT conservation population by the 2006 Conservation the electrofishing validation surveys. continue until the stream begins to Agreement and Conservation Based on these results, it was freeze over. To date, no fish have Strategy for Bonneville Cutthroat determined that a second treatment been encountered in Snake Creek Trout in the State of Nevada. needed to be conducted in 2018, post-treatment. A second round postponing the reintroduction of BCT of eDNA sampling was done in After a year and a half of into Snake Creek. October 2018, and the results will intensive electrofishing surveys be finalized by spring. Pending the and environmental DNA (eDNA) In July of 2018, Great Basin National outcome of our validation surveys, analysis, it was revealed that less Park once again used both NDOW BCT are expected to be released into than 1% of brook trout had survived and NPS staff to conduct a second Snake Creek during the summer of the 2016 treatment. A total of eight rotenone treatment in Snake Creek. 2019. brook trout were captured and killed With brook trout and eDNA results all during electrofishing validation located above the pipeline inlet, the surveys conducted throughout section of Snake Creek between the In This Issue the 2016 and 2017 field seasons. pipeline outlet and the park boundary Snake Creek Fish Treatment........1 Additionally, eDNA sampling did not have to be retreated. This New Nevada Centipedes...........2 conducted in 2017 produced a allowed the park to use less rotenone Intro to Park Fungi....................3 positive brook trout result at 1 of and fewer people. Lehman Caves Air Temps..........4 the 75 sites sampled. This single Lehman Caves Geology..............6 site was not associated with any Now that the treatment is completed, Utah Master Naturalists.............8 of the locations where brook trout electrofishing validation surveys Townsend’s Big-Eared Bats.........9 were previously captured during have once again commenced and will Post-fre Bird Recovery.............10 Winter 2018 Volume 18 Issue 2 Three New Records of Stone Centipedes in Nevada By Cedric Lee, Museum Associate, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, CA Worldwide, there are roughly 3,000 described species of centipedes; about 20% of these are recorded in the United States (Mercurio 2010). However, the majority of centipedes are often overlooked, partly due to their small size and uncharismatic appearance. Photos by Cedric Lee by Cedric Photos Lithobiomorpha, commonly known as stone centipedes, are arguably one of the least studied of the common ground-dwelling arthropods in North America. Virtually no research on the taxonomy and distribution of stone centipedes from the Western United States has been conducted since the passing of myriapologist Ralph New Nevada stone centipedes: a male Lophobius loganus, a female Bothropolys permundus, Vary Chamberlin in 1967. This and a female Zygethobius dolichopus. These three stone centipedes have been added to the is unfortunate, considering that Nevada state list after they were found during the 2018 BioBlitz. centipedes play important roles in ecosystems. and under stones and logs along References: Baker Creek and Lehman Creek on June 13, 2018 during the Beetle Mercurio, R.J. 2010. An annotated catalog In terms of biomass, centipedes of the centipedes (Chilopoda) from the have been found in some soil BioBlitz at Great Basin National United States of America, Canada and macrofauna communities to be Park. The majority of the collected Greenland (1758–2008). XLibris Corporation, the dominant predators (Schaefer centipedes (24 individuals; 60% of Bloomington, IN, 560 pp. total) were L. loganus. All specimens 1990). Thus, centipedes have the Schaefer, M. 1990. The soil fauna of a beech potential to exert top-down control have been deposited at the Natural forest on limestone: Trophic structure and of prey and influence macrofaunal History Museum of Los Angeles energy budget. Oecologia 82(1): 128-136. abundance and dynamics of County in California. ecosystems. In addition, centipedes are an important food source for Z. dolichopus was previously vertebrates and other arthropods. recorded from Utah and California Have an interesting wildlife while L. loganus and B. permundus observation? We’d love to know Herein, I report three new were previously recorded from Idaho about it. Enter it on the Great records of stone centipedes in and Utah. These new records elevate Basin National Park iNaturalist Nevada: Bothropolys permundus the Nevada centipede checklist to page or fill out a Wildlife (Chamberlin, 1902), Lophobius 16 species (Mercurio 2010) and Observation form at a visitor reveal the potential for discovering loganus (Chamberlin, 1925), center. and Zygethobius dolichopus unrecorded and undescribed species (Chamberlin, 1902). Centipedes of centipedes in Nevada. were hand collected from leaf litter 2 The Midden Introduction to Fungi in Great Basin National Park By Lisa Johnston, Interpretive Park through the process of breaking Ranger down dead material. Some examples of saprotrophic fungi in the park The next time you go for a hike, include the oyster mushroom, take a closer look at the trees. You Pleurotus populinus, which can be may notice that from almost any found growing on quaking aspen vantage point, you can find all logs and snags, and the purple-hued stages of growth and decay. You Trichaptum abietinum found on by Lisa Johnston Photo may not see any mushrooms unless rotting conifers. there has been a recent rainy period, The aspen bolete, Leccinum insigne, is a but the growing fungi that produce Other species of fungi may type of mycorrhizal fungus that grows them are all around you. Without contribute to the health of trees and near quaking aspen. them, the forest would look quite other plants by exchanging nutrients enters the combined hyphae/root different. with the roots of the plants. This system and also provide nutrients mutualistic relationship is called that may not be accessible to the Fungi provide a major contribution mycorrhiza. All fungi that produce plant. In exchange, the fungi receive to the availability of nutrients in the mushrooms grow as long filaments carbohydrates produced by the plants forest ecosystem. The most obvious called hyphae that permeate the through photosynthesis. Sometimes is the decay of lignin and cellulose substrate in which they grow. the benefits are skewed toward either that allows trees to return to the soil Mycorrhizal fungi wrap hyphal the plant or the fungus, resulting in from which they arose. Few other threads around the cells of plant a parasitic rather than mutualistic organisms have the ability to digest roots or actually penetrate the cells relationship, but most often both these tough materials. themselves. These hyphae increase species benefit. The aspen bolete, the efficiency of water uptake Leccinum insigne, is an example of a Wood decay fungi are saprotrophic, for the plants by increasing the mycorrhizal fungus associated with which means they get their nutrients surface area through which water quaking aspen in the park. Fungi belong to their own kingdom of life and are distinct from both plants and animals. Just as plant and animal species have diverse ecological roles, fungal species also vary in their methods of interacting with their environment. Some species are even predatory and produce chemical lures to attract and trap small animals such as nematodes or springtails. Other species are parasites of insects or plants. Photo by Lisa Johnston Photo by Although rarely noticed, fungi are an important part of the ecosystem of Great Basin National Park. Each brief appearance of a mushroom indicates the presence of an extensive living organism that has been The oyster mushroom, Pleurotus populinus, is found on quaking aspen logs and growing beneath the surface waiting snags, and are a type of wood decay (saprotrophic) fungi. for the rain to come. The Midden 3 Air Temperatures in Lehman Caves By Stanka Šebela (ZRC SAZU, Higher daily oscillations in Karst Research Institute, Slovenia) temperature and higher overall Gretchen Baker, Ecologist, GBNP temperatures in summer at the four Barbara Luke, University of Nevada, stations along the tour route may also Las Vegas reflect visitors’ impact beyond the chimney effect. We recorded and analyzed air temperature year-round in Lehman At Queen’s Bathtub and GBNP Caves to explore the impacts of Bonzanni Photo by Sara 1 stations, cave air temperature tourism and the external climate remained elevated until October Downloading dataloggers in Lehman on the cave microclimate. Stark Caves. 2015 – two months after visitation conducted an early study (1969) on declined for the season (Fig. 3) and effects of cave tourism on climate cave through the natural entrance about 1 to 2 months after outside air in the cave. After almost 50 years it (the “chimney effect”). Temperatures temperatures dropped (Fig. 2). was time for a new look.