Yellowstone Science A quarterly publication devoted to the natural and cultural sciences

Yellowstone Climate Change Packrats & Paleontologists Radio Tracking Ethics Underwater Geyser

Volume 1 Number 1 Welcome to Yellowstone Science

For more than a century, Yellowstone we hope to accomplish at least two fire, bears, geothermal energy, elk, eco­ National Park has been recognized as a things. First, we will provide those system processes and management, and superb "outdoor laboratory" for many widely scattered investigators with an a host of other topics cycle through the kinds of scientific research. The labo­ opportunity to communicate with each public's attention on an almost predict­ ratory gets busier every year. other; at its best, Yellowstone Science able basis. But the research on those Last year, Yellowstone hosted 308 will be a forum and a clearinghouse for topics is only a small part the spectrum research projects involvillg73 universi­ them, to discuss issues and needs, and to of science in Yellowstone. ties and foundations, 12 federal agen­ exchange ideas. Our primary goal is to explore the full cies, 7 state agencies and 3 corpora­ Second, we can give the public a breadth of the work being done in the tions. These projects ranged clear across previously unavailable look at all this park--to celebrate, through the eyes and the scientific disciplines: 71 in physical exciting science. We know that isn't a ears and voices of the researchers them­ sciences, 68 in forest, range, and plant simple goal. Some of this science in­ selves, the knowledge and wonder they ecology, 59 in assorted wildlife topics volves the perennial hot topics that make so often find in this amazing place. At (with another 17 on wolves and 13 on so many headlines. Yellowstone's Chief the same time, and with younger read­ bears), 39 in aquatic studies, 29 in mi­ of Research refers to Yellowstone's ad­ ers especially in mind, we'd like to crobiology (Yellowstone's hot-water ministration as "resource management show, through. example, how science life forms are of world interest), and 12 in a goldfish bowl" because the public works: what its limitations and strengths more in assorted prehistoric, historical, interest in the park is so intense. are, and what it means to all of us who sociological subjects. Yellowstone exists in an atmosphere of care about Yellowstone. With the launching of this periodical almost continuous controversy; wolves, PS Yellowstone Science A quarterly publication devoted to the natural and cultural sciences Volume 1 Number 1 Fall 1992 Table of Contents

Global Climate Change in Greater Yellowstone 2 What does the future hold for ecosystem processes and the life communities they support? by William H. Romme and Monica G. Turner

Bugged Bears and Collared Cougars 8 Radiotelemetry has come a long way since pioneering grizzly bear studies in Yellowstone, but there are still difficult scientific and ethical questions to be resolved. by Mark Johnson

Confidence in the Past 12 Yellowstone's ecological history lies buried in caves, where a remarkable rodent has been storing the evidence Editor for thousands of years. Paul Schullery Interview with paleoecologist Elizabeth Barnosky Art Director Renee Evanoff Associate Editor Review 18 Sarah Broadbent Yellowstone Vegetation: Consequences of Environment Research Mark Johnson and History in a Natural Setting, by Don G. Despain. Printing reviewed by Dennis Knight Artcraft Inc. Bozeman, Montana News and Notes 19 First Biennial Scientific Conference • possible wolf On the cover: A woodcut by Thomas sighting• underwater geyser• passing of bear #1 •more Moran, based on his 1871 visit to the park area, showing the first known im­ age of an identifiable Yellowstone fire. Yellowstone Science is published quarterly, and submissions are welcome from all investigators conducting formal research in the Yellowstone area. Editorial correspondence and 'requests for The view is east from West Thumb information about how to receive this publication should be sent to the Editor, Yellowstone Geyser Basin, with smoke rising from Science, Division of Research, Post Office Box 168, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190. Pumice Point. Fire history research indicates this area did burn around 1867, The opinions expressed in Yellowstone Science are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect either National Park Service policy or the opinions of any or all members of the Division plus or minus 3 years. Moran may have of Research. All photos courtesy of the National Park Service unless otherwise noted. seen the fire (though no reports of the expedition mention it), or may have Support for Yellowstone Science is provided by the Yellowstone Association for Natural noticed the recent burn site and added Science, History & Education, a non-profit educational organization dedicated to serving the park and its visitors. For more information about the Yellowstone Association, including smoke for dramatic effect (from the membership, write to P.O. Box 117, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190. Aldine 6[4]:74, April 1873).

1 Global Climate Change in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem How will we fare in the Greenhouse Century? by William H. Romme and Monica G. Turner

Global climate change, due to hu­ region. Rainfall may increase, decrease, would increase plant water stress unless man-caused atmospheric disturbances, or remain the same. ln addition, in­ compensated for by increased precipi­ would have far-reaching effects on the creases in atmospheric carbon dioxide tation or enhanced water-use efficiency. Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). may have direct effects on vegetation. We emphasize that these ecological Potential changes in temperature and For example, the water-use efficiency changes are projections, not predictions. precipitation are not well understood, of plants may increase along with in­ Our present understanding of the im­ but our knowledge of past climates in creased carbon dioxide. Thus, the pending climate changes are still too the GYE provides us with examples of warmer temperatures and t~e rise in rudimentary to permit confident pre­ the climate variations and how they evapotranspiration (that is, the loss of dictions. might affect life here. water from the soil through evaporation During the most recent glacial period, and from plants through transpiration) The Warm, Dry Scenario 20,000 to 16,000 years ago, the upper timberline in this part of the Rocky Higher summer temperatures would Mountains apparently was 2,000 to increase the growing season at high 3,900 ft. (600 to 1,200 m.) lower than elevations. The upper timberline would today, and most of the Yellowstone probably shift to a higher elevation, an Plateau was glaciated. As global tem­ increase of 1,500 to 3,800 ft. (460 to peratures increased and glaciers re­ 1,150 m.). For the projections in this treated (14,000 to 13,000 years ago in paper, we use a conservative estimate of the GYE), the upper timberline shifted 1,500 ft. (460 m.). Upper timberline in upward, and coniferous forests became Greater Yellowstone is now at around established. The early Holocene (10,000 9,500 ft. (2,900 m.), and would move to to 4,000 years ago) was a period of around 11,000ft. (3,360m.). The alpine maximum warmth in the Yellowstone zone could disappear completely in region, but the climate became some­ Yellowstone National Park, where the what cooler and possibly wetter in mid­ highest point, Eagle Peak, is only 11,286 Holocene, so that the lower timberline ft. (3,440 m.). In the highest peaks of in the eastern GYE moved downward the Absaroka, Teton, and Wind River 5,400 to 4,400 years ago. Ranges, an alpine zone would persist. Because of increases in carbon dioxide Alpine species vulnerable to these and other greenhouse gases, another changes includ,e the arctic gentian, al­ episode of global climate change is pine chaenactis, rosy finches, and water expected in the coming century. Cur­ pipit. rent computer simulations of global The lower timberline would also shift climate change project an average rise upward 1,500 ft ( 460 m) or more, re­ in global temperature ranging from 34 ducing the total forested area because to 40°F (1.5 to 4.5°C). there is less land at higher elevations. The fairy slipper, dependent on old­ This would in turn reduce the amount of Projected Climate Scenarios growth forest habitats, could be seri­ high-elevation forest types. For ex­ ously affected if the climate grows ample, white bark pine forests occur in a There is considerable uncertainty warmer and drier. Renee Evanoff il­ zone from 8,500 to 9,500 ft. (2,600 to about effects of climate change on the lustration. 2,900 m.), which occupies an area of

2 Yellowstone Science about 617,750 acres (250,000 hectares) within Yellowstone National Park. If vegetation zones shifted upward by 1,500 ft. (460 m.), then whitebark pine would be found from about 10,000 to 11,000 ft. (3,060 to 3,360 m.), with an area of only 66,700 acres (27,000 ha.). This is a 90 percent decrease in habitat for whitebark pine, an important food source for Clark's nutcrackers, red squirrels, and grizzly bears. Douglas-fir, on the other hand, would be favored by the change. A 1,500-ft. (460 m.) upward shift would actually result in a larger potential range for this species in Yellowstone Park, because most of the park lies above 6,600 ft. (2,000 m.) and Douglas-fir occurs mostly between 6,200 and 7 ,200 ft. (1,900 and 2,200 m.). However, Dou­ glas-fir would probably disappear from lower elevation areas elsewhere in Greater Yellowstone, so its regional abundance would remain the same or decrease. The subalpine forest landscape of Greater Yellowstone contains numerous old-growth stands that exceed 200years in age. If a warmer, drier climate leads to an increased frequency of severe stand-replacing fires, the landscape could be converted into one dominated by younger stands, as in the Canadian ; r, Rockies and subarctic. Habitat for old­ ! growth species, including the northern r• twinflower, fairy slipper, pine marten, and goshawk, could become smaller in area and more fragmented. With an upward shift in the lower timberline, the area of low-elevation nonforest vegetation would increase. Animals characteristic of treeless landscapes, such as pronghorn and badger, might become more numerous. Sagebrush-grasslands, dominated by big

Whither the whitebark? The upper 1nap shows current distri­ bution of whitebark pine, a key food source for grizzly bears, in Yellowstone Park. The lower map shows remaining available habitat under the warm, dry scenario described on pages 4 and 5. Maps courtesy of the Yellowstone Geographic Information System Labo­ ratory, Yellowstone Park.

Fall 1992 3 sagebrush, bluebunch wheatgrass, and habitat enhancements of milder winter One of Yellowstone Park's foremost Idaho fescue, probably would move to weather. attractions is its large herds of ungu­ higher elevations. At the lowest el­ lates. Elk populations, already contro­ evations, sagebrush-grasslands could be The Intermediate Scenario versial in park management dialogues, replaced by semidesert vegetation, could increase under some future cli­ characterized by saltbush and grease­ In the intermediate scenario, a large, mate scenarios. wood. compensating increase in water use ef­ Species will respond individually to ficiency in plants would accompany compensate for physiological drought the environmental changes because of increased temperature, increased stress, but would not reduce the occur­ differing physiological tolerances, re­ evapotranspiration, and reduced or un­ rence of severe fires. sulting in altered success between changed precipitation. Length of the The area of nonforest communities at competing species. Entire life com­ growing season would increase, upper low elevations would not change in this munities could undergo major changes. timberline would move upward, the scenario, but there could be dramatic The total numbers of elk, bison, and alpine zone would be reduced, and local changes in species composition, because other native ungulates are limited pri­ extinction of some alpine species could plant species would not respond iden­ marily by the availability of winter occur. tically to the changes. The area of forage. Nonforested areas at low el­ On the other hand, the position of the nonforested winter range also would evations provide the rnajorwinter habitat lowertimberlinemightnotshift, because not change in this scenario, but the for these animals. Milder winters and a the effects of higher evapotranspiration range could be more accessible in milder larger nonforest area at low elevations would be compensated for by increased winters. The fertilization effect of el­ could mean higher populations of un­ water use efficiency. Thus, the evated carbon dioxide could increase gulates throughout Greater elevational range of Douglas-fir could forage production, but soil nutrient Yellowstone. Of particular significance expand, because its lower limits, which limitations and altered carbon-nitrogen would be the increased winter habitat might not change, are set by drought ratios might limit this increase. within protected parks, which lie at stress. relatively high elevations. However, With a higher upper timberline and The Warm, Wet Scenario the associated drier conditions also no change in lower timberline, the total might depress plant production, and forest area would increase. However, In this, as in the previous scenarios, elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide the forests would probably shift to warmer temperatures probably would could produce altered carbonnitrogen younger age classes, because t~e in­ lead to an upward shift in upper timber­ ratios in plant foliage, canceling out the crease in water use efficiency could line, and some alpine extinctions. The

4 Yellowstone Science range of whitebark pine would shift probably decrease in extent and become likely to respond more rapidly than those upward and occupy asmallerarea. With more fragmented, causing some alpine that are well within their physiological increased precipitation, however, even species and communities to become range. Upper and lowertimberlines can the remaining subalpine environment locally extinct within YNP and possibly respond quickly even to climate changes could become unsuitable for this spe­ the GYE during the next few centuries. of the magnitude observed in the last cies because of increased competition However, the total number of species I 00 to 500 years, and should be high with other species. within YNP and the GYE actually may priority sites for research and monitor­ Whitebark pine is near the southern change little. Semi-desert vegetation, ing. limit of its distribution in Greater . which is currently rare and restricted to Another early indicator of global Yellowstone. A climatic shift to wetter specialized habitats, may expand in climate change may be alterations in the summers could result in further reduc­ lower-elevation portions of the GYE, frequency and severity of natural dis­ tion or even local extinctions of especially under the.warm, dry scenario. turbances. Given the importance of fire whitebark pine in Greater Yellowstone. The simplistic prospect of a smooth in the GYE, particular emphasis should Drought stress at low elevations would northerly and upward migration of plant continue to be placed on increasing our be eased, and the lower timberline could species and communities is complicated ability to predict the occurrence and shift to a lower elevation. The range of by individual species responses and by effects of fire. Post-fire succession Douglas-fir could expand both upward the rate at which climate change may should be monitored following the 1988 and downward in this scenario, in­ occur. By the time a slow-growing tree fires and after future fires, especially in creasing forest area. Wetter conditions, reaches reproductive age, the environ­ areas near upper and lower timberline. especially in summer, could lead to a ment may no longer be suitable for The grasses and shrubs are likely to decrease in fire frequency and severity seedling survival. Probably the species show more rapid changes in productivity and a shift in forest age-class distribu­ that will most quickly track the moving and composition in response to climate tion to older age classes. Thus old­ the1mal zones are those with short, rapid than the subalpine forests. The grass­ growth habitat would increase. life histories, e.g., introduced weeds, or lands also are influenced by native un­ The nonforest area at low elevations species with a broad distribution such gulates, so research into vegetation­ would be reduced if the lower treeline as lodgepole pine. The species that will climate-herbivore interactions should moved downslope. Semi-desert species respond least effectively are the long­ continue. and communities could disappear en­ lived species that reproduce late or ir­ Although the inevitability of global tirely from YNP. Less nonforested area regularly and those with already limited, climate change is not assured, the po­ means less winter range and fewer un­ fragmented distributions, such as tential implications are of sufficient gulates. Ungulates are adaptable, whitebark pine and alpine species. magnitude that it would be foolish to however, and would probably use for­ Competitive interactions between spe­ ignore them. The conservation of bio­ est habitats more, and milder winter cies also would be complicated as new logical diversity in extensive natural temperatures increases in forage pro­ species from lower elevational zones areas such as the Greater Yellowstone duction might increase ungulate carry­ become established in the higher zones Ecosystem will become increasingly ing capacity. where adults of the formerly dominant difficult as the broad-scale constraints Warmer temperatures, longer grow­ species still exist. on the biota undergo changes that are ing seasons, increased precipitation, and Mature individuals of many long­ more rapid than those experienced in elevated carbon dioxide could increase li ved species may persist in their present the past. Explorations of potential primary vegetation productivity, but locations for as much as decades, even scenarios can provide useful tools to other limiting factors, such as soil nu­ centuries, after the climate becomes increase our understanding of the eco­ trients, might prevent or limit such in­ unsuitable for survival of their offspring. logical dynamics of climate change, creases. Because individual plant spe­ Plant communities might appear stable and can stimulate discussion about the cies will each respond differently to all for a long time, but after a disturbance strategies appropriate for maintaining of the changes, some dramatic changes (such as fire, insect outbreak, or wind­ biological diversity in the face of envi­ in community composition could occur storm) the mature forest community ronmental change. throughout the vegetation of the GYE. could be replaced by a completely dif­ ferent suite of species. WilliamRomme, ofFortLewis College, How Will It Happen? Durango, Colorado, and Monica Research and Monitoring Needs Turner, of the Environmental Sciences The three climate scenarios share Division, Oak Ridge National Labora­ some similarities. The upper treeline in It is important to design long-term tory, Tennessee, are both active in eco­ the GYEis likely to move toward higher measurements creatively so that they syste1n-scale studies in Greater elevations in response to increased are sensitive to early indications of Yellowstone. This article is an abridged temperatures, and the distribution of ecological change. For example, spe­ version ofa longer paper that appeared Douglas-fir is likely to expand. The cies or individuals that are near the in Conservation Biology in September, alpine and whitebark pine zones would limits of their range of tolerance are 1991.

Fall 1992 5 Bugged Bears & Collared Cougars The rewards and challenges of wildlife radiotelemetry by Mark Johnson

As the sun sets beyond the meadow, ciation of those animals. For some information from long distances. Usu­ a man in Bermuda shorts, with camera people, tags, collars, and other gear ally such studies focus on the animal's in hand, watches a pronghorn move show positive efforts to understand and location, but telemetry can also deter­ slowly toward him. As ifunaware of its manage the animals. Others wonder if mine the animal's temperature, heart admirer, the pronghorn continues to these manipulations are necessary, hu­ rate, body position (to determine if it is graze, briefly stepping on to a tall mound. mane, or even appropriate in a national feeding or resting), and even if the ani­ The scene appears perfect, with sunset park. mal is still alive. A telemetry unit colors, a mountainous background, and Today, with growing concerns over consists of a transmitter, battery, an­ a wonderful pose by the graceful ani­ humane treatment of animals, and rap­ tenna, and some form of harness or mal. But then the late-afternoon sun idly changing public attitudes about the other attachment to the animal. The highlights something else, something aesthetic and even spiritual place of package is designed to conform to the less natural: the trim, artificial circle of wild animals in human society, a marked shape and behavior of the animal. Each a radio collar riding low on the animal generates questions that address animal in the study has its own signal pronghorn's neck. The photographer the changing views towards wildlife, frequency, so any one of them can be no longer has the scenic picture he was the accuracies of our science, and the identified by a biologist with a receiver. hoping for. goals of our national parks. Originally, telemetry units were bulky For decades, marked, tagged, and and heavy, and were placed only on collared animals have been a part of the What is radiotelemetry? large animals, such as elk or bears. Yellowstone Park setting, and for just Early researchers were extremely re­ as long, people have discussed and de­ Radiotelemetry--attaching a trans­ sourceful, building "home-made" col­ bated the effects of these scientific at­ mitter to an animal to study it remotely­ lars strong enough to endure the ele­ tachments on animals and on our appre- -is an important technique for gathering ments (including the attentions of ani-

6 Yellowstone Science lnteragenc.v Grizzly Bear Study Tean1 su1nmering in Yellowstone National veloped under controlled conditions to 111en1ber attaching radio collar to an Park were studied using telemetry at­ ensure there is limited impact on the adult grizzly bear. tached by legbands. Solar panels in the animal. telemetry unit provided power for as mals, as in the case of a collared sow long as 4 years. Small rivets attaching Whett is telemetry justified? whose cubs might take to chewing on transmitter units to legbands usually the collar). In Yellowstone, for ex­ corroded after the unit quit functioning, The reasons for telemetry are surpris­ ample, some grizzly bear collars used so the transmitter would fall off. With ingly diverse. There are practical man­ during the pioneering Craighead re­ these advanced telemetry units, biolo­ agement reasons, such as the need for search project ( 1959-1970) were made gists learned that cranes summering in collecting data on bears to assist with of metal strapping covered with garden Yellowstone National Park migrated management of human/bear conflicts. hose, and the transmitter unit was en­ through the San Luis Valley, Colorado Most people would agree that human cased in fiberglass with liberal wind­ in spring and fall and wintered in the ings of electrical tape. Later, heavy Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico. Below left: a collection of wildlife molded plastic encased the telemetry Amphibians and reptiles are espe­ radiotrans1nitters, including (in front) units, and a strong fabric strap held the cially difficult to find and study, though a grizzly bear collar used during the unit in place. worldwide concern over declining am­ 1960s in Yellowstone(gardenhoseover Today, advanced technology has sig­ phibian populations makes such studies metal strapping, with the transniitter nificantly improved telemetry with extremely important. A herpetologist encased in fiberglass) a slightly less miniaturized electronic components. recently described the classic capture­ vintage bear collar with canvas strap Biologists now radio track animals as recapture technique used with snakes as attached to a transniitter encased in small as bats, toads, and fish (the signal the "mark, release, and never see them heavy plastic, a legband transniitterfor even works in water). Small telemetry again" technique. Biologists at Idaho sandhill cranes (attached to the upper units attach to animals with collars, State University plan to study spotted leg, so the antenna will extend down­ legbands, and backpacks, and sterile frogs and western toads--two Greater ward parallel to the leg), and a ab­ transmitters are surgically implanted in Yellowstone species experiencing de­ do1ninal radiotele1netry ifnplant for 8~ the abdominal cavities of several spe­ clines in other areas. They will place week-old coyote pups. cies. "backpacks" with 1.9-gram transmitter Below: a closer view of the legband Some animals, because of their shape units onto 40-gram animals (about 3 trans1nitter. The solar panels (visible or extreme range, present unusual chal­ inches in body length). At this writing, on the top half of the unit) replace lenges. In 1984, greater sandhill cranes prototype backpack units are being de- batteries as a power source.

Fall 1992 7 safety is a very high priority of park managers, and active monitoring of seasonal bear movements can alert managers to the movements of the ani­ mals into possible conflict situations. Political and legal reasons can also dictate the need for telemetry studies, as when political processes for wilderness designation depend heavily on scientific information about endangered and threatened species. Federal agencies are required by law to determine the condition of endangered wildlife popu­ lations, and such information can often only be obtained through radiotelem­ etry. In Yellowstone, the possibility of reintroduction of wolves required managers to learn the condition of many other species in order to project poten­ tial influences of wolves, both on other predators and on potential prey. These legal imperatives can leave managers with little choice but to employ radio­ telemetry. In most cases, though, the use of radiotelemetry comes down to striking a balance between the impacts on the animals and the value of the informa­ etry affects the animals they are study­ vital signs, every attention is paid to its tion that is gathered. Stu Coleman, ing, but they must always ask how these condition until it is safely released again. Resource Management Specialist, effects can be determined and mini­ Determining the impact of telemetry Yellowstone National Park, says that mized. on the animal after it is released is "if information gained is worth more Kerry Murphy of the Wildlife Re­ extremely difficult. Biologists com­ than the disturbance to the individual search Institute studies mountain lions monly assume that some impacts, such and species studied, then the telemetry in Yellowstone's Northern Range. as any resulting from wearing a collar, study is worth doing." Unlike most studies, which collar only are negligible if the animal performs Yellowstone's famous grizzly bears to a portion of the population, Kerry basic activities such as establishing a are a good example of this. Radiotelem­ strives to radio collar all mountain lions territory, mating, and producing young. etry has been used for more than 30 in his study area. He describes an ethical Such rationale is weak, because these years to monitor population trends, scientist as "one who does everything may be crude measures ignoring more movement patterns, food habits, and from the very beginning to ensure that subtle impacts. In many cases, how­ habitat use. During 1990, the IGBST study techniques do not affect the ani­ ever, these are the only criteria that can monitored a total of35 grizzly bears for mal. This is in theory, though. In be used, because it is impossible to ecological studies. Telemetry studies reality, effects will likely occur, so when know if the animal is really behaving as with these 35 bears have played a major effects are seen, a good researcher will it would if it didn't have the collar on. role in the preservation of this threatened change study methods." Uncollared animals cannot be followed species and their habitat. And as research Kerry recognizes that studying lions as well as collared ones, and so we continues, new pressures on the bears might influence individual animals in . cannot compare the behavior of the two and their habitat expand the need to several ways: 1) capture and handling, groups. learn more. 2) wearing of the radio collar, and 3) Tracking may also affect the animals. disturbing the animal while radio Telemetry allows biologists to approach Does telemetry affect the animal? tracking. Kerry's research statistics-- study animals at will, so personnel can 72 radio collared lions over 152 captures potentially stress the animal, and change When telemetry is justified and ani­ with no capture-related mortalities--is its normal movement patterns and be­ mals are handled and marked, it is im­ not achieved without a conscientious havior, reducing the accuracy of the portant, both ethically and scientifically, and introspective attitude. From ob­ study. As part of his study, Kerry has to affect the animal as little as possible. serving animal behavior during capture followed specific lions for as much as Few biologists would deny that telem- to monitoring of the captured animal's 55 consecutive days to determine the

8 Yellowstone Science A spotted frog wearing a prototype .07 ounces (2 grams) backpack radio transmitter. This frog weighs only .9oz. (26 g.), and is just "modelling"the trans1nitter for photographic purposes; frogs that will wear this unit in field research situations will more "typically weigh 1.4 oz. (40 g.). The transmitter has a range of about 325 yards (300 m.). The backpack is madefrompanty hose fabric. Photo courtesy of Charles Peterson, CuratorofHerpetology,ldaho Museum of Natural History.

lion's frequency of predation. To re­ by surgically implanting small, sterile public, the public was very supportive. duce his effects on the lions, he uses transmitters into the abdominal cavities Still, the goals and policies of the the telemetry to avoid disturbing the of coyote pups. The coyote biologists National Park Service are to keep ani­ animal. Because Kerry and his team recognized we were affecting pups mals in as natural a state as possible. usually know the location of the lion, through capture, handling, and surgery, The University of Wisconsin-Madison they are able to wait until they are sure so we all took every precaution to mini­ is currently conducting research to pro­ that it has left the area. For example, mize physical and psychological vide alternatives to visible radio collars. lion kills are not investigated until the stresses. All field personnel spoke in BobGarrettandP. J. White are studying lion has completely left the area of the soft whispers. Pups stayed in cool, dark the highly visible elk in the Firehole/ carcass. cloth bags, and were handled as little as Madison area of western Yellowstone. One way to reduce the long-term possible. Once under anesthesia, tem­ Their principle objectives are to inves­ effects of collaring animals is the use perature, pulse, and respirations were tigate links between habitat, diet, physi­ of "break-away" collars that deterio­ monitored every 10-15 minutes. ology, and population dynamics. Bob rate and fall off after a certain period of Surgeries were conducted on the site and P.J. are testing abdominal implants use. In a study where it is difficult to of the capture, in a tent much like a in 6 of 25 radio collared elk to see if recapture the animal, such a collar small field clinic. And as soon as the implants can be a reliable and less vis­ reduces the impacts of research. pups recovered, they were quickly re­ ibly distracting alternative to collars. turned to their quiet den. After each It is remarkable how technology has Is telemetry humane? session, we reviewed the day's events, allowed us to follow and study animals seeking ways to refine and improve our from a distance, and to locate them The public's increased concern for work. whenever we wish. The diversity of animal welfare has increased the self­ While those of us in wildlife science telemetry has almost matched the diver­ awareness of wildlife personnel and and management are constantly im­ sity of wild animals in the Greater agencies. More than ever, wildlife proving the capabilities of radiotelem­ Yellowstone Area. Although technol­ biologists are addressing the animal's etry and reducing the impact on wild­ ogy will continue providing us with well-being as the highest priority of life, the real ultimate goal may be never new techniques and approaches for telemetry programs. Dr. Robert to handle wildlife at all. But handling studying wildlife, there must always be Crabtree, of Montana State Univer­ wildlife cannot yet be avoided, and so an underlying concern about what we sity, currently oversees coyote studies when telemetry is needed, the highest are doing and why we are doing it. in the Lamar Valley and the Blacktail priority should be the well-being of the Radio tracking of wildlife can never be Plateau in Yellowstone National Park. animal. taken lightly, no matter how far tech­ Yellowstone coyotes are one of the nology advances. It is important for few relatively undisturbed and What do park visitors think of it all? researchers and lay persons alike to unexploited populations in temperate ensure that we are conscious of our North America. In his study, Dr. During a study of white-tailed deer in reasons, conscientious in our actions, Crabtree uses telemetry to study the Cades Cove of Great Smokies Moun­ and, most of all, respectful of the wild movements, behavior, and mortality tain National Park, visitors were sur­ animals that mean so much to us. causes of coyote pups. Little is known veyed to determine their attitudes to­ about these young animals, partly be­ wards radio collared deer. The survey Mark Johnson is a wildlife veterinarian cause they grow too fast to be radio revealed that park employees were more with a wide experience at wildlife han­ collared. bothered by the adornments on the ani­ dling and radiotelemetry. He currently To help overcome this obstacle, I mals than was the general public. In works for the Research Division in recently assisted Bob in his research fact, given time educating the general Yellowstone Park.

Fall 1992 9 Renee Evanoff Yellowstone Science Interview: Elizabeth Barnosky

Confidence in the Past The practice and potential of wildlife paleoecology in Yellowstone

Until recently, relatively little was useful site is not likely to happen just They collect scats, and this is where you known about life in Yellowstone from anywhere, because most places have get into the mammal remains--from the end of the last ice age until the constant turnover of the top ~urface of carnivores, raptor pellets, bones, hair arrival ofEuropeans in the New World. the soil, and you're looking for a place from carcasses, and so on. They collect Several studies have been underway in where whatever gets buried stays that tinfoil and anything that wasn't covered recent years to change that, including way. up and nailed down. They collect string Elizabeth Barnosky's paleoecological Near streams, you look for alluvial I've put around the pit to identify the excavations on Yellowstone's Northern deposits, where there have been floods levels of excavation. They chewed on Range. Her first site, now known as and then the stream has moved and just all my little canvas storage bags. Lamar Cave, resulted in an M.S. thesis left its bed covering whatever it cov­ YS Any theories on why they do it? at NorthernArizona University in 1990. ered. Abandoned meanders in a river EB No one is really sure. I think all Since then she has continued that work are perfect places to look. Preservation these little things they do are geared and has added a second site in the Soda of animal remains is affected by several toward protection of their nest. Having Butte drainage. These are the first factors after they' reburied, too. There's talked with packrat researchers, my wildlife-oriented paleoecological stud­ soil pH involved, and you don't want a guess is that when they take these scats ies in the park, and have opened a site that's been wet and dry a lot. Now and pellets they're collecting smells. fascinating window on the region's pre­ that I know what to look for, I realize What limits the distribution of most histo1y. This interview with Liz was how lucky I was; the Lamar Cave turned small mammals is the vegetation they conducted in July of 1991, just as she out to be the perfect little storage unit. need, but what limits pack rats isn't so was finishing her excavation ofthe Soda YS But what makes all this possible, all much vegetation type as suitable nest­ Butte site. Ed. this perfect storage of animal remains, ing site. You have to look in the right is in fact another ariimal. I suspect that spots for them, and where you find them Yellolvstone Science Caves have a very few people realize how dependent doesn't seem to have much to do with magic that attracts even the layman, but studies of this sort are on packrats. How the vegetation nearby. It has to do with not just any cave will do for your pur­ do packrats do it? What do they collect? the quality of their little cave and being poses. What kind of things are you What form do they find it in? near a cliff or a relatively inaccessible looking for when you're trying to find a EB Really,ldon'tknowofanotherway spot. It's their nesting sites that matter site that's going to be useful? to get this information other than most to them. Elizabeth Sarnosky Deposition and packrats. They are so good at collect­ YS So when they collect stuff, they're preservation are the two keys. You ing, but there's a lot about packrats that taking away things that they identify as need a site that has depth, that doesn't we don't know. The studies that have some competitor's attempt to take over just have rock right under it, and that's been done in other parts of the country that territory? in a spot that could keep it safe. It's say that they collect material from within EB Maybe. They might also be collect­ possible to just walk out anywhere and fifty meters of the nest. I don't know ing scents so that if a predator were to start digging and find some sort of ob­ why exactly, but they collect a little bit come into their cave it would leave sidian flake, for example, or some other ofeverything. They collect many forms because it smelled another predator. archeological remains. But a good, of vegetation, including sticks and cones. That's one guess. Obviously, they're

IO Yellowstone Science getting food, too. They chew on the bigger bones that they collect, and I've heard them gnawing on antlers when I've been working in the cave. They clip vegetation and bring willows in. YS How big an object can they haul? They're not going to bring in an elk legbone. EB No, but they can bring in a coyote legbone. YS Does that introduce a bias against the biggest animals making it into the cave sample? EB Yes, but Lamar Cave has been a carnivore den too, so the carnivores themselves will bring in big leg bones. But even at that, preservation in Lamar Cave has been against the survival of really big bones. One reason is that the big bones last longer as exposed objects. They're harder to cover up. If a coyote wandered into the cave and saw a fifty­ year old piece of a femur sticking up through all this duff and organic stuff, he could pick it up and haulit out. A tiny' mouse femur, on the other hand, is go­ ing to get buried with the first batch of vegetation that is laid on top of it. Plus, the packrats and the carnivores gnaw on the big bones and break them up. And so in Lamar Cave there are lot of big bones, but they're in little pieces. YS You're mostly working with skulls? EB Teeth. With the larger animals, I identify every single thing I can, be­ cause how often do you see a coyote dragging an elk's skull? That's not a part of the elk's body that most carni­ vores like to drag around, and so teeth of ungulates are not as easily deposited, although there are certainly teeth from large mammals in the cave, including controversial animals, especially elk and Opposite: the distribution of prairie elk, bison, deer, and sheep. We also wolves. There has been a "common vole re1nains in Lamar Cave reveal have a lot of ungulate feet bones and leg knowledge" perspective for many years climate changes over the past 1,500 bones. I can identify maybe one in that elk and wolves weren't native to years. Above: Elizabeth Sarnosky at twenty of the large mammal bone frag­ Yellowstone, and your study shows her Soda Butte site. ments, maybe even less than that. We otherwise. But that isn't the primary count all these shards, and we know focus for your study. Can you describe that elk weren't here. Elk are doing fine they come from large animals, anything your focus? here now, and there's been no major from a coyote to a bison, and we often EB First I'll tell you the reason why elk change that would suggest that sud­ don't know which one. There may be and wolves aren't my focus. There was denly this has become an optimal place ways to figure that out. There may be no scientific reason for questioning for them. When you start looking at some way of looking at the DNA. The whether or not elk and wolves were extinctions or exclusions of these big stuff in Lamar Cave is so young it's not present here prehistorically. It's just mammals, you have to go back 14,000 fossilized. obvious that it's not a scientifically valid years to look at a time period that is YS Of course what has gotten a lot of question in terms of pure paleontology. really different from today, when you attention in your findings have been the It would never occur to a paleontologist might add new large members of fauna

Fall 1992 II to the mammalian community, or sub­ lasted over a longer period of time. It Analysis of paleontological evidence tract them. So it's kind of intuitively tells us a lot more about the perspective from a site requires sifting hundreds of sensible that they were present. Every of the hundred-year changes that we' re bucketloads of soil, layer by layer, time I've tried to incorporate elk or used to historically. through progressively finer screens in wolves into a presentation to a scientific Packrats make it exciting too, be­ search of small fragments of teeth and audience that's not really even aware of cause it's a short-term time scale, and bone. All material is then bagged and the controversy here, they just think I'm the packrats still live in there. They run catalogued for later examination. wasting my breath. They don't doubt over my back when I'm excavating. the animals were here. They steal my things. I just love that, After the winter of 1988-1989, there For paleoecologists, there are much that they' re still there, collecting. When were two winter-killed elk carcasses more interesting questions about Lamar I go back on Monday and look at this within a hundred meters of the cave. Cave. It has an unusual time scale. It's new pit, it's going to be covered with That summer, two packratnests in Lamar not quite paleontology in some people's vegetation. You can still see it happen­ Cave were made out of elk hair. You eyes because it's so young, and it's not ing. It's just fascinating. It's not like can watch the carcasses fade, you can quite biology in other people's eyes something long dead, an animal that watch the skeletons start to stand out, becauseit'ssoold. Yetitisboth. lttells you have to imagine what it looked like and you can watch the bones accumu­ both disciplines a lot that other studies and how it moved. late in the cave. You can see it all still of other ages won'ttell them. A paleon­ YS You mean like studying dinosaurs. happening. tological site that is really young like EB Right. That's a different area of YS Half the fun of your "detective this is fascinating because it tells us fascination. Lamar Cave shows us a work" in sorting out what has gone on about more subtle changes than you process that is still going on. It's really around Lamar Cave the past couple could recognize in an older site that easy for me to imagine 2,000 years. thousand years must be in trying to sort

12 Yellowstone Science Renee Evanoff out how the material got into the cave. Tell me about taphonomic bias. EB This is a big question for paleon­ tologists. How do you do a valid census of what lives in an area today? There are so many biases in small-mammal trapping. Some small mammals love the trap, some of them are trap shy. Some of them are only trapped at cer­ tain times. Some are nocturnal, some are diurnal. How do you capture ev­ erything that uses this little system? How long do you have to stand there to watch a grizzly bear go by? I think that Lamar Cave, with its packrats and car­ Packrat, also known as the nivores gathering bones, does a better bushy-tailed woodrat. job of collecting a representative sample than we can. If you 're out there and coyote broke it up or chewed on it. where they've gone in a day. you're in abundance, you're going to Maybe a fire came in and burnt it. Then My conclusion in my thesis was that get eaten. And if you get eaten around it got buried by the periodic layering of practically everything I find in the cave Lamar Cave, you're going to get put sediments on the cave floor, and noth­ came from within something like five into Lamar Cave. ing else happened to it. So there's not a miles of it. Three miles is about the Taphonomy is the study of what hap­ lot of disturbance, what is called daily home range size of a coyote, you pens to an animal after it dies until it's bioturbation in this case, once it's fi­ know, kind of zigzagging and walking uncovered by someone, so the nally buried in Lamar Cave. all around. Certainly raptors can fly taphonomic bias is really important. At Buttaphonomic bias is complex. Let's great straight-line distances, but in Lamar Cave, we'relucky because there say that packrats range 100 meters from watching the raptors out in the Lamar are not a lot of things that happened to their nest. Does that mean that all these Valley, which is so big and wide, I saw the remains after the animal died. Maybe things that we find in the cave were that they tend to swoop down and cap­ it was preyed upon, or maybe it just died collected within I 00 meters? No. How ture something and then perch. Ravens of starvation or freezing or whatever, far are coyotes and hawks and owls and some of the hawks will sit on those then the bones were brought in to the going to range to get the food that will big glacial boulders and isolated Dou­ cave by a packrat or a coyote or a wolf. make up their scats? Raptors can range glas-firs. Then the only thing that happened to it pretty far. They produce pellets about I don't really know how far they all was that the packrats gnawed on it or a every 24 hours, and so the pellets reflect go, but there aren't extraneous animals ,,,

Fall 1992 13 represented in Lamar Cave material to suggest that these bones are coming from any great distance like 50 miles away. YS So perhaps the big question is, how much paleoecology can tell us? How does it radiate out from the bones you find to a portrait of what Yellowstone was like? Yellowstone is currently hosting several paleontological projects, including Cathy Whitlock's (University of Oregon--Ed.) studies of the pollen record in lakes and Grant Meyer's (University of New Mexico) dating of the fire record in alluvial deposits. It appears that you and your scientific colleagues are writing a whole new pre­ historic biography of the region. EB One thing you have to remember when you look at the records of the past is that they don't answer your questions exactly the way you want them an­ swered. For example, the small mam­ mals indirectly answer questions about the climate because there are direct ef­ fects of climate on animals. Usually, something like climate affects the veg­ etation first, and then the effect appears in the animals. But the process of un­ derstanding what happened by analyz­ ing animal remains is still very interpre­ tive. For example, in the remains in Lamar Cave, there is a time period that appears to have been effectively drier, but I can't say for sure that it didn't rain just as much then. Maybe the amount of so that there's just a little more grass out A palmjul ofpaleontological clues, small rain was the same but the average tem­ there, what does that mean for the eco­ bones and fragments (including an perature was higher so that the moisture system? That's what Cathy's pollen unidentified rodent jaw with a few teeth), got used up faster, giving the effect of it studies can get at. freshly screened from the Lamar Cave being drier. YS The public conception of how site in northern Yellowstone. In some cases there is no way to changes happen is perhaps subcon­ answer questions like that with just the sciously based on their own life span. were alive, and they had a lot more mammal evidence. But when you com­ To most people, their life span meets snow, or even if they say that things bine different paleo studies, you come their definition of a long time. But the have changed a lot in the past ten years, closer to being able to answer those hard lesson here in Yellowstone is that it makes me realize that we don't have questions better. Interdisciplinary European Americans have only been any idea where we're going. People are studies approach similar questions but active here for less than two centuries, always trying to find some kind of order from different angles. and we've only got written records for a in the world so that they feel confident Grant is finding periods of change little more than a century, and that's not about the future. My confidence comes that relate exactly to at least two time enough to tell us much about how these from just seeing what happened in the periods at Lamar Cave, one being the systems work. It just seems like that's past. effectively drier period, and one the hard for people to grasp. YS So, what can the small mammals at effectively wetter period. All this evi­ EB Baving a longer-term perspective your two sites tell you about change in dence makes you realize how broad­ of the past is really essential. When I the past? ranging the effects of a climatic change hear someone say that the winters were EB I used the small mammal bones to may be. Even if it's significant enough a lot harsher when their grandparents look at how the relative abundance of

14 Yellowstone Science these small mammals changed. In the ferentmicrohabitats. BothLamarCave hares at Lamar Cave, but virtually every Lamar Cave, it's so interesting because and the new Soda Butte site have small level at Soda Butte has rabbits and hares it's so easy to see, and because it relates mammal trapping studies going on. and pikas. It looks like the remains in so directly to how the animals live. YS The effect of those studies will be to the cave really are representing the ar­ The ground squirrels, the ones that give you a current check on how things eas and habitats nearby. make the kamikaze dashes across the are going for the small mammals, right? In paleontology it's easy to assume road in front of our cars, prefer to live in EB Yes, there are many small habitats that what you find in a site is what was grasslands, and they like to be able to nearby, and so there are different scales common in the region around it. But see. The reason they like to be able to in the study of this site from the Lamar here in Yellowstone we have two sites see is that their social organization is Cave site. less than 20 miles apart, probably about such that that's how they protect them­ This brought up some interesting the same age. And yet they tell us very selves. They have a watchdog who is questions. Is the Soda Butte site going different things about what animals lived always whistling at you when you come to give us a different set of animals, that here. The sites really do tell you what too close; they depend on that social is a different assortment, in the forest was in the site's loca~ity, rather than in organization to protect their commu­ around it than in the sagebrush-grass­ the larger region. nity. They bun·ow underground to es­ lands around Lamar Cave, several miles cape from predators. away? It's an important test of the The findings at Lanzar Cave have been Voles, on the other hand, don'tlivein precision of the study of paleoecology reported in Elizabeth Hadly's M.S. those tightly knit social communities. in Yellowstone. thesis, "Late Holocene Ma1nmalian They need dense grasslands because YS Well? How does it look so far? Fauna of Lan1ar Cave and its Implica­ they build grass-lined runways thathide EB From the first go-round, the two tions for Ecosystem Dynamics in them from predators. So if you sud­ sites have very different percentages of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming," denly put voles in very open grasslands, animals. We hardly had any rabbits or Northern Arizana University, 1990. they're exposed and they run all over looking for cover because that's how· theyprotectthemselves. They live above ground and they don't have burrows like the ground squirrels do. And so, even without looking at what these two species eat, just looking at their habitat preferences based on pro­ tecting themselves from predation, it's clear they thrive best in different mi­ crohabitats. The bones in Lamar Cave tell us that 1,000 years ago there were a lot more ground squirrels relative to the vole, and 1,500 years ago voles were more common than ground squirrels. Based on what we know about the habi­ tat preferences of the two species, I concluded that 1,500 years ago it was wetter and 1,000 years ago it was drier. There are still other questions, though; I'd like to understand a little bit more about how specific the various small mammals are to the habitat. Some of them aren't at all. Deer mice don't care where they are. YS Is your new site aimed at helping you do that? EB It is. My new site is in a different macro habitat, in a forest. That's going to tell me about the big scale, of why are they different or if they're different. And so far !think they certainly are. But then within those two sites, small­ marnmal grids incorporate lots of dif-

Fall 1992 15 Book Review absence of this species from the habitat should have been supported with ex­ type map (printed in color as the frontis­ perimental evidence, from the literature Yellowstone Vegetation: Consequences piece). This anomaly is due to the or otherwise, but the author could be of Environnzent and History in a Natu­ author's conclusion that lodgepole pine right in suggesting that the same aspen ral Setting. Don G. Despain. is rarely a climax species (i.e., self­ clones browsed by deer and elk today Roberts Rinehart Publishers, Boulder, perpetuatingwithoutmajordisturbances may have been fed upon by mammoths Colorado, 1990.xiii +239pages;$14.95 such as fire). Habitat types are classi­ and camels. (paper) fied according to the perceived climax The description of habitat types is species, not necessarily the species that followed by a four-page chapter on the Yellowstone, the earth's first national dominate the forest at the present time. plant communities of geyser basins park, occupies a central position in the Research by Despain and others suggests (thermal areas). Data are presented Rocky Mountains of North America that lodgepole pine can indeed be the showing how the vegetation changes as and is a favorite destination for tourists climax tree in drier environments, but substrate temperature increases. and scientists with special interests in apparently this is rare in Yellowstone. Yellowstone's only known endemic natural history. Yellowstone Vegetation The classification of park forests as plant, Ross' bentgrass (an annual), is summarizes information on the ecology they exist today was done using found in this unique environment­ of plant communities in the area. Two Despain's "cover type" concept. Each warmed as much by the earth's molten chapters are rather detailed for ama­ cover type is comprised of the vegeta­ interior as by the sun. teurs, but the other six will be appreci­ tion that develops within a certain time I predict that most readers will enjoy ated by a wide spectrum of park visitors. period after a stand-replacing fire, the the second half of Yellowstone Veg­ After a brief introduction to the cli­ major disturbance that initiates sec­ etation more than they enjoy the first. mate, geology, and land-use history of ondary succession. For example, In a section on the origin and distribu­ Yellowstone National Park (YNP), and Despain' s LPO cover type is for lodge­ tion of vegetation, the geologic history a section on definitions, there is a long pole pine forests that have developed in and paleoecology of Yellowstone are chapter ( 43% of the text) that describes an area burned within the last 40 years, reviewed. It is hard to imagine palms, 31 forest habitattypes and 12 shrubland and the LP! cover type is for lodgepole avocados, and mangroves in and grassland habitat types - some in forests that were initiated more than 40 Yellowstone 50 million years ago, just more detail than others. Descriptions but less than 150 years ago. The text as it is difficult to believe that maples, include two photographs, a small dis­ briefly describes 15 forest cover types, oaks, and hickories were common 30 tribution map, the names of common and a small color map (inside back million years ago. However, the fossil plant species, elevational distribution, cover) attempts to show the distribution evidence leaves no doubt about the cli­ disturbance and successional charac­ of 40 cover types. Unfortunately, the matic changes that have occurred. The teristics, soils, and occasionally, insights map is too small for this level of detail importance of volcanic eruptions is dis­ on planUanimal interactions. An ap­ and the legend is confusing. This, and cussed, but unfortunately the 27 layers pendix provides a key for habitat type the repetition of one paragraph (bottom of buried forest at Specimen Ridge are identification. of page 82 and top of page 94) after an not described. The details of distinguishing habitat I I-page interruption in the text, are the The chapter on paleoecology is fol­ types are of interest primarily to ecolo­ major detractions from an otherwise lowed by a detailed review of the Park's gists conducting research in the area, well-edited volume. current physical environment. This but the author used this information to One of the more interesting sections chapter presents more data than any of calculate some statistics of interest to in the chapter on habitat types describes the others, and includes climate dia­ many. For example, 80percentofYNP the ecological characteristics of aspen. grams for 13 weather stations in addi­ is forested, and of the forests, 60percent Despain notes that aspen groves are tion to, for example, a graph showing would have subalpine fir as the char­ infrequent, usually found in the north­ the relationship between snowcover and acteristic climax tree. The remainder of ern part of the Park, and that they rare! y elevation and a table showing tem­ the Park would be characterized, at the cover more than 10 acres. Root sprouting perature changes with elevation during end of successional development, by is the most common form of reproduc­ each month (lapse rates). The chapter either Douglas fir, whitebark pine, tion, but seedlings are observed from ends with an analysis that suggests lodgepole pine, Engelmann spruce, or time to time following fires and other correlations between various vegetation aspen. The most common grassland and disturbances, and when climatic con­ types and soil characteristics. In gen­ shrub land habitat types are Idaho fescue/ ditions are favorable for their estab­ eral, lodgepole pine and some subalpine bearded wheatgrass, tufted hairgrass/ lishment. Despain maintains that aspen fir habitat types are found on the less sedge, big sagebrush/Idaho fescue, and is very tolerant to browsing, persisting fertile, coarser soils derived from silver sagebrush/Idaho fescue. in some areas as small sprouts, and that rhyolite; whereas most meadows, Because of lodgepole pine's current some clones could be very old. Dis­ sagebrush shrublands, and the mesic abundance, and the publicity it received cussions of "juvenility" (pages 97-101) subalpine fir and whitebark pine habitat in 1988, some will be puzzled by the and chemical defenses to herbivory types are found on the more fertile,

16 Yellowstone Science finer-textured soils derived from 16 pages of maps (one per page) illus­ 1989, were not cited). Also, most pho­ andesite. trating the spread of the mountain pine tographs have very sketchy captions Chapter six identifies the physi­ beetle from 1970 to 1985, all of which that do not give locations or the names ographic regions found within the Park, are simple enough to have been shown of the plants illustrated. The inclusion namely, the Gallatin Range, Absaroka on one or two pages. Publication dead­ of repeat photographs would have been Range, Central Plateaus, Southwest lines may have prevented the inclusion helpful; they are available and serve Plateaus, and the Yellowstone-Lamar of additional data from 1988. Data on well to document vegetation changes. River Valleys. A map illustrates the the Park's experience with fire from On the other hand, Yellowstone Veg­ location of these "geovegetation prov­ 1972 to 1988 (mostly to 1986) are in- etation summarizes a large amount of inces" and the text describes some of . eluded, and there are brief discussions ecological information, much of it de­ the unique characteristics of each. Also, of the effect offire on fish, wildlife, and rived from the author's extensive expe­ there is a table that gives the percentage understory plants. The history of west­ rience. Details on the physiographic of each province covered by different ern spruce budworm control efforts is regions, climate, and habitat types of habitat types and, interestingly, the reviewed along with the effects of insects the Park are now readily available, as percentage of each of the Park's habitat and wind on flammability and succes­ are interesting observations on, for ex­ types found within the province. sion. The last chapter describes bliefly, ample, the role of pine squirrels and At the heart of vegetation science is in five pages, how information on veg­ meadows in providing food for grizzly the analysis of disturbances and succes­ etation is useful for analyzing the habitat bears, the vegetation differences caused sion. In chapter 7 Despain identifies of rare species (the grizzly bear in par­ by different kinds of volcanic rocks, fire, insects, disease, wind, avalanches, ticular), assessing potential fire behav­ and the author's view on the effects of water table changes, and changes in ior, and restoring lands disturbed by large herbivores on aspen. This synthesis geothermal outputs as being the major construction. surely will elevate the ability of scien­ disturbances. Fire, insects, and wind are Overall, some readers will be disap­ tists and the general public for under­ discussed. The chapter presents a nice pointed by the lack of data on plant standing and appreciating the plant life overview of fire ecology in coniferous species composition, the small maps, of Yellowstone-the primary goal of forests, but the 1988 fires are not de­ little or no detail on methods, and very the author. scribed in much detail. There is no map little integration of pertinent literature Dennis H. Knight showing the extent of the 1988 fires, (for example, papers on the 1988 fires Department of Botany which is odd considering that there are that appeared in BioScience, November University of Wyoming

News and Notes ''A new level of sophistication'' Biennial scientific conference series begins well The First Biennial Scientific Confer­ Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest the kinds of research and resource is­ ence on the Greater Yellowstone Eco­ Service, Montana State University­ sues facing national parks in general system, entitled "Plants and Their En­ University of Wyoming-Yellowstone and Yellowstone in particular. Dr. vironments," was held at Mammoth Hot National Park Cooperative Park Stud­ Dwight Billings of Duke University Springs, September 15-17, 1991. At­ ies Unit, and National Park Service (host opened the conference with a presenta­ tendance at the sessions varied from agency). tion on "the effects of global and regional about 125 to 175, with 164 registered The conference featured 34 papers environmental change on mountain attendees. Though a variety of topics and 18 posters, and the proceedings will ecosystems," portraying the consisten­ were considered, the foremost area of be published in the National Park Ser­ cies of change that occur in apparently focus was the park's Northern Range, vice Technical Report Series. When the different settings, and pointing out some which has been the subject of many new proceedings is completed and available, of the dramatic change that may occur studies in the past six years. Yellowstone Science will publish a re­ in many life communities due to global The conference was co-sponsored by view that provides details on these new climate change. the Ecological Society of America, research projects. The conference banquet on Monday Society for Conservation Biology, So­ Besides the array of important new evening was highlighted by the first A. ciety for Range Management, Wildlife scientific papers, three keynote speak­ Starker Leopold Lecture, honoring the Society, Yellowstone Association, U.S. ers provided broader perspectives on career achievements of the late A.

Fall 1992 17 •n-r ' II II

Starker Leopold (1913-1983), a pio­ Yellowstone Superintendent Robert ogy, plants in aquatic ecosystems, and neer in modern park ecology and man­ Barbee welcomes attendees to the In­ the interactions of micro-organisms and agement. ternational Luncheon. From left to plants. Dennis emphasized the special The lecture was delivered by Dr. right: Don Despain (NPS), Dennis research opportunities provided by the Norman Christensen, also of Duke Uni­ Knight(U. ofWy.), Samuel McNaughton park as a landscape "relatively free from versity. Norm's paper, "Plants in dy­ (Syracuse U.), Bob Barbee, John Varley human influences," and concluded that namic ecosystems: Is wilderness man­ (NPS), Anita Varley (NPS). "given the opportunity, scientists can agement an oxymoron?" addressed the help managers achieve the important ecological complexities of managing Dr. Dennis Knight, University of but difficult goal of natural area preser­ large natural areas that are constantly Wyoming, provided a masterful con­ vation." changing, just as our understanding of cluding overview of the conference, The conference also featured field their functional processes continually summarizing the many presentations. trips on wildlife, the Northern Range, changes. While acknowledging that Dennis, reflecting on the wealth of new aspen ecology, and fire, giving attend­ "we truly are tinkerers. Our knowledge information, said that, while "knowl­ ees a chance to get out and enjoy a is woefully imperfect. .. ," Norm asserted edge pertaining to the ecology of plants glorious Yellowstone autumn. The large that "ignorance will not provide a re­ in Yellowstone National Park was ad­ herd of elk that moves into the Mammoth prieve from managing,'' and that through vanced to a new level of sophistication," area each fall was much in evidence; the continued research, and through view­ much remains to be done, including bulls bugled day and night on the hotel ing management plans as "working more work on geyser basin plant ecol- lawns, with no apparent regard for the hypotheses" that can be tested overtime, comfort of scientists who wanted to get the challenges can be overcome. Dennis Knight, UniversityofWyoming, some sleep after a long day. The Superintendent's International accepted the challenge of siunmarizing John Varley, Yellowstone's Chiefof Luncheon provided an opportunity for a the conference. Research, expressed the sentiments of global perspective. Dr. Samuel conference organizers about the results McNaughton of Syracuse University of conference: "Launching this confer­ delivered the inaugural paper in this ence series was a major step for us, and series, "Comparative ecology of the hallway talk suggests to me that Yellowstone and Serengeti Ecosys­ we're off to a good start. There is so tems," pointing out that the magnitude much interest in Yellowstone science and intensity of grassland use by and issues that a biennial series, with the Yellowstone ungulates is no greaterthan active involvement of professional so­ grazer use of large African wildland cieties and other institutions, provides a systems. Sam's statement that perfect forum for the hundreds of re­

Yellowstone's grasslands are not over­ \'I> IHI 11! searchers doing work here. We expect grazed made headlines in regional ENVIRONMENTS the second conference [in I 993, on fire; newspapers, because the condition of '•!• ,.. :, ''''( see announcement on inside back cover Yellowstone's Northern Range has been ofthis issue. Ed.] to be bigger and even debated for decades. better than this one."

18 Yellowstone Science News and Notes, An iniportant picture is not necessarily a continued technically fine photo­ graph; our only still Was it a wolf? images of the possible On August 7 and 8, 1992, Ray wolf are these conver­ Paunovich, a film producer from sions of videotape made Bozeman, Montana, sighted and filmed froni 16 nun. 1novies. a large wolf-like canid in Hayden Val­ The top picture shows ley in central Yellowstone Park. Ray, the anifnal alone (note the long legs), the who is currently producing a grizzly bear film for Busch Film productions, middle shows it with a of Whitefish, Montana, has produced coyote passing in front several NOV A nature films involving of its hind quarters, and Yellowstone, and has extensive expe­ the botto1n shoJ-vs it close rience filming wolves. to a grizzly bear on a The film is of special significance, bison carcass. The not only for its exceptional quality (the indistinct black shapes first professional footage in any possible near the animals are Yellowstone wolf sightings), but also flying ravens. Courtesy for its contents. Ray filmed the animal of Busch Productions, interacting with grizzly bears, ravens, Inc. and a coyote, giving scientists the op­ portunity to study its size and behavior in relation to these other animals, as well as its color and other physical characteristics. Yellowstone Ecosystem by the 1930s, utes, however, the flow increased, in The animals were all feeding on two though occasional sightings of possible what Val described as the first evidence bison carcasses (apparently the result of or probable individual animals have of periodic geothermal activity (that is, bison bulls fighting during the rut); the occurred intermittently since then. The geyser-like bursts of flow rather than footage shows one grizzly bear in con­ U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is cur­ steady flow) in the lake. The ROY has trol of the carcasses while the wolf-like rently preparing an Environmental Im­ allowed Val to locate other possible animal approached the carcasses cau­ pact Statement on wolf reintroduction sites of such activity in other parts of the tiously, grabbing an occasional chunk to Yellowstone and central Idaho. lake, but the activity has never been of meat to then eat at a distance. The observed. coyote in the footage often stayed quite A Lake-bottom Geyser During the "eruptions," the surface of near the wolf-like animal, apparently the lake seemed to be slightly bulged, scavenging on its leftovers. An apparent first underwater geyser but the more noticeable effect was a The sighting received national media has been identified in Yellowstone Lake, smooth patch that "disturbs the wave notice, including an article inNeJ-vsweek near West Thumb Geyser Basin. Park field" in the area. Because of the small and short segments of the film shown on Interpreter John Dahlheim first noticed size of the channel under the ledge, the NBC, ABC, and CNN. Wolf researchers surface disturbances about 50 yards ROY was unable to measure the tem­ who watched the film concluded that offshore just south of the basin, and perature of the water at the source. The the animal did not act like a recently informed Val Klump, who has been highest temperature measured was about escaped domestic wolf or hybrid; it conducting a variety of lake-bottom in­ 86 °F(30°C) (the lake water there is displayed a familiarity with the other vestigations using a small remotely about 59°F, or !5°C), but the water was scavengers and its role in relation to operated vehicle (ROY) carrying a probably considerably warmer at the them. All agreed, however, that unless videocamera. source. the animal is captured and subjected to Val, from the University of Wiscon­ Val also provided an intriguing bio­ genetic studies, its true taxonomic sin-Milwaukee, Center for Great Lakes logical observation. It is the first under­ character cannot be determined. As of Studies, launched the ROY at the site water geothermal site he has found in late August, researchers were monitor­ and was able to locate the source of the the lake that seemed to attract, rather ing the area to determine if the animal flow in 15-20 feet(5-6 meters) of water, displace, trout. One large cutthroat trout, was still there. where, under a "canted ledge," there as Val put it, "may be making a living by Wolves were almost completely was at least a slight continuous flow of hanging around there." It appeared that eliminated from the Greater hot water and gas. Every 20-25 min- the fish moved into the upwelling of gas

Fall 1992 19 and water during the eruption. The eruption apparently churned up enough of the lake water to concentrate local invertebrates in a way that the trout could use.

Irving Friedman honored for Yellowstone work

In May, Dr. Irving Friedman of the U.S. Geological Survey received the stewardship award of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition for his work in research and protection of Greater Yellowstone geothermal resources. data on his movements. His estimated Yellowstone Park Historian Tom Irving, who has an international home range for that period was about Tankersley examines Dr. Silvernail's reputation in the field of stable isotopes 820 square miles, though his lifetime 1935 trophy lake trout shortly after its as applied to hydrology and geology, range was no doubt larger than that. return to the park. has been actively involved as a re­ Bear Number One bridged major eras searcherin Yellowstone for many years. in Yellowstone history. Born during taken in Yellowstone Park." The fish The Coalition gave him the award be­ the peak of human food availability to won second place in that year's Field & cause he has been an outspoken advo­ bears, when many grizzly bears fed at Stream contest. Dr. Silvernail had the cate of stronger and more protective garbage dumps in and near the park, he fish mounted, and it became a local geothermal legislation, repeatedly tes­ survived the controversial transition attraction and conversation piece for tifying before Congress and in other years of the late 1960s and early 1970s, many years. ways applying his expertise and voice when the grizzly bear population was When Dr. Silvernail passed away to the dialogues over the future fate of "weaned" from those food sources, and recently, his daughter, Mardell the region's geological wonders. when management removals of grizzly Silvernail Smith (Mrs. Sterling P. bears were at a historical high. Signifi­ Smith), expressed an interest in having Bear Number One cant changes in natural foods occurred the fish returned "to his original envi­ 1964-1992 after the dump closures, including in­ ronment." With the help of Chief Ranger creases in trout and ungulate popula­ Palma Wilson andSuperintendentJoann Grizzly bear #1, the first grizzly bear tions, so Number One spent most of his Kyra! of Scotts Bluff National Monu­ marked by the lnteragency Grizzly Bear long life adjusting to new conditions. ment, Nebraska, the fish was transported Study Team (IGBST), died in April, Though Number One was repeatedly back to Yellowstone, where it now shortly after emerging from his den. At trapped, he was not an especially visible awaits restoration. 28, he was one of the oldest documented bear, and once went for five years (1983- This specimen is much more than a grizzly bears in the more than 30 years 1988) without being officially observed, special momenta of Yellowstone his­ of grizzly bear research in the Greater trapped, or otherwise dealt with. He tory, and has value beyond its worth as Yellowstone Ecosystem. He apparently was the first of more than 200 bears to the largest park trout of which there is died of natural causes; the signal on his be captured and studied by the IGBST, official record. Prior to restoration, a collar switched to the mortality mode whose study of the Yellowstone grizzly small amount of material from the fish on April 4. When he was located by bear population is now in its twentieth will be removed (from the back of the researchers his remains were too de­ year. mount) for DNA analysis. That process composed for study, but it appeared that may be revealing in several ways, in­ he had been fed on by another bear. Big Fish Comes Home cluding comparisons with Great Lakes Number One was first trapped in lake trout DNA from the same period Wyoming in 1975, on Lodgepole Creek On July 9, !935, Dr. C.H. Silvernail, (the early plants of trout in Yellowstone in Wyoming, southeast of Cooke City. a dentist from Bridgeport, Nebraska, have in some cases preserved "museum­ His weight was estimated as 3 !0-330 caught a 37-pound (38-inch) lake trout grade" examples of strains of fish that lbs .. He was recaptured seven times, the from Heart Lake in southern elsewhere were long ago altered by last being on September 23, 1991, on Yellowstone Park. Dr. Silvernail hooked fisheries activities). Analysis of the Siggins Fork in Bridger-Teton National the fish at a depth of about I 00 feet, and scales and other material may also yield Forest; he then weighed 563. Though played it for 45 minutes. It was, in the information about growth rates of trout he was radio collared several times, words of Ranger Robert Beal, who filed more than half a century ago, and transmitter failures resulted in the accu­ a special incident report on the event, chemical analysis might reveal levels of mulation of only two years of complete "one of the largest Mackinaw trout ever lake pollutants as well.

20 Yellowstone Science First announcement Fire in Greater Yellowstone Second Biennial Scientific Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem September 1993 Yellowstone National Park Wyoming

The Yellowstone fires of 1988 resulted in one of the most intensive research programs in the history of the world's national parks. As of 1991, there were no less than 78 fire-related research projects underway, from numerous studies of vegetation (trees, grasslands, and other plant commu­ nities), to studies of various animal species (including insects, grizzly bears, mountain lions, and coyotes) to studies of the park'sdiverse aquatic ecosystems. These studies will give us a rare glimpse .;1 at the consequences and complexities of one of Greater Yellowstone's most important ecological processes.

The fifth anniversary of the 1988 Yellowstone fires is a significant time in postfire research, and many projects will be advanced enough to permit important findings to be reported. The conference will therefore be a milestone in wildland fire research. Watch for details in future announcements, or contact the Division of Research, Post Office Box 168, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190, to be placed on the mailing list. All currently permitted Yellowstone investigators will automatically receive notice of the conference.