volume 19 • issue 3 • 2011 Yellowstone’s Trumpeter Swans Shared Ideals in Yellowstone and Royal National Parks Wolverines in Greater Yellowstone DOUGLAS SMITH Trumpeter swans in flight on an autumn day in Yellowstone. A Change in Perspective e are probably all familiar with the declara- at how the interplay of biologic and abiotic factors changes tion attributed to Heraclitus: “There is noth- the structure of the Mammoth Hot Springs terraces. ing permanent except change.” Change is a Change in perspective is also evident within the staff of Wconstant in the ecological and physical processes of the the Yellowstone Center for Resources. Long-time Yellowstone natural world, the political and organizational structures Science editor, Tami Blackford, moves on to new challenges of human society, and the perspectives of scientists, histori- in the Yellowstone National Park Division of Interpretation ans, and resource managers presented with compelling new and Education. As we await the arrival of a new editor this data, events, and interpretations. In Yellowstone Science we winter, we will continue to report on research that contrib- present some of the information that continues to inform utes to decisions about how to best manage Yellowstone’s our work in Yellowstone and may change our perspectives. natural and cultural resources. Kim Allen Scott examines how the creation of Yellowstone As the new chief of the Yellowstone Center for Resources, National Park may have influenced the creation of the world’s I have the pleasure to lead an incredibly talented team of second oldest national park. As with Yellowstone, the early natural and cultural resource managers who are developing management practices of Royal National Park were forced applied science which helps manage the resources inside the to change as Australians struggled to achieve a similar lofty park, and who are working with our partners to look beyond conservation goal, while providing “for the use and enjoy- park boundaries at issues which effect resources throughout ment of the people.” the region. Recent research may require us to change our under- We hope you enjoy this issue. standing of Yellowstone’s role in the present and future of trumpeter swan and wolverine populations in this region. Bruce Fouke’s short feature highlights a new way of looking JASON WILMOT a periodical devoted to natural and cultural resources volume 19 • issue 3 • November 2011 Tami Blackford Editor Mary Ann Franke Paul Super Associate Editors Helicopter-based wolverine surveys can readily detect changes in the distribution Jennifer Baseden and relative numbers of wolverines in the park and its vicinity. Janine Waller Emily Yost Assistant Editors FEATURES Virginia Warner Assistant Editor Graphic Designer 6 Shared Ideals in Yellowstone and Artcraft Printers, Inc. Bozeman, Montana Printer Royal National Parks Historic documents suggest that the establishment of Yellowstone National Park may have inspired early advocates for Royal National Park in New South Wales, Australia. Kim Allen Scott 12 Yellowstone’s Trumpeter Swans in Peril? Yellowstone Science is published periodically. Biologists investigate possible explanations for the decreasing Support for Yellowstone Science is provided trend in the park’s resident trumpeter swans. by the Yellowstone Association, a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to serving P.J. White, Kelly M. Proffitt, Terry P. McEneaney, the park and its visitors. For more information about the association, including membership, Robert A. Garrott, and DougW. Smith or to donate to the production of Yellowstone Science, visit www.yellowstoneassociation.org or 17 Wolverines in Greater Yellowstone write: Yellowstone Association, PO Box 117, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190. The A multi-year project documenting wolverine distribution, opinions expressed in Yellowstone Science are the authors’ and may not reflect either movements, population characteristics, and habitat National Park Service policy or the views of the Yellowstone Center for Resources. requirements, was completed in 2011. Copyright © 2011, Yellowstone Association Kerry Murphy, Jason Wilmot, Jeff Copeland, Dan Tyers, and for Natural Science, History & Education. For back issues of Yellowstone Science, please see John Squires www.greateryellowstonescience.org/ys. Submissions are welcome from all investigators DEPARTMENTS conducting formal research in the Yellowstone area. To submit proposals for articles, to subscribe, or to send a letter to the editor, please write to the following address: 2 News & Notes Editor, Yellowstone Science, PO Box 168, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190. Citizen Scientists in Molecular-All-Taxa-Biodiversity-Inventory You may also email: [email protected]. of Yellowstone Lake • Summer Bison Count • Lake Trout Suppression Program Reviewed • Everglades Biologist Leads Yellowstone Science is printed on recycled paper with a soy-based ink. Yellowstone Center for Resources 4 Shorts Cover photo: Hydrothermal Processes above the Yellowstone Magma Trumpeter swans grooming on the Madison River. Chamber • Abiotic and Biotic Influences on Mammoth Hot Photo © Jennifer J. Whipple. Springs News & Notes Citizen Scientists in genetic information will be new to Ecology course was developed by the Molecular-All-Taxa- science. To date, the science teachers John Varley, Tim McDermott, Biodiversity Inventory of who looked in the lagoons and deltas Stephanie McGinnis, and Susan Kelly Yellowstone Lake have discovered at least one Cladoceran with the Institute of the Environment (Eurycercus lamellatus), two Copepoda at MSU. The larger MATBI study Since the pilot study conducted (Macrocyclops and Diaptomus nudus), has been funded through MSU, the in 2004, the Molecular-All-Taxa- and the first Ostracod crustacean Yellowstone Park Foundation, the Biodiversity Inventory (MATBI) proj- (Cypridae) from Yellowstone Lake. In Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, ect on Yellowstone Lake has shown that other categories, they found the first and the National Park Service. the biodiversity of the lake is much Collembola (springtails) in the lake and The project’s technical partners richer and broader than early studies numerous insects that have yet to be include Eastern Oceanics LLC, the concluded. New species to Yellowstone analyzed and added to the MATBI. J. Craig Venter Institute, and the US National Park, and possibly to sci- The Yellowstone Lake Geology and Geological Survey. ence, have been detected in all three domains of life (Bacteria, Archaea, SUSAN K and Eukarya), challenging the notion E LL that high-altitude lakes are simple Y ecosystems. A major emphasis of the MATBI survey has been to provide in-depth characterization of eukaryotic lake species, focusing on the plankton of Yellowstone Lake. Consequently, lake habitats such as lagoons and deltas were not explored by the formal study. In an expansion of the project’s partnership with Montana State University (MSU), citizen scientists were invited to supple- ment that research. In July 2011, for the second consecu- SUSAN K tive summer, teachers from across the E LL nation participated in a week-long field Y course, Yellowstone Lake Geology and Ecology, offered through the Master’s in Science of Science Education program at MSU. Teachers took part in several field geology and lake ecology sessions and collected lake organisms in a mini-bioblitz. Data and samples collected by the teachers helped supple- ment the data for the MATBI project. Teachers taxonomically identified organisms using microscopes in a field lab and then returned to MSU to start the molecular genetics analyses. Many specimens collected during the field campaigns are fairly com- In July 2011, teachers collected organisms from Yellowstone Lake and analyzed mon to the lake and park, but their data for the MATBI project. 2 Yellowstone Science 19(3) • 2011 N P Summer Bison Count Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the Intertribal S Buffalo Council, the Confederated Yellowstone National Park’s 2011 sum- Salish Kootenai Tribes, and the Nez mer bison population is estimated to Perce Tribe. More information on the be 3,700, compared to 3,900 bison in IBMP can be found at http://ibmp.info. summer 2010. The peak population estimate of 5,000 bison was recorded in Lake Trout Suppression summer 2005. Program Reviewed The estimate is based on a series of aerial surveys conducted in June and On June 14, 2011, Yellowstone National New chief of the Yellowstone Center July. The population includes 3,100 Park staff facilitated a three-day work- for Resources, Dave Hallac. adult and yearling bison, and 600 shop in which scientists from federal, calves of the year. There are currently state, academic, and non-governmental an estimated 2,300 bison in the north- entities gathered to assess recent results of the Yellowstone Center for Resources ern breeding herd and 1,400 in the of the lake trout suppression program (YCR), Dave Hallac will oversee most central breeding herd. on Yellowstone Lake. The goal of the of the park’s natural and cultural Above average snowpack during event was to seek guidance and recom- resources management functions. winter 2010–11 and an extended cold mendations for future cutthroat trout Hallac’s experience includes more spring delayed the greenup of forage restoration activities on the lake. than a decade working with fish and on higher elevation ranges. A compari- Dr. Robert Gresswell, research wildlife conservation, invasive spe- son of the summer 2010 population scientist from US