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Symposia: December 15-17
Wind Energy/Wildlife interactions: Assessing Risk and Minimizing Impacts
Invasive Species Spread By Recreational Boaters: Impacts and Prevention Strategies
Noninvasive Survey Techniques for Carnivores
Long-Term Analyses and Ecological Thresholds
Understanding Midwestern Reservoir Function By Building on Existing Conceptual Models
Squeezing the Most Out of the Farm Bill Conservation Title
Uses of Otolith Chemistry for Midwest Fisheries Management
National Estuarine Research Reserve
Symposia Overview
Wind Energy/Wildlife interactions: Assessing Risk and Minimizing Impacts
Contact: Keith Lott 
Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife
(419) 433-4601
The number of wind energy facilities in the Midwest has increased dramatically within the last decade. This rapid expansion, along with new observations of relatively high mortality rates at these more modern turbines has added to the growing concern over the direct and indirect environmental impacts associated with wind energy. Because wind energy is relatively new in the mid-west, many states are attempting to cope with similar issues at the same time. This symposium would provide a forum to address various topics related to wind/wildlife interactions in order to keep agencies abreast of current issues and methods of minimizing impacts to wildlife.
Invasive Species Spread By Recreational Boaters: Impacts and Prevention Strategies
Contact: Lindsay Chadderton 
The Nature Conservancy, Great Lakes Program
(574) 631-3618 (Office)
We aim to update fish and wildlife managers and stakeholders on the range and effectiveness of recent modeling and management interventions designed to abate the spread of aquatic invasive species by recreational boating. We propose to both describe developing issues and bio-economic impacts associated with this pathway to highlight the need for renewed management attention. We will also report on and discuss results of recent studies that consider the efficacy and uses of new modeling approaches, boat wash and education strategies. Finally we hope to use this symposium to promote results of initial discussions on the development of a coordinated approach to the management of this vector across the Midwest region.
Noninvasive Survey Techniques for Carnivores
Contact: Suzie Prange
Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife
(740) 589-9924
Carnivores are an inherently difficult group to study. They are often nocturnal, secretive, wide ranging, and occur at relatively low densities. For these reasons, invasive techniques, or those that require the capture and handling of individual animals are time consuming and costly. Costs are often prohibitive, especially for large-scale studies. Furthermore, invasive techniques may stress or injure animals, which can be a significant concern when dealing with threatened or endangered species.
Due to the elusive nature of most carnivore species, their population status is often unknown, and this lack of knowledge is a growing concern for researchers and managers. In response to recent advances in technology, molecular techniques, and quantitative methods, noninvasive techniques are quickly becoming the methods of choice for surveying carnivores. The 6 most commonly used noninvasive techniques are camera traps, track plates, scent stations, snow tracking, hair snares, and scat surveys. The latter 2 are typically paired with DNA analyses. Noninvasive techniques allow for the collection of data pertaining to distribution, abundance, and habitat use for many carnivore species, are typically time and cost efficient, pose little threat to individual animals, and have greatly expanded the range of tools available to the field biologist.
The purpose of this symposium is to introduce the audience to a range of noninvasive techniques, while focusing on those that are most widely used and accepted. Additionally, the audience will learn about advances in genetic analyses and quantitative methods, upon which many of the more popular noninvasive techniques rely. The ultimate goal of the symposium is to provide the audience with a basic understanding of recently-developed noninvasive techniques for surveying carnivores, so they can incorporate these techniques into their research and management plans, where appropriate.
Long-Term Analyses and Ecological Thresholds
Contact: Mark Pyron
Ball State University
(765) 285-8852
Federal and state fish and wildlife agencies and other scientists have ongoing ecosystem monitoring programs to collect longterm ecological data. The objectives of these monitoring programs are to assess temporal or spatial anthropogenic impacts on the resource. The findings typically provide a basis for management decisions, but the information gathered is rarely exploited to the fullest. These datasets have the additional potential to allow for a wide variety of hypotheses to be tested, many of which were not envisioned when the monitoring was initiated. The goal of this symposium is to have individuals associated with long-term data sets to provide guidance on the strengths, limitations, uses, and value these data sets. We are most interested in identifying unique and unusual data treatments only possible with extensive data. We hope to show the value and significance of this type of scientific study, and support this continued approach toward natural resource management.
Understanding Midwestern Reservoir Function By Building on Existing Conceptual Models
Contact: Dr. Joseph D. Conroy
Aquatic Ecology Laboratory, Dept. of Evol., Ecol., & Org. Biol.
The Ohio State University
(614) 292-1613
Understanding and predicting potential future changes in reservoir ecosystems depends inherently on the ability of reservoir scientists and managers to incorporate past and current research and conceptual models with forecasts of human demands for reservoir services, reservoir morphometric transformations, and climatic changes. Historical reservoir ecosystem research commonly focused on within-reservoir processes or on individual species whereas recent research commonly includes extra-reservoir processes and considers community-or ecosystem-level interactions among food web components.
Several useful conceptual models (i.e., Kitchell and Carpenter’s trophic cascade model of food web regulation, Stein’s middle-out hypothesis, and Vanni’s coupled food web/landscape model) have been proposed to organize understanding along the ecological hierarchy spanning from individual fish behavior through landscape delivery of nutrients to the reservoir, yet opportunities exist for improving the ability of managers to predict fish recruitment, among other functional aspects, in these highly regulated ecosystems. The next generation of reservoir functional models presumably will improve predictive power and understanding by adding complexity and "realism" while identifying the most essential controlling factors.
We envision that this symposium will unite several groups of participants: (1) reservoir managers, be they responsible for fisheries, water withdrawals, or watercraft operation; (2) reservoir scientists spanning the ecological hierarchy; and, (3) scientists and/or managers interested in understanding the role of various biotic, abiotic, and human-induced processes on future ecosystem function.
Squeezing the Most Out of the Farm Bill Conservation Title
Contact: Luke Miller
Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife
(614) 265-6907
Originally established in the Food Security Act of 1985, the conservation title has provided far reaching impacts on water quality, erosion reduction, and wildlife habitat across the United States. Over the last four Agricultural Acts passed by congress, the conservation programs offered through this title created millions of acres of grassland, wetland, and forest habitat. But recent budget concerns, new energy demands, and fear of dwindling worldwide food supplies have policymakers cutting funding for conservation programs, considering releasing land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), and focusing on programs that enroll smaller, resource based acres.
As wildlife and natural resource professionals, we have to ensure that CRP and other programs being revised in the conservation title are utilized in a way to maximize wildlife benefits with what the new farm bill offers. We must have sound science available when making recommendations for these new practices and possible re-enrollment. We propose to bring together wildlife and resource professionals to share ideas on how to use these new programs and promote successful methods for using existing programs.
Uses of Otolith Chemistry for Midwest Fisheries Management
Contact: Jeffrey G. Miner
Aquatic Ecology & Fisheries Laboratory
Department of Biological Sciences, Bowling Green State University
(419) 372-8330
Fishery biologists and managers use a range of techniques for estimating population size, mixed stock dynamics, migration history, and the extent of natural reproduction. For example, in the Great Lakes, steelhead are stocked into rivers where natural reproduction also occurs. Fisheries managers need to know the relative contribution of the naturally produced versus stocked fish. Do stocked and naturally produced fish migrate to similar locations in the lakes? Do stocked fish return to the release stream with the same degree of fidelity as naturally produced fish? Where are these stocked fish in the lake versus fish stocked by other states/provinces? Studies in the Midwest are beginning to address these questions and the unique water chemistry of hatchery or spawning sites can impart a unique chemical signature on fish otoliths that gives managers and biologists the opportunity to use natural marks of entire cohorts. In this symposium, I will bring together Midwest researchers who are using this technique to study populations and mixed stocks of steelhead, walleye, white bass, and other species of importance to fishery managers. We will describe specific research projects to show the breadth of topics in which biologists are using this technique to support fisheries management. Additionally, I will ask each presenter to identify why their research questions are amenable to the use of this technique, and the situations in which it would not address the research/management needs. Thus, the audience will hear presentations on the latest fisheries research, and they will leave with a greater appreciation of the conditions necessary to use this technique.
National Estuarine Research Reserve
Contact: Dr. David Klarer
Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife
(419) 433-4601
At this symposium, researchers will provide a synopsis of work, particularly relevant to fish and wildlife management issues in the Great Lakes. This research was conducted at either Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) in Ohio or in other Lake Erie coastal wetlands under the auspices of the NERR Program.
The NERR system of Reserves was established by NOAA in 1972 to increase our knowledge and understanding of estuarine habitats and, in turn, provide information necessary for development of sound management strategies. This system is a network of 27 reserves representing the different bio-geographic regions of the coastal United States (including the Great Lakes) that are protected sites for long-term research, monitoring, education, and coastal stewardship. The reserve system is a partnership program between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and participating coastal states.
Research and monitoring efforts at Old Woman Creek focus on understanding the role of this and similar coastal areas in the larger Lake Erie ecosystem.
This symposium is particularly timely, as efforts are currently underway to establish a second NERR site in the upper Great Lakes. This site will serve as a focal point for research addressing the role of freshwater estuarine areas in the Upper Great Lakes.
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