Front Matter

This entry contains the front cover and front matter.

Lights, bats, and buildings: investigating the factors influencing roosting sites and habitat use by bats in Grand Teton National Park

Free-flying bats are highly affected by artificial night lighting, causing individuals to either 1) gather in unnaturally high densities around the light sources to exploit insects, or 2) travel increased distances to avoid light exposure. Similarly, nocturnal insects are disproportionately attracted to night lighting, trapping them until they die of exhaustion. The advent of new lighting technology which may decrease the impacts of night lighting on bats and insects by primarily producing light at wavelengths these animals are not sensitive to (i.e. in the red portion of the spectrum) is promising, however no studies have shown this at a large scale, and not in North America. Similarly, many studies on the effects of lights on bats, in general, have been on European species, and thus our overall understanding of how North American species are affected is low. Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, provides an excellent natural system to study the effects of lights on bat behavior, as well as to test possible mitigation methods, as the park supports a large community of over a dozen species, as well as sizeable human infrastructure that generates night light. From June through September, 2019, we undertook a large-scale, blocked experiment examining bat activity and space use in Colter Bay Village under both traditional street-lighting, as well as new “bat friendly” street lighting. Using both passive echolocation records and radiotelemetry, we collected data that will allow us to examine the ability of red LED streetlights to mitigate artificial light’s negative impacts on bats and insects. Featured photo from figure 2 in report.

Great Gray Owl home range and habitat selection during the breeding-season

Identifying resource requirements of under-studied species during key stages such as breeding is critical for effective management. We quantified breeding-season home-range attributes and habitat selection of adult Great Gray Owls across multiple spatial (home-range and within-home-range level) and temporal (nesting and post-fledging; day versus night) scales in western Wyoming, USA. In 2018 and 2019 we outfitted adult male owls (n = 18) with GPS remote-download transmitters and collected hourly location data throughout the breeding season (1 May – 15 September). Using 50% and 95% kernel density estimates (KDE), mean core area was 1.2 km2 and mean home-range size was 6.2 km2 (n = 16). Resource selection analyses incorporated both remotely-sensed and microsite data. We conducted microsite surveys at used and available points within 95% KDE home ranges using a stratified random sample design (n = 661). Determining home-range and breeding habitat requirements will improve density estimates and facilitate the effective management of Great Gray Owls and their habitat. We found differing patterns between habitat selection at the home-range and within-home-range scales. Featured photo by YNP on Flickr. https://flic.kr/p/SA17KT

Front Matter

This entry contains the front cover and front matter.

A LiDAR-based landslide inventory and associated map portal (story map) for Grand Teton National Park

Funding has enabled the design and implementation of a preliminary landslide inventory including roughly 500 deposits throughout GTNP. The three most common mass movement deposits were related to debris flows, translational earth slides and translational rock slides. More than 10% of the features were field-verified during campaigns mapping along the Teton Fault and in areas across varying lithology and relief including Steamboat Mountain, Paintbrush Canyon, Cascade Canyon, Two Ocean Lake, Open Canyon and lower Granite Canyon. Features were mapped according to protocols established by the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) and supported by the USGS. The Story Map remains under development, awaiting revised mapping and feedback from GTNP staff. Featured photo taken from the AMK Ranch photo collection. https://flic.kr/p/RdWTqz

Performing horizontal to vertical ratio testing in stiff soils in and around Grand Teton National Park

Horizontal to vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) testing was completed at two cross sections in and around GTNP. The HVSR testing produced reliable estimates of the fundamental frequencies for many of the sites tested. The goal of the testing was to determine a depth of soil above competent bedrock. However the fundamental frequencies recorded yielded predicted depths that are much shallower than expected. Also the predicted depths did not increase at greater distance from the Teton Range, which would be expected at these sites. Based on these predictions the authors do not believe the frequencies recorded are a good indication of the depth of the soil above bedrock but instead it is believed that the depths correspond with a layer of softer topsoil/overburden above a stiffer gravel layer. Although the goal of measuring the depth of soil above bedrock was not met, HVSR produced results that may be useful to others for determination of a fundamental frequency of resonance at our testing locations. Featured photo by Anna Cressman, taken from the AMK Ranch photo collection. https://flic.kr/p/2jjWZGT

The Yellowstone magmatic-hydrothermal system: using radiogenic and stable isotope geochemistry to constrain the processes of water-rock interaction

The hot springs of Yellowstone National Park provide a broad range of isotopic data (e.g. 238U-, 235U-, and 232Th-series) that can be exploited to interpret the geochemical processes occurring at depth, including water-rock interaction, nuclide sourcing, and fluid residence times. Despite its worldwide notoriety, Yellowstone’s hydrothermal system remains largely unconstrained. While major advances in the past century have helped us to understand the highly varied geochemical characteristics of Yellowstone’s thermal features and their potential mechanisms of formation, many questions remain regarding where exactly the water resides before ascending to the surface, how long the water remains at depth, and what geochemical processes are occurring between these waters and the superheated aquifer rocks. One of the primary questions surrounding the Yellowstone hydrothermal system revolves around the concept of “phase separation”, whereby ascending, pressurized hydrothermal fluids undergo decompressional boiling and separate into an acidic vapor phase and a neutral fluid phase. These diverging phases result in the two dominant spring chemistries viewed on the surface, acid-sulfate springs and neutral-chloride springs. Still, little is known about the timescales such a process operates on, and what geochemical parameters can be constrained to support the existence of this model. Herein we examine a handful of hydrothermal features throughout Yellowstone National Park in an effort to investigate the likelihood of phase separation’s existence and whether or not the isotopic evidence supports the geochemical processes that we know to be occurring should this model persist within the plumbing of a continental hydrothermal system. Featured photo from figure 3 in report.

Unlocking the biogeochemical role of beaver in state-transition of landscapes in Yellowstone's northern range: Tantalizing insights, initial results, and evolving research design

Extirpation of wolves from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in the 1920s hypothetically triggered a trophic cascade in which herbivores over-browsed riparian zones once released from the fear of wolf (Canis lupus) predation. Eventually, vast meadow-wetland complexes transitioned to grass-lodgepole systems. By 1954, beaver (Castor canadensis) virtually abandoned the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. In 2000, Colorado State University established experimental dams with browsing exclosures for Long Term Environmental Research in Biology (LTREB) on three streams in Lamar Valley to compare hydrologic effects of pseudo-beaver dams and browsing on willow (Salix spp.) productivity and state transitions. In 2015, beaver began recolonizing the region. I investigate how the biogeochemical role of beaver versus their hydrologic influence affects the underlying mechanisms of state transition: nutrient cycling, productivity, and stream respiration. Analyses of the 2017 field samples showed that beaver streams trend toward higher nutrient levels and higher variances than the LTREB sites. These trends continued in 2018 and 2019. The data tentatively support the role of beaver as keystone species in state transitions. Interannual modeling of nutrient dynamics, comparisons of stream metabolism, and genetic identification of microbial communities are underway. Similarly, analyses of the repeated measures collected across the month of July 2019 are underway. Featured photo from figure 1 in report.

Long-term alpine stream monitoring in the Teton Range: Investigating multi-year patterns and thermal physiology

Alpine streams and the biotic communities they contain are imperiled worldwide due to climate warming and the rapid decline of ice. The loss of glaciers and permanent snowpack may drive local populations to extinction, especially organisms with narrow habitat tolerances. We have been monitoring alpine streams in the Teton Range since 2015 that originate from three hydrological sources: surface glaciers, snowfields, or subterranean ice (e.g., rock glaciers). We call these stream types glacier-fed, snowmelt-fed, and icy seeps, respectively. We hypothesize that icy seeps may persist on the landscape longer than other hydrologic sources and that these features may act as a refuge for cold-adapted organisms such as the stoneflies Zapada glacier and Lednia tetonica. In November 2019, Z. glacier and a sister species of L. tetonica, Lednia tumana, were listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. This decision was based in part on work funded by the UW-NPS and highlights the pressing nature of our efforts. In 2019, we collected a 5th year of long-term data to begin investigating multi-year signals in the data. Our second 2019 objective was to further explore how thermal regimes affect tolerance of potentially imperiled insects. Because our annual data collection occurs in late summer with sample processing and analysis extending into the following year, this report will be a broad update on the project as whole, rather than 2019-specific. Through long-term monitoring of streams from different hydrological sources, we are building a dataset that will allow us to understand changes as air temperatures warm and permanent ice is lost in the alpine zone. Featured photo by Nicole Y-C on Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/9XixVlnUCbk

Factors influencing perceived appropriateness of concessioner activity in Grand Teton

Concessioner provided services are integral to the national park visitor experience, and with visitation across NPS units growing steadily, services provided by these public-private-partnerships will likely only increase in importance. Despite this, concerns exist regarding the presence of for-profit entities within national parks. While private businesses may be more responsive to consumers, their presence raises questions regarding equity, access, and perceptions of ownership. The purpose of this study was to assess factors that may influence visitor’s perceptions of appropriateness regarding (a) current and (b) future concessioner activities within Grand Teton National park (GTNP). Regression analyses indicate the importance of personal values, rather than actual experiences (positive or negative) with concessions in shaping perceived appropriateness of future concessions activity. Satisfaction with concessions services, amount of concessions activity that respondents perceived in the park in the present, and trust in GTNP were all non-factors in determining anticipated future appropriateness. Instead, a belief that concessions activity would increase, social liberalism, economic conservatism, and place identity with GTNP were related to perceptions that concessioner activity at GTNP would be inappropriately high in the future. Although the regression predicting future beliefs was robust (R2 = 0.43), no variables significantly predicted current beliefs (R2 = 0.05). Featured photo by Grand Teton on Flickr. https://flic.kr/p/2jf3fa9