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Regional Indicators and Measures: Beyond Conservation Land

This project, in collaboration with another RCN Project, Conservation Status of Fish, Wildlife and Natural Habitats in the Northeast Landscape, reported on the status of approximately 30 key indicators and measures specific to eight habitats and two regional species groups in the northeast.  The final report, provided below, will help the Northeast...

Development of Noninvasive Monitoring Tools for New England Cottontail Populations: Implications for Tracking Early Successional Ecosystem Health
Sylvilagus transitionalis

This project developed new noninvasive tools for monitoring the status and effectiveness of conservation actions for the New England cottontail, a Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) in several  northeastern State Wildlife Action Plans. This project addresses RCN Priority 6: Development of Regional Indicators & Measures. Our specific objectives were to 1) conduct a systematic study of detection rates and factors that influence detection of New England cottontail occupancy in...

Development of an Online Database to Enhance the Conservation of SGCN Invertebrates in the Northeastern Region

This project produced a web-accessible database designed for real-world, museum-specimen data, which allows individual researchers or institutions to upload invertebrate data and accommodates multiple taxonomic lineages.  The database fills the current data void that exists for invertebrates in the Northeastern Region.  A suite of online-accessible tools allows operation of a database of occurrence records (...

Assessing the Likely Impacts of Climate Change on Northeastern Fish and Wildlife Habitats and Species of Greatest Conservation Need
fragmented habitat type

In a project extending from Maine to the Virginias, the Northeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (NEAFWA), Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences (Manomet), and the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) are collaborating with other major northeastern stakeholders, including federal agencies and nonprofit organizations, to protect fish and wildlife and their habitats from...

Regional Focal Areas for Species of Greatest Conservation Need Based on Site Adaptive Capacity, Network Resilience and Connectivity

Resilience concerns the ability of a living system to adjust to climate change, to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with consequences, in short: its capacity to adapt. In this project, we aimed to identify the most resilient examples of key geophysical settings (sand plains, granitic mountains, limestone valleys, etc.), in relation to species of greatest conservation need, to provide conservationists with a nuanced picture of the places where...

Development of Model Guidelines for Assisting Local Planning Boards with Conservation of Species of Greatest Conservation Need and their Key Habitats through Local Land Use Planning

The major goals of this project were to integrate conservation information on Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) and their habitats with land use planning decisions. Our intent is for decision-makers, particularly those at a local scale and volunteers who may not have extensive training, to be able to access the information they need to answer their questions within a few simple keystrokes. NatureServe and its partners at...

Exploring the Connection between Arousal Patterns in Hibernating Bats and White Nose Syndrome
white nose syndrome, Myotis lucifugus, hibernating

Funds from this RCN grant were used to demonstrate that bats affected with the infectious disease “White Nose Syndrome” (WNS) arouse from hibernation significantly more often than healthy bats, which leads to their starvation. This highly significant effect is independent of initial body condition and hibernacula microclimate, which are both known to influence hibernation patterns.

This study addressed the hypothesis that WNS bats are either arousing too frequently from torpor or...

Laboratory and Field Testing of Treatments for White Nose Syndrome: Immediate Funding Need for the Northeast
Geomyces destructans

Hibernating bats in the NE USA have experienced sudden and dramatic declines over the past three winters due to an emerging infectious disease dubbed “White Nose Syndrome” (WNS). As of January, 2012, new estimates of the number of bats that have died thus far range from 5.7 to 7.7 million, and the causative agent is now known to be the cold-loving fungus Geomyces destructans (Gd). This proposal aims to address these declines by developing and implementing methodologies to combat WNS, which...

Northeast Aquatic Connectivity
TNC, dam removal, fish barrier, fish passage, barrier mitigation

The Northeast Aquatic Connectivity Project (NAC) has resulted in a set of valuable outcomes that will assist resource agencies in the Northeastern U.S. to strategically reconnect fragmented aquatic habitats by targeting removal or bypass of key barriers to fish passage. The NAC has worked to make future connectivity restoration projects more efficient by providing the regional information to allow strategic selection of projects most likely to produce ecological benefits.

Among its...

Development of Avian Indicators and Measures for Monitoring Threats and Effectiveness of Conservation Actions in the Northeast
bird surveys, bird monitoring

With the completion of this project, Northeast regional monitoring procedures are now available for birds of grasslands, tidal marshes and mountain forests - habitats that span the northeastern landscape, contain a high percentage of vulnerable species, and encompass the region’s major management issues.   These coordinated bird monitoring programs can effectively measure threats and management effects at the regional level to target birds and habitats identified by State Wildlife Action...

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