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June 2012 Welcome to On the Wild Side, WCS Canada’s e-newsletter. Through this newsletter we keep our colleagues and supporters informed about the great wildlife conservation work being done by WCS across Canada.
WCS Captures Results | WCS in the Field |Talking Science |
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This past fall and winter, Cori captured and radio-tracked 268 bats representing nine different species and located many previously unknown hibernation locations in central B.C., including several mines. Some of these mines are now considering erecting gates to prevent bat disturbance and accidental contamination with the fungus that causes White Nose Syndrome. However, Cori did not find large clusters of hibernating bats, like those typically seen in eastern North America. Instead numbers of bats in hibernacula ranged from one to 53. Some evidence collected by Cori suggests that some species are far more active in winter than others, feeding on insects’ mid-winter and mating, for example. Winter roosts included rock cracks, trees, snags, mines and caves. Thanks to continued project funding from BC’s Habitat Conservation Trust Fund, and BC Hydro’s Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program Columbia Basin, the second year of this research project will begin this fall and will include acoustic monitoring and radio tracking. While results are still preliminary, data from Year 1 suggest that White Nose Syndrome is less likely to affect some western species, but stay tuned as Cori continues her research. Above:A Townsends bat in mine in B.C. photo Cori Lausen
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Eyes, ears, and legs on the ground thanks to fellowships With generous support from The W. Garfield Weston Foundation, WCS Canada has awarded fellowships which provide all or partial funding of graduate level field research activities. The research undertaken by these students will be relevant to WCS Canada’s conservation objectives in the two regions where WCS is pursuing various long-term science-based conservation efforts: the boreal region of northern Ontario and the northern boreal mountains of Yukon and British Columbia. The 2012 W. Garfield Weston Foundation Fellowships have been awarded to:
WCS speaks to National Conservation Plan On May 15th, WCS’ Dr. Damien Joly presented WCS Canada’s remarks to the Standing House Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development regarding Canada's National Conservation Plan (NCP). Damien presented for 10 minutes followed by a round of questions by the MPs. Damien fielded questions about Bill C38, the Fisheries Act and the loss of science due to federal budget cutbacks. To see WCS Canada’s remarks, click here. Fox vs. fox WCS’ Dr. Don Reid is a co-author on the recent paper in Polar Biology entitled: Arctic fox versus red fox in the warming Arctic: Four decades of den surveys in north Yukon. This report investigated the abundance of red and arctic foxes using den surveys on the tundra of north Yukon during International Polar Years 2008-2009 and compared these to surveys as far back as the 1970s.
The authors suggest that in other arctic regions where red foxes have successfully expanded their ranges and outcompeted arctic foxes, humans have played a crucial role by providing concentrated sources of food for red foxes to scavenge, at landfill sites or as reindeer, caribou or marine mammal carcasses on the land. For more on these somewhat surprising findings, read an interview with Don from the Yukon News. Talking about biodiversity WCS Canada Exective Director Justina Ray was invited to speak at the recent Muskoka Environmental Summit as the morning kick-off speaker and again on a discussion panel on biodiversity which was aired on the CBC radio program "Ideas." Check our website for other recent publications by WCS staff.
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