OpportunityTitle: Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Colorado Plateau CESU
AdditionalInformationOnEligibility: This financial assistance opportunity is being issued under a   Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program. CESU&#191;s are   partnerships that provide research, technical assistance, and   education.  Eligible recipients must be a participating partner of the   Colorado Plateau Studies Unit (CESU) Program.
Description: The USGS is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research and analysis into questions of major interest to the conservation of amphibians in Rocky Mountain National Park (ROMO) and north-eastern Colorado. This project will provide: 1) a 32-year view of occupancy of three species of amphibians in ROMO (Pseudacris maculata, Lithobates sylvaticus, Ambystoma tigrinum) using three points in time (USGS has data for the first two time points, the third would be acquired through field work over two years [this project]). These data will be used to evaluate long term trends with respect to environmental and visitation-related variables; and 2) demographic (e.g., survival) and abundance estimates, detailing change over time, for three populations of boreal toads (Anaxyrus boreas) in ROMO. USGS has detailed and continuous annual capture-mark-recapture data for these populations in the park over the same 32-year time frame. These data will be analyzed with respect to environmental covariates identified as important in earlier work (e.g., water quality, Battaglin et al. 2018) and the presence of the amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochtrium dendrobatidis, Bd). This project will build on earlier park-wide occupancy surveys (Corn et al. 1997) to give ROMO a long-term picture of amphibian presence in the park and of persistence in boreal toads despite the challenge of disease. This information will have broader application as an example of how to survey and analyze amphibian data in National Parks and provide insights into what is necessary over the long-term to generate data that are relevant to management decisions. Insights generated from this effort will assist ROMO in developing management strategies to encourage persistence of amphibians in the park and more specifically in developing actions to bolster boreal toad persistence (e.g., preserving habitat characteristics where amphibians still occur).
GrantorContactEmailDescription: Contract Specialist
GrantorContactText: Faith Graves 703-648-7356&lt;br/&gt;fgraves@usgs.gov