Current Graduate Students:

Steve Amish

M.S. Student, Wildlife Biology Program

Office phone number (406) 243-5465

Office fax number (406) 243-4557

Resident individuals, populations, and communities are all affected by the landscape they inhabit. The composition (the temporal and spatial arrangement) of habitats is a fundamental component in the way populations are linked to landscapes. Understanding the influence of landscape patterns on population connectivity is critical for deciphering the potential impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation for different populations.

Historically beaver were arguably one of the main forces shaping and altering aquatic and terrestrial components of the North American landscape. How has their disappearance affected rates of habitat turnover within watersheds? How do these rates of habitat turnover impact lentic breeding amphibian species? I am examining the role landscape pattern plays in connectivity between different subpopulations and populations of Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) by comparing watersheds that have differences in habitat configuration, availability and turnover. A better understanding of the importance of habitat composition and configuration on the connectivity between subpopulations and populations will allow us to more effectively manage and predict the impacts of human-induced landscape change on amphibian populations.

Publications:

Funk, W.C., M.S. Blouin, P.S. Corn, B.A. Maxell, D.S. Pilliod, S. Amish, and F. Allendorf. 2005. Population structure of Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) is strongly affected by the landscape. Molecular Ecology.

Presentations:

Amish, S.J., and L. Eby. 2005. Beaver effects on watershed structure and gene flow for Columbia Spotted frog populations in southwestern Montana watersheds. The Montana Wildlife Society.

Magnus McCaffery

Ph.D. Student, Wildlife Biology Program

Office phone number (406) 243-2472

Office fax number (406) 243-4557

I graduated with a BSc (honours) in Marine Biology from the University of Stirling in Scotland, followed by an MSc in Wildlife Biology and Conservation from Napier University, Edinburgh. My Masters thesis examined the population dynamics of common and grey seals in Britain, and the corresponding human-wildlife relationships. I have been involved with various seasonal ecological projects such as: pollution assessment of estuarine intertidal mudflats, investigation of parasite burden and aggressiveness on the population cycles of red grouse in Scotland, Snowshoe hare research in Yellowstone and western Montana, and the effects of habitat fragmentation on various species in Indiana.

For my PhD I am examining linkages associated with beaver and invasive species impacts and cross-system nutrient subsidies. Streams and their associated riparian zones are among our Nation’s most highly valued, yet threatened ecosystems. Watershed restoration attempts to re-establish system-wide processes, such as natural food web linkages and maintenance of physical and biological processes, as well as promote the persistence of native species. Increasing interest in management of beaver as watershed restoration agents may provide a cost-effective and innovative approach to mitigating watershed degradation, since evidence suggests that their impoundments provide complex habitat for wildlife and fish, improve water quality, and augment late season flows. Promotion of beaver either through natural population expansion or transplantation into degraded systems is a controversial strategy. For example, beaver ponds may have negative effects on native fish such as barrier creation or could facilitate invasion by exotic fish species. In the Rocky Mountain region, even though many native species, such as westslope cutthroat trout, often benefit from beaver ponds, it has also been suggested that the more pool-adapted and temperature tolerant exotic brook trout have a competitive advantage in the presence of beaver ponds. I am investigating (i) how beaver ponds influence both brook trout distributions within watersheds, (ii) species interactions between westslope cutthroat and brook trout, and (iii) how beaver disturbance changes nutrient subsidies across the aquatic-terrestrial boundary.

Publications:

McCaffery, M., A. Switalski, and L. Eby. (submitted). Effects of road decommissioning on stream habitat characteristics in the South Fork Flathead River, Montana. To be submitted to Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. Fall 2005.

Presentations:

McCaffery, M., T. A. Switalski, and L. Eby. 9^th February 2005. Effects of road decommissioning on stream habitat characteristics. American Fisheries Society, Montana Chapter. Missoula, MT.

Switalski, A. L. Eby, and M. McCaffery. 2005. The Effects of Road Decommissioning on Bull Trout Habitat Restoration on the Flathead National Forest, Montana, USA Society for Conservation Biology talk. Brasília, Brazil.

Aubree Benson

M.S. Student, Wildlife Biology Program

Office phone number (406) 243-5465

Office fax number (406) 243-4557

I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology with high honors from The University of Montana in December 2005, and will be beginning my Master’s work in Autumn 2006. I am a SCEP student (Student Career Experience Program) with the U. S. Forest Service on the Clearwater National Forest in Idaho, but I will be conducting my research on the Lolo National Forest, near the town of Seeley Lake. I intend to explore the movement patterns of adfluvial bull trout in the Clearwater River drainage and several lakes above Seeley. I will also evaluate the effects of small dams on bull trout migration, and how the removal of these small dams may allow the expansion of exotic species above Seeley Lake. There is little known about adfluvial bull trout and information on the particular population is severely lacking, so my research will further our understanding of how we can best manage the fisheries to benefit this amazing, yet threatened native species.

Bryce A. Maxell

Ph.D. Student, Wildlife Biology Program

Current appointment:

Senior Zoologist

Montana Natural Heritage Program, P.O. Box 201800, Helena, Montana 59620-1800; (406) 444-3655; bmaxell@mt.gov

Education

B.S. Biology & B.A. Economics – University of Puget Sound 1994

Thomas J. Watson Fellow 1994-1995

My main interests are natural history, conservation biology, biogeography, and the impacts of exotic species. I am interested in applying the techniques of conservation biology to a wide variety of non-game taxa, especially amphibians, reptiles, and bats. I am also interested in raising awareness about the natural history and status of these species so that issues associated with their management are properly addressed in management plans and so that they can be properly appreciated by current and future generations. Part of my research focuses on the status, range, and natural history of non-game taxa. Other aspects of my research focus on better understanding the landscape and population ecology of amphibian species in Montana. I am currently working as a zoologist for the Montana Natural Heritage Program.

Selected Recent Publications (also see hyperlinks below)

Maxell, B.A. 2002. Geographic Distribution. Plethodon idahoensis. Herpetological Review 33(2): 144.

Maxell, B.A., K.J. Nelson, and S. Browder. 2002. Record clutch size and observations on breeding and development of the western toad (Bufo boreas) in Montana. Northwestern Naturalist 83(1): 27-30.

Biek, R., W.C. Funk, B.A. Maxell, and L.S. Mills. 2002. What is missing in amphibian decline research: insights from ecological sensitivity analysis. Conservation Biology 16(3): 728-734.

Hyperlinks to Recent Reports and Book

Herpetology in Montana – Maxell et al. (2003)

http://www.snwvb.org/NWFauna5.html

Management of Montana’s Amphibians – Maxell (2000)

http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/wildlife/ecology/montana%20amphibian%20guidlines.pdf

Current Undergraduate Students:

Sara Seidel

Effects of brook trout on the distribution of westslope cutthroat trout and subsequent changes to cutthroat trout growth rates in southwestern Montana

The abundance of westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi) in Montana has declined throughout much of its native range (Behnke 1992, Likness and Graham 1988 and Shepard et al. 1997). One major risk to westslope cutthroat trout populations involves their interactions with brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). Brook trout are known to outcompete westslope cutthroat trout resulting in either complete replacement of westslope cutthroat trout within a watershed or restriction of westslope cutthroat trout into headwaters reaches (Behnke 1992, Shepard et al. 1997, Shepard 2004). Habitats characterized by high elevation, cool temperatures and possible isolation from lower reaches of the stream often result in poor growth (Sloat et al. 2005). Thus, restriction of westslope cutthroat trout to high elevation stream sections may limit them to cooler waters resulting in poorer growth than the fish would otherwise experience. Growth rate in fish is linked to demographic rates, as juvenile growth in the first year is critical for overwinter survival and fish with lower growth rates may experience either later age of maturity and/or lower fecundity. With my research, I will look at the effects of brook trout on the distribution of westslope cutthroat trout. In addition, I will examine how this change in distribution influences temperatures experienced by westslope cutthroat trout, as well as how that influences potential growth rates. I predict that when brook trout and westslope cutthroat exist in the same watershed, that brook trout will displace westslope cutthroat trout into that stream’s headwaters. When westslope cutthroat trout are forced into these headwaters, I hypothesize they will experience lower temperatures therefore having a lower potential growth rate. I will make my comparisons among streams with both westslope cutthroat trout and brook trout as well as streams with only westslope cutthroat trout populations. It is likely that in streams without brook trout that westslope cutthroat trout inhabit not only headwaters but also lower reaches of the stream thereby having higher growth rates.

Shad Mahlum

The effects of fire on stream temperatures in the Bitterroot National Forest

Previous Undergraduate Students:

John Syslo, Senior Thesis Title: Possible Effects of Highway 93 Expansion on a Population of Western Toads (Bufo boreas) in the Bitterroot Valley

Nathan Stone, Senior Thesis Title: Effects of Wildfire on Adult Tailed-frogs in the Bitterroot Valley.

Lisa Wilson, Senior Thesis Title: Reproductive Biology of the Columbia Spotted Frog (Rana luteiventris) in western Montana