Rare Southern Yellow Bat (Dasypterus ega) Discovered on Conservation Ranch in Coastal Texas
As part of an ongoing wildlife inventory by Conservation Ecology LLC, Chris Wilson conducted a pilot project to study seasonal occupancy of bats in the Central Gulf Coast of Texas. The study took place over 3 months in 2022 on private conservation ranch properties in coastal prairie habitats in Aransas and Calhoun Counties.
Detected species include the Eastern Red, Hoary, and Northern Yellow bats, which are all listed as Species of Greatest Conservation Need under the Texas Conservation Action Plan (2012). But the biggest surprise was confirmed recordings of the Southern Yellow Bat (Lasiurus ega; or Dasypterus ega), which is a Central and South American species with its northern limit restricted to the southern tip of Texas. Because of its rarity in the state, it is listed Threatened by the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife.
Banding data and eBird citizen-science data used to study the population dynamics of the Threatened Tricolored Blackbird in CA
Chris Wilson co-authored a paper with partners, including Cornell Lab of Ornithology, that combined banding data and eBird citizen-science data to study the population dynamics of the Tricolored Blackbird at both local and regional scales in CA. This paper indicates the Tricolored is declining fastest in the southern portion of the state and many of those birds are immigrating to the northern populations, which are not growing. Loss of wetland habitats in the south, coupled with increasingly severe droughts driven by climate change are implicated in the declines.
Robinson, O. J., V. Ruiz-Gutierrez, R. J. Meese, E. E. Graves, M. Holyoak, C. R. Wilson, A. C. Wyckoff, B. D. Merriell, C. Snyder, and E. G. Cooch. 2021. Multi-scale demographic analysis reveals range contraction via pseudosource and sink population structure. Ecosphere 12(5)
https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.3521
Meet the South's Newest Salamander - Garden and Gun
Chris Wilson was interviewed about the newly described Hickory Nut Gorge Green Salamander for a recent article in the magazine Garden and Gun
A New Green Salamander in the Southern Appalachians
Chris Wilson co-authored a recent publication describing a new and highly imperiled species of Green Salamander (Aneides caryaensis) limited to the Hickory Nut Gorge, roughly 20 miles southeast of Asheville, NC.
Austin Patton, Joseph J. Apodaca, Jeffrey D. Corser, Christopher R. Wilson, Lori A. Williams, Alan D. Cameron, David B. Wake. (2019) A New Green Salamander in the Southern Appalachians: Evolutionary History of Aneides aeneus and Implications for Management and Conservation with the Description of a Cryptic Microendemic Species . Copeia, 107(4):748-763 https://doi.org/10.1643/CH-18-052
Northernmost Nesting Record for Wood Stork Discovered
While conducting aerial photography of a private conservation area using a drone, Chris discovered a wading bird rookery on an adjacent property owned by the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. The rookery contained nesting Wood Storks, the northernmost nesting location for this Federally Threatened species ever recorded. Details published here : The Chat, Vol. 84, No. 1, Winter 2020.
Diverse team of ecologists help save the Box Creek Wilderness: a Southern Appalachian biological hotspot
Chris Wilson writes about the epic biological inventory of Box Creek Wilderness for RewildingEarth.org
Photo by Lloyd Raleigh
The world's first radio-telemetry study of the Threatened Tricolored Blackbird - Carmel Valley, California
Recent publication by Conservation Ecology LLC and partners.
Wilson, C.R., R.J. Meese, A.C. Wyckoff . 2016. Breeding chronology, movements, and life history observations of tricolored blackbirds in the California Central Coast. California Fish and Game 102(4):162-174; 2016
EXPLORING NORTH CAROLINA - Salamanders as Canaries
Chris Wilson discusses salamander diversity in PBS episode of Exploring North Carolina
First Record of Spiny Softshell Turtle for Henderson County, NC
My daughter and I found this turtle in a pond at the playground. She calls it the “pancake turtle”.
Wilson, C.R. 2016. Apalone spinifera (Spiny Softshell), Geographic Distribution. Herpetological Review 47(4):625