Wildlife

Robins may be a predictor of dangerous lead levels in soil, study finds

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By Eric Freedman
Capital News Service
Remember the canary in the coal mine? If the caged canary died, that was an urgent early warning for miners that the air was too dangerous to breathe and to get above-ground as quickly as possible. Now there’s evidence from Southeast Michigan that the American robin can provide an early warning about dangerous lead levels in the soil. A new study in the journal “Urban Ecosystems” found that high blood lead levels in robins can accurately predict where soil is contaminated. 
Exposure of children to lead is linked to damage to their nervous system and brain, learning and behavioral problems, and speech and hearing problems, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is relatively little knowledge about the health impacts of blood lead levels on songbirds such as robins.

The Buzz

Wolves could expand across the eastern U.S.—but they might need help

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By Ruth Thornton

Gray wolves could thrive in the eastern United States well beyond their current range in the Great Lakes region, but they might have a hard time reaching other suitable habitats without human intervention, researchers say. Wolves once had the largest known range of any land mammal but they were nearly exterminated in the United States in the early 1900s after persecution by humans. 

Their population only recovered after they were placed under federal protection in the 1970s. They have since recolonized some areas where they once flourished, including in Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. 

A 2022 study analyzed which areas in the eastern U.S. still have suitable habitat for wolves and are connected enough to each other so wolves might be able to travel between them. 

To do that, the researchers used survey data collected between 2018 and 2020 by biologists working for the natural resource departments in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. 

They then modeled the characteristics of the habitats where wolves were found and predicted where else in the eastern U.S. large tracts of suitable areas occur. They also modeled how connected to each other those areas are. They found that six areas had good habitat and were large enough to sustain wolves, but the animals occur in only one of them, the western Great Lakes.

Land

Animal shelters struggle with challenges

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By Victor Wooddell

Capital News Service

Animal shelters in Michigan are at capacity, even while facing staff and resource shortages. According to experts, more animals are being abandoned and too few pet owners are having their animals spayed or neutered. In 2020, adoption rates soared due to pandemic-related stay-at-home orders across the country, according to an article in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Medicine. A study by the American Humane Association found a dramatic increase in the rate at which previously adopted animals are being returned. Shelter directors in Michigan say that results in long waiting lists for kennel space and more abandoned animals, with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic making the situation worse.

Wildlife

Coyotes roaming Michigan 

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By Anna Rossow

Capital News Service

Some residents across Michigan are becoming more familiar with unexpected visitors roaming the streets. Coyote sightings in residential neighborhoods have become more common due to the canines’ drive for food and quick adaptability skills, experts say. Coyotes prey on rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels, small animals that enter in and out of urban and suburban areas. According to Michigan Wildlife Solutions, a pest control company in Fenton, coyotes traditionally stay in wooded, secluded regions, but have become increasingly comfortable with entering residential areas. They typically weigh around 25 pounds, with lanky legs and a fluffy coat.

Wildlife

Biologists race to save rare Michigan butterflies from the brink of extinction

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The Poweshiek skipperling has disappeared from most of Michigan’s prairies. Now scientists are raising them in zoos for release back into the wild. By Ruth Thornton

Standing next to a converted hoop house in one of the back areas of John Ball Zoo in Grand Rapids, David Pavlik points to a line of small cloth-covered cages filled with yellow black-eyed Susans and small orange butterflies. “These cages out here are females that have already bred in the facility,” Pavlik said. “They’re out here in the sun laying eggs.”

Pavlik, a research assistant with Michigan State University, is part of an international partnership racing to save a small, inconspicuous butterfly known as the Poweshiek skipperling that was once so common in Midwest prairies that collectors largely ignored them.

Water

NOAA taps invasive mussels to track Great Lakes pollution

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By Daniel Schoenherr

Zebra and quagga mussels have threatened Great Lakes ecosystems since they arrived in the 1980s. Now the invasive species are acting as unlikely allies in identifying pollution hotspots. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Mussel Watch program is collecting the mollusks at sites across the Great Lakes to measure the concentration of harmful pollutants in their tissue. A report with the results, expected this fall, will serve as an indicator to communities that they may be in need of cleanup, said one of the program’s leaders. Mussel Watch started along the Atlantic coast in 1986 and is the “longest running continuous contaminant-monitoring program of its kind in the United States,” according to NOAA.

Bee City USA sign in downtown Detroit. Courtesy photo
The Buzz

Detroit is the place to bee! How Detroit Hives is helping Detroit fight climate change through pollination 

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By Jada Vasser

Detroit resident Timothy Paule Jackson’s fascination with bees began in 2016 when he discovered the benefits of using honey to combat the common cold. He began researching the components in honey that provide medicinal benefits for the immune system. Soon, he and his partner, Nicole Lindsay, enrolled in beekeeping classes. They launched Detroit Hives was 2017 after the couple bought their first vacant lot in Detroit and set about keeping bees on the property. As native Detroiters, they saw the potential in beekeeping to transform vacant and blighted lots and inject energy into underserved communities.

Water

From pet to ‘monster.’ The battle to rid Michigan’s Glen Lake of giant koi

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By Gabrielle Nelson

Robert Karner and the Glen Lake Association are on a mission to preserve the crystal-clear waters of Glen Lake next to Sleeping Bear Dunes and protect its ecosystem from invasive species. That includes Eurasian watermilfoil and one that’s gaining attention, Japanese koi. In May, bowfishers partnered with the association, a preservation and protection organization for the 46 square miles of the Glen Lake/Crystal River watershed, caught and removed four invasive koi from Little Glen Lake on the Leelanau Peninsula. “Not all invasive species are actionable,” or able to be removed, once they are introduced to a lake or river, said Karner, a biologist at the Glen Lake Association. “But a big fish like Japanese koi, at least that’s something we think is manageable.”

The removal is part of a three-year effort to remove invasive koi from the lake to protect native plants and animals.

: A Blanding's turtle stands at the edge of a wetland. Image: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Water

Michigan and Ohio receive $500,000 to study rare turtles

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By Ruth Thornton

State wildlife agencies in Michigan and Ohio have received nearly $500,000 in federal funding to study rare turtles. The grant is part of more than $7 million distributed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to benefit rare and declining fish and wildlife and their habitats across the country. Other states receiving funding under the program this year include Minnesota, Iowa, Hawaii and North and South Carolina. Michigan’s work will focus on Blanding’s and spotted turtles, two rare species that often occur in wetlands. The funding will allow researchers to understand how the populations of both species are doing, especially the survival of nests and baby turtles.

An Isle Royale wolf. Image: National Park Service
Wildlife

Wolves hit Isle Royale campgrounds in search of food

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By Gabrielle Nelson

A warning for campers on Lake Superior’s Isle Royale National Park: Wolves are venturing into campground trash cans for easy meals. The park reminds visitors to secure and monitor food and trash to keep people and wolves separate and safe. “Wolves are very opportunistic and will utilize just about anything as a food source, and obviously getting in the garbage is an easy one,” said Brian Roell, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’s large-carnivore specialist. Liz Valencia, who manages cultural resources for the national park, said a couple of wolves started knocking down trash cans at the Rock Harbor campground, one of the park’s busiest areas. Rangers’ efforts to secure trash cans and scare away the wolves failed, she said, and the wolves keep coming back.