USGS and partners will look at native trout, big game

What effects could climate change have on the spread of brucellosis in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, as well as on the distribution of native trout? Will an earlier spring and a milder winter affect big-game migration patterns?\

Those are some of the questions that U.S. Geological Survey scientists and their partners will be trying to answer in two studies that were recently funded. The funds cover only the first year of study. If the concepts prove valid, the scientists hope to gain additional grant money.

"One of the reasons we're very excited is because this gives us the opportunity to track animal movement and how it relates to habitat," said Geneva Chong, a USGS ecologist at the National Elk Refuge in Wyoming. "We very rarely can connect habitat descriptions with actual animal use."
The Wyoming study will use satellite imagery to track conditions on the ground, which will be matched with what scientists are seeing in the field. Elk will be collared to monitor when they move off the feed grounds and where they go. Other species in the study are moose, mule deer and pronghorn antelope.

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/07/29/news/state/24-climatechange.txt

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