2. A program of the Stacy Craig Environmental Education Coordinator Tel: 715-682-1220 Email: loonwatch@northland.edu www.northland.edu/loonwatch

6. Figure 1: Annual Loon Ranger participation and lakes monitored data

7. Citizen Monitoring Citizen Science GoodGreat

8. SWIMS houses data LoonWatch only access to data Digitize and geo-reference nest and nursery sites (on SWIMS) Nest and nursery sites on paper in our filing cabinet State desired outcomes for monitoring project Unspecified goals for data Index for watershed trends Index for lake trends

10. Mike Meyer, Doug Killian, Dennis Stockwell WDNR Science Services Rhinelander

11. R82-905 Wisconsin Loon Population Assessment Photo credit: Doug Killian Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources USGS UMESC, LaCrosse, WI University of Wisconsin - Madison

12. Site/scale Risk Assessment Region Lake chemistry and Hg deposition rates favor elevated MeHg in fish in some northcentral Wisconsin Lakes.

15. What Does a Loon Citizen Scientist Do? Collect loon population data necessary to update the Wisconsin Loon Population Model Identify critical loon nesting habitat for conservation and management Assist with loon banding and lake water chemistry projects.

16. Weekly lake surveys document presence of territorial adults and floaters, nest attempts, and chick survival

17. How is this accomplished? Loon Citizen Scientists will survey lake(s) from May – August, ideally once weekly During each survey, the number of adult loons present, the nesting status, and chick survival are recorded Once per year, identify returning adults by identifying color leg bands when present Assist project staff with night banding efforts in July and early August Fill in appropriate data sheets and return to Project Leaders at the end of the season

18. Adult Survival Rate – Reobservations of >1200 Wisconsin adult loons individually color-marked 1991 - 2008

22. Re-sightings, re-captures, and band recoveries used to calculate adult survival and to examine relationship of survival to gender, region, and mercury exposure Survival estimate based on re-observations = 0.91 (CI=0.88-0.94) No effect of gender, location or Hg exposure on adult loon survival rate (Mitro et al. ms. in review)

23. Wisconsin Adult Loon Reobservation Rates (Banded Previous Year) 2003-2007 Mitro et al. adult survival estimate 1994-2001= 91% N=51N=47 N=58N=54 (%)

24. Nest Monitoring

25. Proportion nestingClutch size Nest SuccessChick Survival to Banding

26. Juvenile Survival from banding (week 6) to Year 3 PI Dr. Walter Piper - Resightings of adults color-marked as chicks Cluster of 60 lakes, >300 color-marked chicks 1994-2005 Reobservation Results - Minimum survival banding to 3 yrs = 0.58 - age of first breeding = 5 years

27. COMMON LOON 2 STAGE DETERMINISTIC PROJECTION MATRIX MODEL MATLAB version 7, The Mathworks, Natick, MA, USA A(λ)= Population Annual Growth Rate P 1 =juvenile survival P 2 =adult survival F 2 =adult fertility G 1 =transition to adulthood

28. Wisconsin Loon Population Annual Growth Rate 2002-2004 Assume Constant Adult (0.91) and Juvenile (0.53) Survival between years 2002 Annual Growth Rate = 1.0054 2002 fertility rates (bp=0.82, bs=0.42, cs=0.758) 2003 Annual Growth Rate = 1.0129 2003 fertility rates (bp=0.787, bs=0.417, cs=0.867) 2004 Annual Growth Rate = 1.0216 2004 fertility rates (bp=0.83, bs=0.452, cs=0.833) Mean λ 2002-2004 1.013 + 0.008 (SD)

29. Loon Citizen Scientist Accuracy 2008 Band reobservations - <50% Territorial Pair presence/absence – 100% Proportion Nesting – 85% Nest outcome – 100% Chick hatching – 95% Chick survival – 100% Conclusion – Loon Citizen Scientists accurately identify territorial pair and nest outcome; trained staff required to quantify adult reobservation rates and rate of nesting

30. Ginger Gumm / Daniel Poleschook Join Us – It’s Fun!! 2007 = 17 volunteers 2008 = 85 volunteers Goal = 150-200 volunteers

31. Why Common Loon? Sensitive to effects of mercury altered behavior reduced reproduction At risk to exposure high trophic level long-lived obligate fish-eater nest on acidic lakes Photo by Woody Hagge

32. Why Common Loon? Conspicuous ground nester - at risk to shoreland alteration – nests within 2-3 ft of waters edge – >50% of nest attempts fail Public highly motivated to conserve loons in Wisconsin Photo by Doug Killian

33. Citizen Scientist Benefits Participate in a State-of-the-Science Common Loon Conservation project Contribute data critical to natural resource policy making in northern Wisconsin Receive annual newsletters describing citizen monitoring results and findings Participate in annual Spring Citizen Scientist Workshops Learn more about loons on your lake as you study their behaviors and nesting patterns