Symposia

• Time: 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
• Location: Idlughet 3
• Speakers: Samuel Turvey, Siobhan Cooke, Liliana Davalos, Alexis Mychajliw, Courtney Hofman, Rosalind Kennerley, Olivia Olson, Rodrigo Hamede

In this symposium, we bring together datasets, perspectives, and participants for a
productive cross-disciplinary dialogue that challenges current understanding of mammalian biodiversity on island systems across the globe. We aim to use these new insights to understand fundamental ecological and evolutionary processes, and to identify new, innovative conservation strategies and ways of thinking. Recognizing non-analogue assemblages, community dynamics and the potential evolutionary scope of island biodiversity, as well as faunal responses to human-wildlife interactions and change through time, is only possible by looking to past baselines. We draw a broad global picture, and focus on specific case studies (e.g., Caribbean, Japan, California Channel Islands), to understand historical determinants of the differing fates of mammalian diversity across different systems. Mammalogists have the opportunity to be leaders in this multidisciplinary field thanks to an excellent recent mammalian fossil record, and major insular mammalian conservation priorities today. We aim for this symposium to jumpstart important work both on islands and continents, as the conservation community begins to use the past to guide the future. Organizers: Samuel T. Turvey & Alexis M. Mychajliw

• Time: 10 am
• Location: Tikahtnu B
• Speakers: Chloe Josefson, Teri Orr, Ben Dantzer, KayLene Yamada, Wendy Hood, Annaliese Beery

Our overarching goal of this symposium is to discuss trade-offs from an integrative perspective that places female mammalian reproduction at the center. By answering what trade-offs are and what they mean to reproducing female mammals, what has been neglected in the context of whole-organism physiology, and how maternal effects fit within this framework, our group of speakers and their associated papers will crystalize nuances of measuring and determining presence (if any) of trade-offs in reproducing females. To this end, we have curated a set of speakers who will discuss trade-offs in reproductive females as they relate to ecology and evolution, metabolism and energetics, maternal behavior, immunology, and endocrinology. Likewise, our speakers utilize a broad range of methods and ecosystems from the field to the lab. Thus, we believe that this symposium is of broad interest to the mammalogist community because there is no aspect of mammalogy that is not impacted by female reproduction. Furthermore, the field of mammalian physiology tends to be underrepresented at ASM meetings relative to topics like systematics and conservation. Organizers: Chloe Josefson & Teri Orr

• Time: Part 1 - 10 am; Part 2 - 2 pm
• Location: Tikahtnu A
• Speakers: Geraldine Veron, Jun Sato, Patricia Moehlman, Laura Prugh, Matthew Smith, Paul Jensen, Sarah Benson-Amram, Marta Manser, Aliza le Roux, Nicole Lynch, Tom Serfass

This symposium aims to bring together the community of small carnivore researchers, ranging from behavioral ecologists to taxonomists, and stimulate thinking on research priorities in the light of rapid environmental change, urbanization, and extreme biodiversity losses. Considering the wide distribution of many species of small carnivore, their underappreciated ecosystem services, and the complex nature of human-wildlife interactions, this is an excellent time to identify the key unanswered questions and synthesize our current information on small carnivores. Ultimately, this symposium aims to push the edges of traditional carnivore biology beyond large species and integrate multiple disciplines with small carnivores at the center to move the science of mammalogy forward. Organizers: Aliza le Roux

• Time: Part 1 - 2pm, Part 2 - 4pm
• Location: Idlughet 3
• Speakers: Dan Simberloff, Yina P. Serna Trujillo, Jason Bruemmer, Toni Piaggio, Kupono Aguirre, Carson Hedberg, Terry L. Smith, Jeff Dolphin, Mariam Latofski Robles, Kawika Winter, Amy Levine

Our goal is to consider the complexities of invasive mammals through multiple lenses including our historical understanding of invasions, novel management approaches, and traditional ecological knowledge, to identify barriers and opportunities with a multicultural perspective, input, and a global narrative. Attendees will gain a broad perspective of invasive species management. Central themes of the session will include human-wildlife conflicts, economic benefits to local communities, and novel management alternatives for invasive species. These overarching themes will be addressed by diverse speakers with interests and experiences in global invasive mammal research, management, and community work. With varied perspectives come superior solutions. We invite you to have a seat at the table to broaden the outlook from specialized niche research and methods to creating a more collaborative environment that unites the perspectives of mammologists, invasive species practitioners, and Indigenous peoples and local communities. Organizers: Katherine Horak & Anna Mangan

• Time: 1:30pm
• Location: Tikahtnu A
• Speakers: Nina Attias, Zaida Ortega, Michelle Sauther, Tanja van de Ven, Zenon Czenze

The alarming climate change forecasts urge us to understand the effect of temperature on the behaviour of mammals, to be able to identify main mechanisms and key habitat features (i.e., climate shelters) that may enable the potential resilience of mammals under these changing scenarios. Empirical studies of temperature-mediated behaviour have great potential to further the development of theory in behavioural and thermal ecology while informing best- practices for conservation. Hence, in this symposium we will present examples of state-of-the-art research on tropical and marine mammals’ responses to temperature changes. Organizers: Nina Attias & Zaida Ortega

• Time: 1:30pm
• Location: Tikahtnu B
• Speakers: Ben Dantzer, Paula Mabee, Loren Buck

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) and its associated infrastructure represents one of the largest ever infrastructure investments by the Directorate for Biological Sciences at the National Science Foundation. The central mission of NEON is to serve as an observatory to document change in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems through 30 years of consistent data collection at a series of aquatic and terrestrial sites located in 20 different ecoclimatic domains across the United States. Although there is great potential for NEON to produce novel insights into fundamental biological questions, there are currently disparities in use of NEON by researchers from different fields of biology. The potential for mammalogists to conduct research within NEON has not been fully realized because of a lack of awareness by researchers of NEON’s goals, infrastructure, and capacity. This workshop holds the potential to diversify and strengthen NEON by incorporating organismal biologists into the community of NEON users and by promoting interactions between ecologists and mammalogists. The aim of this 90-minute symposium is to introduce mammalogists to NEON to foster outstanding and timely research via the NEON platform. Organizers: Loren Buck

• Time: 9:30am
• Location: Idlughet 3
• Speakers: Kevin Kohl, Melissa Ingala, Connie Rojas, Jessica Metcalf, Luis Zaman, Kelly Speer, Luis Víquez Rodríguez

The central goals of this symposium are to showcase the ways microbial ecology may advance our understanding of mammalian ecology and evolution and to expand the community of mammalogists examining microbiomes in their study systems. We aim to better connect the fields of mammalogy and microbiology, subsequently enabling a re examination of our understanding of the evolution and ecology of mammals through the lens of the holobiont (i.e., an organism as an assemblage of the host and associated microbes). To accomplish this goal, we showcase research that leverages microbiology, including cellular biology and molecular genetics, to advance our understanding of mammalian evolution, ecology, physiology, health, and conservation. The proposed speakers are interdisciplinary researchers from diverse backgrounds who study a broad swath of mammalian life (i.e., Carnivora, Chiroptera, Perissodactyla, and Rodentia) using field-based, experimental, and computational model systems. This breadth of featured research will be of wide interest to IMC attendees and encourage new collaborations between the fields of microbiology and mammalogy. Organizers: Kelly Speer & Luis Víquez Rodríguez

• Time: 9:30am
• Location: Tikahtnu A
• Speakers: Eileen Lacey, Karen Mabry, Stan Braude, Annaliese Berry, Aubrey Kelly, Melissa Holmes, Nicole Lee

Dispersal is an extraordinary and extraordinarily important event in the lives of many mammals. Dispersal affects numerous aspects of an individual’s biology, including its survival, reproductive success, and social relationships. Dispersal can also have profound impacts on physiology, including glucocorticoid regulation, neuroendocrine activity, and gene expression. Accordingly, a comprehensive understanding of dispersal requires consideration of multiple factors, including both ultimate and proximate aspects of a species’ biology. Despite the critical importance of dispersal, integrative studies that consider both ultimate and – in particular – proximate aspects of this phenomenon remain rare. The goal of this symposium is to share recent findings from rodents that bridge this gap. The symposium will conclude with a round table discussion involving all speakers; this portion of the program will allow for greater engagement with the audience and more extended discussion of promising directions for future research. Organizers: Annaliese Beery & Eileen Lacey

• Time: 9:30am
• Location: Tikahtnu B
• Speakers: Burt Kotler, Clint Collins, Justine Smith, Douglas Morris, Alexander Pergrams, Emily Potraz, Joel Brown

When we think of mammals living in dynamic landscapes, most of us imagine some form of physical space in which slow geological processes are superseded by rapid change associated with human activities. Others might contemplate biotic landscapes of food and fear that wax and wane with climate, seasonality, and the dynamics of friend and foe. A few others will be drawn towards the more abstract space of adaptive landscapes underlying evolutionary change. We will challenge our diverse set of speakers to merge these alternative perspectives in a way that crystalizes our understanding of the connections between ecology and evolution in heterogeneous environments. Our goal is to use the nexus of biomechanics, space use, foraging behaviour, population dynamics, and species interactions to gain new insights into the interplay between ecology and adaptive evolution. Organizers: Douglas W. Morris & Burt P. Kotler

• Time: 1:30pm
• Location: Idlughet 3
• Speakers: Patrick Finnerty, Adrian Shrader, Miguel Bedoya-Perez, Cynthia Thompson, Thorbjörn Sievert, Patrick Garvey, Catherine Price, Clare McArthur

Olfaction is one of the most important senses for mammals. Yet, its impact on decision making and landscape use by mammals is generally overlooked. However, odour is everywhere. It is emitted from vegetation, water sources, predators, prey, conspecifics, decaying carcasses, and smoke. All these sources provide a wealth of information about the location and temporal aspects of the four F’s: Food, Fornication (i.e. mating opportunities), Fighting (e.g. competition and territoriality), and Fear (predation risk). Thus, by keying off these olfactory signals, mammals obtain real-time information that they can use when making key decisions about where to be and when to move. For example, which individual plants in this patch are good to eat? Are predators close? Is there surface water in the ephemeral stream up ahead? Understanding and incorporating the concept of an olfactory landscape allows us to better understand both the spatial and temporal landscape use by mammals, which can improve both management and conservation efforts. In this symposium, speakers from six countries located on four continents introduce the concept of an olfactory landscape and discuss how a range of terrestrial mammals including both marsupials and placental mammals utilise this key information source to communicate, locate key resources (i.e. food and water), and avoid predators. Then, understanding this dynamic source of information, we present ways in which the manipulation of olfactory cues may be used to reduce human-wildlife conflict and protect vulnerable vegetation. Organizers: Adrian M Shrader & Catherine Price

• Time: 1:30pm
• Location: Tikahtnu A
• Speakers: Ben Dantzer, Stan Boutin, Claudia Bieber, John Paul Williams Soriano, Patrick Bergeron

All mammals experience fluctuations in food availability, but many mammal species
experience periodic or episodic resource pulses, such as carnivores experiencing fluctuations in their prey who exhibit cyclic population dynamics or herbivores whose primary food sources are masting plant species. Mammal species have played a central role in understanding the effects of resource pulses on natural populations. For example, the effects of mast seeding plants that produce seed (conifer seed or acorns) have been studied in mice, squirrels, and boars across the globe. Resource pulses appear to have tremendous effects on their physiology, behavior, and life histories. To date, most work on the effects of resource pulses on mammals has occurred in isolation of one another. We propose to bring together researchers from across the globe who examine different facets of the effects of resource pulses on different mammal species to examine if there are any generalizations that can be made about the consequences of resource pulses for mammalian physiology, behavior, and life histories. Organizers: Ben Dantzer, Lauren Petrullo, Stan Boutin, Jeff Lane, and Andrew McAdam

• Time: 1:30pm
• Location: Tikahtnu B
• Speakers: Hila Shamon, Brett Jesmer, Blair Costelloe, Claire Bresnan, Marie-Pier Poulin, William McShea

Many ungulate species, like caribou or wildebeest, move in groups as an evolutionary
strategy to maximize fitness, herding together for predator vigilance, collective foraging, and learning. In social groups, individual behaviors and decisions scale up to collective decisions, and are known to greatly influence group survival and persistence. Ungulate movements are affected by factors such as resource availability, predator occurrence, terrain and landscape features, and climate. The availability of high-frequency, accurate animal movement data in the past 2 decades (collecting data daily, hourly, or by the minute or second) has helped illuminate the relationship of species and their surrounding environment. These technological advances have provided the opportunity to understand the importance of the variation in movement strategies, both resource oriented and socially derived, and the recognition of a decision-making hierarchy between social individuals. However, most datasets of social species are still analyzed as a collection of independent individuals without association to other group members. The study of collective movement needed a cost-effective technology to track a herd of social animals as individuals move across large landscapes, and analytical methodologies that take into account complex relationships between multiple individuals that move collectively in response to changing resources. Our symposium highlights studies across terrestrial habitats and species, to understand the mechanism of movement behavior in gregarious ungulate species in light of recent technological and methodological advances in the field. Organizers: William J McShea & Hila Shamon

• Time: 2:30pm
• Location: Tikahtnu A
• Speakers: Joseph Ogutu, Redae Tesfai, Dan Rubenstein, Saeideh Esmaeili

Effective conservation requires an accurate understanding of biodiversity dynamics and their primary drivers as a basis for developing sound conservation policies and management strategies. Rainfall primarily governs vegetation production and quality, surface water availability and quality for herbivores in arid ecosystems. It is important to determine the influence of rainfall variation on large herbivore population dynamics before the contributions of other factors can be reliably established. Wild equids are large bodied non-ruminants and rainfall variability can have a strong and direct impact on their population dynamics and viability. Historical information on rainfall variability and wild equid population dynamics can provide the basis for projecting threatened equid viability under different climate change scenarios. Equids are of particular interest as they are large-sized non-ruminant herbivores that could prosper under wetter and cooler conditions. However, warmer temperatures and lower rainfall might result in more arid conditions which would be more stressful for water dependent wild equids. This symposium will present research on the impact of different climate conditions on the population viability of threatened Plains zebra in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania, endangered Grevy’s zebra on the Laikipia Plateau, Kenya, endangered Asiatic wild ass subspecies in the Negev desert, Israel and the arid central plateau of Iran and the critically endangered African wild ass in the Danakil desert of Eritrea. Organizers: Patricia Moehlman & Joseph Ogutu

• Time: 4:30pm
• Location: Idlughet 3
• Speakers: Stan Boutin, Emily Studd, Maria Paniw, Alice Brambilla, Briana Abrahms, Michael Peers, Rachel Short

The world and the organisms that live here are currently experiencing a time of
unprecedented change. From a combination of anthropogenic alterations mixed with a warming climate, mammals are encountering a range of novel conditions requiring rapid responses to limit mismatching with their environment. While some species may be failing to keep pace with this change, many are expressing considerable flexibility in behaviour, physiology, and life history traits, to buffer the effects. We propose to bring together early career researchers from across the globe who are doing innovative and exciting research into the many ways that mammals are responding to changing climates through behaviour and physiology and most importantly, what the consequences are for population dynamics. This symposium will serve as an opportunity to highlight some of the impressive up and coming mammalogists who are challenging pre-existing notions of the consequences of climate change and providing unique perspectives. Additionally, this will act as a venue to bring together researchers from a variety of ecological systems to discuss the largest unknowns surrounding climate change impacts on species, including whether particular responses are universal or specific to a given system. Organizers: Stan Boutin, Emily Studd, Michael Peers, Yasmine Majchrzak, Juliana Balluffi-Fry

• Time: 4:30pm
• Location: Tikahtnu A
• Speakers: Sandra Talbot, Stephen Greiman, Kayce Bell, Jocelyn Colella, Vadim Fedorov, Kurt Galbreath

Historical foundations underlie the assembly of complex ecological mosaics that represent our contemporary faunas. Biogeographers of all taxonomic disciplines, including mammalogists, are increasingly expanding their scope of inquiry beyond taxon-specific histories to explore community-level interactions across space and through time. Such integrative perspectives are demonstrated through a growing network of intersecting research programs that are linking the biogeographic histories of mammals to those of their associated parasites. For example, in recent international collaborations, studies of mammal-parasite histories and the dynamics of faunal assembly have focused on Beringia, the iconic land bridge and high-latitude refugium that intermittently spanned eastern Siberia and northwestern North America through the Pliocene and Quaternary. Beringia played a far-reaching role in structuring diversity not only across the Holarctic; it also determined faunal connections into the Neotropics. Species responses to oscillating global temperatures and shifting environmental conditions across Beringia set the stage for interpreting outcomes of current ecological disruption in the face of ongoing climate change. We propose a symposium for the 2023 joint ASM/IMC meeting that will promote dialogue around the historical biogeography of complex Beringian faunas encompassing diverse assemblages of mammals and associated parasites. As a model for holistic approaches to biodiversity, we anticipate enhancing interdisciplinary and transboundary collaborations among mammalogists and parasitologists in an evolutionary and ecological arena. Organizers: Joseph Cook & Kurt Galbreath

• Time: 4:30pm
• Location: Tikahtnu B
• Speakers: R. Terry Bowyer, Kelley Stewart, Brock MacMillan, Mark Boyce

Ungulates are at the forefront of exciting discoveries in ecology, behavior, and evolution. These large mammals have been especially influential in clarifying our understanding of density-dependent mechanisms of population regulation, and have served as a model for interpreting that process in other mammals. Our goal, in this 2 hour symposium, is to review the role of density dependence in the ecology of ungulates, and to provide new insights into the regulation of their populations and those of their predators. We believe these insights will have broad implications for the conservation and management of large mammals, and be of general interest to many mammalogists. This symposium will be especially germane given the location of our meeting in Alaska, with its vast populations of free- ranging ungulates. We have assembled a list of speakers with diverse backgrounds, and an expansive knowledge of ungulates, who will provide an exciting and thought-provoking symposium. Organizers: R. Terry Bowyer & Kelley M. Stewart

• Time: 8:00am - Part I, 10:00am - Part II
• Location: Idlughet 3
• Speakers: Jacob Goheen, Pablo Goncalves, Fidisoa Rasambainarivo, Iroro Tanshi, Abdullahi Ali, Thandiwe Mweetwa

This symposium will highlight recent advances in the conservation of African mammals while providing an opportunity for African mammalogists to attend this meeting. Attendees will learn about the progress, challenges, and opportunities surrounding mammal conservation on the front lines being conducted by mammalogists working in their home countries. Themes include indigenous-based conservation both within and outside national parks (lions and other large carnivores in Zambia, short-tailed roundleaf bats in Nigeria), efforts to reduce infectious disease transmission to wild mammals (lemurs carnivores in Madagascar), and restoration of megafauna to their historical ranges following political conflict (elephants in Mozambique, hirola in Kenya). This first-of-its-kind gathering will be of broad appeal to attendees of IMC-13, particularly those with interests in conservation and African mammalogy.  Organizers: Jacob R. Goheen & Link Olson

• Time: 8:00am
• Location: Tikahtnu A
• Speakers: Roland Kays, Neil Gilbert, Beth Gardner, Anouch Tamian, Nathan Hostetter

There has never been more mammal data. Mammalogists, game managers, and citizen scientists are contributing a variety of data types that are accumulating rapidly and are increasingly connected. Each camera trap can collect many thousands of records while GPS tracking devices can register millions of locations. Museum specimens and harvest data going back decades or centuries are being digitized and made available. Each data type provides an important dimension for understanding mammal populations, but combining them for a synergistic understanding also requires a detailed understanding of their unique limitations. This symposium will discuss the challenges of integrating multiple data types together and show examples of how this can be done in a statistically robust way, leading to improved estimates of animal populations, and new discoveries about their biology. Organizers: Roland Kays

• Time: 10:00am
• Location: Tikahtnu A
• Speakers: Cody Thompson, Ramon Nagesan, Noé de la Sancha, Jessica Light, Rafaela Missagia, Heitor Bissoli-Silva

With advances in technology, natural history collections continue to expand the
breadth of specimen-based research. We propose to highlight the use of an emerging technology, x-ray computed tomography (CT), in biodiversity science. CT data has been used in collections-based research for many decades. Until recently, the costs associated with acquiring and analyzing data limited wide use of CT data in biodiversity science. However, technological advances of industry-grade CT technology, as well as NSF-supported initiatives that have highlighted digital representation of museum specimens (e.g., BatPEN!, DigiMorph, FuncQEE, iDigBio, MorphoSource, oVert), have led to a renewed interest in collections-based work that focuses on form and function. In addition to traditional systematics and taxonomy, this expansion of collections-based research using digital representation has democratized museum collections by creating and sharing data with the larger scientific community and general public, allowing mammalogists in developing countries to access specimens of native taxa collected by foreign scientists and deposited in international repositories. CT scanning and software to process these is quickly becoming more accessible and we are currently in the frontier of applications for questions that were not testable with other technologies. In this symposium, we have assembled a diverse, multinational group of scientists that are experts in natural history collections and CT technology. By bringing together a group of scientists with broad expertise, we hope to provide attendees of the IMC-13 meeting with a framework for future research applications with CT data. We also will highlight the continued importance of natural history collections in research, and make a plea for the growth and support of these important resources for biodiversity research and education. Organizers: Cody W. Thompson & Noé de la Sancha

• Time: 1:30pm
• Location: Idlughet 3
• Speakers: Ariovaldo Cruz-Neto, Justin Boyles, L. Monica Trondurd, Danielle Levesque, James Turner, Dani Blumstein, Jeffrey Lane

In the face of a rapidly changing world, there is a need to understand and model the effects of climate change on future mammalian ecological patterns and functioning. Although bioclimatic envelope models initially provided a useful approximation of the potential impact of climate change on the distribution of species, it has been widely recognized now that the physiological capacity of mammals to respond to climate change and function in a changing world needs to be understood in order to make accurate predictions about future responses. However, in order for the models, which are highly sensitive to input data, to be reliable, they need to incorporate high-quality information on mechanistic processes. Much of that information cannot be obtained from existing data sets, especially those restricted to isolated measurements from animals in the laboratory. For many models, measurement of the physiological and behavioral characteristics of free-living individual mammals is needed to understand the multifaceted responses of mammals to complex interrelated stresses in their natural environment. Through presentations that provide examples of how an understanding of mechanistic processes can aid in predictions of how mammals will respond to climate change, we wish to demonstrate that closer collaborations between ecologists and physiological ecologists are needed for us to develop a more comprehensive understanding of global changes in the ecological patterns of mammals. Organizers: Danielle Levesque, Justin Boyles, and Andrea Fuller

• Time: 1:30pm
• Location: Tikahtnu A
• Speakers: Rebecca Levine, Alina Evans, Shane Maloney, Bridgett Benedict, Daniel Thompson, Heather Johnson, Hayden Wolfe, Magdalena Niedzialkowska

Large mammals have evolved to tolerate large fluctuations in environmental conditions at daily and seasonal time scales, allowing them to inhabit areas ranging in elevation from sea level to alpine peaks, and ranging in latitude from the tropics to the arctic. Due to significant ecological, economic, and cultural value, wild ungulates have received steady support for long term monitoring and research which makes them useful subjects to understand environmental effects on mammals—but their sustained management is under threat from climate change. Advancements in biologging technology (i.e. heart rate loggers, body temperature loggers) have allowed continuous collection of physiological responses from free ranging animals to environmental conditions, while GPS collars and accompanying activity metrics (e.g. accelerometers, magnetometers) have improved our understanding of behavioral responses. Moreover, increasingly inexpensive thermal imaging technology enables comprehensive comparisons of species within and between seasons across large geographic scales. These technological advancements have allowed appreciation for the myriad ways in which environmental temperature affects animal function through primary (i.e., direct) and higher order (i.e., indirect) relationships with physiology, behavior, morphology, and life-history. This symposium will explore the direct and indirect effects of temperature on animal function. Direct effects include the effects of environmental temperature on body temperature patterns and metabolic activity. Additionally, direct effects also include heat transfers between body and environment and the effects of behavior in altering environmental heat loads. Indirect effects of temperature include the long-term effects of warm environments on growth and reproduction that ultimately alter morphology and life history patterns. Furthermore, indirect effects of warming temperatures include those on plants that are food for wild ungulates, and other processes such as fire and drought that alter the structure of habitat and areas of relief from radiant heat loads, arthropods and parasites. Organizers: Dan Thompson & Perry Barboza