#parkscience

Do you have a go-to winter survival strategy?  

Animals in Glacier typically have three: dormancy, migration, and adaptation. These essentially mean: sleep through it, migrate away from it, and deal with it.

Dormancy involves the slowing of bodily functions to conserve energy, and it has different forms and lengths. Torpor is a short period of reduced activity, while hibernation is longer-term and involves reduced metabolism, slower heart rate, and lowered body temperature. In Glacier, marmots and ground squirrels are a couple of animals that hibernate.

Dormancy pro: Professional-grade snuggling.

Dormancy con: Extreme hanger upon waking up.

Seasonal migration usually entails long-distance moves from one location to another to find better food resources and more comfortable habitat. It can also mean moving from higher to lower altitudes for the same reasons. Some of the animals that do that in Glacier include mule deer, Clark’s nutcrackers, and elk.

Migration pro: Food you don’t have to dig out of the snow.

Migration con: A really, really long flight with a lot of layovers.

Adaptation to winter includes physical and behavioral traits that animals have developed to survive harsh winter conditions. Ptarmigans and snowshoe hares in Glacier have feathers and fur that turn white in the winter for better camouflage against the snow. Pikas stay active all winter long in their rocky dens, thanks to vegetation they stockpiled over the summer. Mountain goats grow heavier coats and will move to sunnier, south-facing slopes.

Adaptation pro: Bragging rights.

Adaptation con: Constantly chapped lips (do ptarmigans have lips?), becoming a walking icicle.

If you were an animal in Glacier, which winter survival strategy would you pick? 

A ghostly visitor has popped up near park headquarters.  

Monotropa uniflora, sometimes referred to as Ghost Plant or Ghost Pipes, is a perennial wildflower with an eerie appearance.

The plant has no chlorophyll, therefore it doesn’t carry out photosynthesis. Like a ghost, it can show up in dark places.

How does it survive? The Ghost Plant is a mycotrophic plant, meaning “fungus feeding.” Rather than making their own food, ghost plants tap into fungi associated with the roots of photosynthetic plants, like trees. They funnel nutrients through the fungi in what’s actually a parasitic relationship! The fungus and its associated plant partner don’t receive any benefit, but they’re not harmed by this interaction.

This delicate flower quickly deteriorates upon picking, so if you encounter it in the woods, take a picture and leave it in peace.

In 2012, Glacier National Park purchased 120 acres of land known as the Doody homestead, incorporating it into the park. From 1892 to 1931, this parcel was home to an infamous character in the region’s history – Josephine Doody, “the bootleg lady of Glacier Park.”​ ​

Josephine and her husband Dan carved out a living for themselves in a remote area on the banks of the Flathead River. Dan Doody found success as an outfitter and guide, also serving as one of Glacier’s early rangers until he was fired, presumably for poaching. Josephine became known as a producer of high-quality moonshine, which she would run across the river to passing trains of the Great Northern Railway.​ ​

The remains of the homestead continue to reveal clues about the Doodys’ story. In a 2018 survey of the site, historical archeologist Kelli Casias and other researchers found a previously undocumented agricultural field, possibly used for growing grain. This discovery could support a theory that Josephine increased alcohol production during Prohibition to capitalize on black market prices. Along with other historical and physical evidence, such as details of a federal raid on the property in 1928 and an early model tractor left behind, scientists like Casias hope to tell a more comprehensive story of the past.​ ​

“What we found in our survey,” says Casias, “is that the homestead is much more than just a setting for a story about a poacher and a bootlegger. It is a time capsule that holds the material remains of 40 years of Montana history. The site stands as a testament to how history was lived, rather than how it was made.”​ ​

It is up to all of us to preserve history of past peoples. Each fragment of stone, each bottle, or nail is an irreplaceable part of Glacier's story, and we are all their stewards. Please remember to leave them undisturbed.​ ​

Want to learn more? Watch Kelli’s full presentation here: https://youtu.be/LW3Em9PVrcE​ ​

Happy #BatWeek! Did you know that nine species of bat have been found in Glacier? Let's meet them!

1. Long-eared myotis (Myotis evotis): Named for its notably long ears, this bat is found all across Montana in suitable habitat and consumes enormous quantities of insects nightly.  

Photo: USFWS Mountain-Prairie

[alt text: Gloved hand holds a small brown bat with long ears]

2. Little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus): Also known as Little Brown Bat (LBB), it’s especially skilled at hunting in swarms of small insects. LBBs often catch prey with the tip of their wing before transferring it to their mouth!  

Photo: NPS/Dylan Schneider

[alt text: A bat with outstretched wings flies off the gloved hand of a researcher]

3. Long-legged myotis (Myotis volans): These western bats prefer mountain forests. They can detect prey from relatively long distances in open spaces, but also hunt well in cluttered habitats like forest canopies. 

Photo: Kristi DuBois

[alt text: A medium-sized dark brown bat with long legs on a tree trunk]

4. Big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus): Studies of big brown bat feeding habits have shown that they eat significant amounts of crop and forest pests, like scarab beetles and cucumber beetles.  

Photo: USFWS/Ann Froschauer

[alt text: A fuzzy brown bat hangs upside down in a cave]

5. Silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans): These bats prefer roosting on or within trees, especially in old-growth forests. Their relatively slow flight distinguishes them from other species of bat.  

Photo: Kristi DuBois

[alt text: A brown bat with silver-tipped fur crawls up a tree]

6. California myotis (Myotis californicus): These bats are among North America’s smallest, enabling them to feed on especially tiny insect prey. It was not until miniature radio-transmitters weighing less than half a gram were developed that these bats could be tracked!  

Photo: Katie Smith, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy

[alt text: Gloved hands hold a tiny golden-brown bat]

7. Eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis): North America’s most abundant ‘tree bat.’ Unlike most bats, Eastern red bats often give birth to twins, and can have litters of up to five young!  

Photo: Josh Henderson

[alt text: A strikingly orange-colored bat with a small baby clinging to it]

8. Hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus): Hoary bats are easily distinguishable from other species by their fur’s frosty appearance. Glacier may be one of the most substantial migratory routes for hoary bats across the continent!  

Photo: Kristi DuBois

[alt text: A bat with distinctive frosty-looking fur clings to craggy tree bark]

9. Yuma myotis (Myotis yumanensis): These bats are more closely associated with water than most other North American bats. They can be very difficult to distinguish from little brown bats – one way to tell is by their echolocation calls, which occur at a higher frequency.  

Photo: Kristi DuBois

[alt text: A furry brown bat with mouselike appearance clings to tree bark]

Alive, fragrant, festive...these words might float through your mind when looking at your Christmas tree or trees still full of color and life outside. You might also think of words like evergreen, pine trees, and conifers. But what exactly is that shining tree standing in your living room?

For many of us, we call any tree that has needles and cones a pine tree. But, there is much more to these wintertime beacons of life. Most Christmas trees are indeed not pines, but fir or spruce trees. Pines are only one group under the umbrella that make up evergreen trees. And what is an evergreen tree? Evergreens include plants with foliage that persists throughout the year as well as retain their color. Keep in mind, that not all “evergreen” plants are green, some are blue or yellow in color just as not all evergreens are trees, certain shrubs (like holly or juniper) are also included in the mix. And, here’s the kicker, not all evergreens are conifer trees...heard of magnolia and live oak trees? And not all conifers are evergreens (larch trees come to mind)!

Ok, so the beautiful tree you are staring at may be an evergreen tree, but not a pine tree. But, is it a conifer tree? Conifers, or coniferous trees, are cone-bearing trees. In other words, these plants have “naked” seeds that are not enclosed within fruits. Typically, these plants also bear needles instead of leaves, BUT some sneaky conifers in Australia (like the monkey puzzle tree) actually have leaves. So, what makes a conifer a conifer? A plant that bears cones!

Confused yet? Here’s some help. If your tree still has its foliage and color, it’s an evergreen. If it has needles and cones, it’s a conifer. And, even if the tree is a spruce or a fir, it still is in the Pine Family so don’t feel too bad if you call it a pine! Most importantly, enjoy the beauty and smell of this wintertime gift.

Note: This picture was taken outside of the park.

Registration is open for Science & History Week! 

Every summer, Glacier’s Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center co-hosts Science & History Day  with Waterton Lakes National Park. This event brings together scientists and historians conducting research in Glacier and Waterton Lakes National Parks, giving them an opportunity to share their work with the public. 

This year's Science & History Day is going virtual as Science & History Week! This online event, free and open to the public, will feature daily presentations using the GoToWebinar video conferencing platform. We'll be streaming four fascinating science and history-themed presentations at 12pm MDT every day from September 21 - September 24. 

You don't want to miss this! Register now:  https://www.nps.gov/rlc/crown/science_history_week.htm

Glacier’s Air Quality Monitor Ed Eberhardy has a reason to celebrate. This week is Air Quality Awareness Week, and we want to share Eberhardy’s efforts to document how air pollution impacts Glacier’s amazing vistas and natural resources. In fact, park staff has been monitoring visibility since 1988 in order to better understand how air pollution affects what we see and the resources we protect.

Although views from Glacier naturally range at about 145 miles, the visual range is reduced to approximately 95 miles. This is because of pollution that blows in from pollutant sources such as power plants, agricultural areas, and oil and gas development. Looking at samples collected by park staff like Ed, scientists can see that most of Glacier’s reduced visibility comes from organic carbon associated with fires, but the second largest contributor is sulfate, which can be associated with industrial processes and fossil fuel combustion.

So why is Eberhardy celebrating? The good news is that since the 1990s, collected visibility data shows that trends on the haziest days are improving! Yet, even though clean cars and clean power are helping to improve our air quality, we have a long way to go from the Clean Air Act goal of no human caused impairment.