National Park Service Grant for Optical Sensing to Study the Effect of Anthropogenic Light and Noise on Flying Insects

OVERVIEW

Views of nocturnal landscapes free from artificial light are important parts of visitor experience. Artificial light is known to affect the movements and behavior of flying insects, but this phenomenon has not been studied in remote locations that have historically been completely free from artificial light. Energy development in the Great Plains and Intermountain West is introducing bright lights into some of these remote areas. Many ongoing or planned developments are close enough to National Park units that they could affect the nocturnal insect fauna in the park, and all of the other species that are linked to those insects.

To remotely measure the number of flying insects in both natural and human-influenced environments, Montana State University (MSU) will use an advanced remote sensing instrument developed originally for counting foraging honey bees in flight. This instrument is a custom-built wing-beat modulation light detection and ranging (lidar) instrument that uses real-time Fourier transforms to convert the conventional measurement of scattered power as a function of range to a measurement of scattered power as a function of range and target oscillation frequency.

The research and development goals are:
– To assess the capability of a wing-beat modulation lidar to rapidly assess the spatial distribution of insects in the atmosphere;
– To assess the capacity of this system to offer clues to the identity of insect targets through measurements of reflected light intensity and wing-beat modulation;
– To utilize this tool to measure differences in flying insect abundance and species composition in relation to natural factors (habitat, time of night, weather conditions) and anthropogenic factors (noise, light, regional development);
– To promote education and outreach concerning the ecological effects of light pollution,
– To provide opportunities for cross-disciplinary education of students; and
– To provide opportunities for project participants to produce peer-reviewed papers and outputs for scientific conferences reporting these research results.

RECIPIENT INVOLVEMENT

MSU agrees to:
– Collaboratively undertake the project;
– Work with the NPS Agreement Technical Representative (ATR) to identify tasks and develop a schedule for their execution;
– Organize quarterly teleconferences with the ATR to discuss ongoing research and development efforts, evaluate progress, and develop plans for the next phase of work;
– Present results at scientific conferences, when applicable; and
– Oversee translation of research results in peer-reviewed papers.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE INVOLVEMENT

Substantial involvement on the part the National Park Service is anticipated for the successful completion of the objectives to be funded by this award. In particular, the National Park Service will be responsible for the following:
– Work with the Recipient to identify tasks and develop a schedule for their execution,
– Participate in regular teleconferences to discuss project results and plans,
– Participate in data analyses, as appropriate,
– Participate in drafting scientific manuscripts, as appropriate, and
– Provide scientific reviews of draft scientific papers that are produced.

The National Park Service did not solicit full and open competition for this award based the following criteria:
(4) UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS

Single Source Justification Description:
The Recipient has published the only scientific papers demonstrating the capacity to distinguish wingbeat frequencies in flying insects using lidar. The significance of the lidar method is its ability to spatially map the insect targets it detects.

Literature searches were conducted using Google Scholar and the Web of Science. The Recipient¿s Shaw lab has published five pertinent papers, and has an instrument that has successfully performed the needed measurements in comparable field settings. Two other papers found in the search involved instruments that worked in laboratories on captive animals, and these systems would not function in free ranging insects in the wild.

STATUTORY AUTHORITY

16 U.S.C. §1a-2(j) Cooperative research and training programs
Secretary of the Interior’s authorization of activities – Enter into cooperative agreements with public or private educational institutions, States, and their political subdivisions, for the purpose of developing adequate, coordinated, cooperative research and training programs concerning the resources of the National Park System, and, pursuant to any such agreements, to accept from and make available to the cooperator such technical and support staff, financial assistance for mutually agreed upon research projects, supplies and equipment, facilities, and administrative services relating to cooperative research units as the Secretary deems appropriate; except that this paragraph shall not waive any requirements for research projects that are subject to the Federal procurement regulations.

16 U.S.C. §5933 Cooperative agreements
(a) Cooperative study units – The Secretary is authorized and directed to enter into cooperative agreements with colleges and universities, including but not limited to land grant schools, in partnership with other Federal and State agencies, to establish cooperative study units to conduct multi-disciplinary research and develop integrated information products on the resources of the National Park System, or the larger region of which parks are a part.
(b) Report – Within one year of November 13, 1998, the Secretary shall report to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the United States Senate and the Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives on progress in the establishment of a comprehensive network of such college and university based cooperative study units as will provide full geographic and topical coverage for research on the resources contained in units of the National Park System and their larger regions.