Publications

Petromyzon marinus (sea lamprey) is a parasitic, invasive fish of the Laurentian Great Lakes. Since the late 1950s, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission has implemented an integrated Sea Lamprey Control Program (SLCP) that relies on two lampricidal chemicals: 3-(trifluoromethyl)-4-nitrophenol (TFM) and niclosamide. Niclosamide is applied using a bayluscide 20-percent emulsifiable...

Incorporation of autonomous uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) into large-scale acoustic surveys may enhance spatiotemporal extent and quality of fish density estimates. Lake Erie is currently surveyed by three motorized research vessels (RVs), which annually collect acoustic data and estimate prey-fish abundances. To evaluate the feasibility of incorporating a USV into the existing survey...

A fundamental challenge in conservation is assessing the efficacy of recovery actions to optimize endangered species management. Considerable recent attention has focused on effective measures to counter the endangerment of avian scavengers, which have declined worldwide, primarily due to poisoning. One iconic example is efforts to recover the critically endangered California condor...

To address increasing demand for ecological models of aquatic species that can inform the management of national freshwater resources, we leveraged manager input to develop suites of environmental data layers characterizing freshwater habitats for the contiguous United States. Using the National Hydrography Dataset, these new data cover lentic and lotic systems under current and near...

We retrospectively compiled a database of 6,727 live, wild Agassiz's desert tortoises (Gopherus agassizii) and evaluated them for clinical signs of trauma to shell and limbs at 50 sites in the Mojave and Colorado (western Sonoran) deserts of California, USA, spanning the years 1977–2006. Our objectives were to 1) identify tortoises with severe trauma to shell, limbs, and gular horns...

Background Wildfire is an increasingly important driver of changes within sagebrush (Artemisia spp. L.) ecosystems of the western USA, often resulting in increased spread of exotic annual grasses, such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.), and subsequent losses of native vegetation and wildlife habitat. Fuel breaks— areas of land treated to reduce or redistribute fuel loads — are widely...

The cycling of organic matter in terrestrial soils and sediments is central to a range of biogeochemical processes that regulate nutrient cycling, crop productivity, trace gas emissions, and contaminant transport. Pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (py-GC/MS) is a powerful tool for characterizing bulk soil organic matter (SOM) at the molecular level. In this study, we used a...

Background and aims Biocrust communities shape the soil surface in drylands, regulating important ecosystem properties. Despite this, few works address key functional attributes in these poikilohydric photosynthetic communities, including the length of metabolic activity in the field and its relationship with microclimate. We aim to disentangle the links between functional performance of...

Reservoirs are globally important sources of greenhouse gases, but the magnitude of their emissions is highly uncertain. Here we present data for 146 reservoirs from two surveys of reservoir methane and carbon dioxide emissions, one at the regional scale in the midwestern United States and one at the national scale in the conterminous United States, plus data from one reservoir in...

Captive rearing is a common practice for the stocking, conservation, and supplementation of fish species worldwide, but captive-reared fish can exhibit altered phenotypes leading to reduced fitness in nature compared to wild conspecifics. In salmonids, certain studies have found limited genetic differentiation between wild and captive-reared fish. However, documented changes in gene...

Robust estimation of wildlife populations represents a cornerstone of wildlife research and provides critical information to guide management, including identifying at-risk species, setting harvest rates, and evaluating predator and invasive species control programs. Efforts to enhance population estimation have long included influences one species may have on another, beginning with...

At the request of the Lake Erie Committee, spatial units for Lake Erie Cisco were delineated during spring 2024. Spatial units correspond to the reproductive habitat of extirpated (unoccupied spatial units) and extant (occupied spatial units) populations. Spatial units were delineated using a Council of Lake Committees-endorsed method that involves synthesizing data for evaluation by a...