Publications

Radio collars have been used to examine the spatial ecology of all North American ungulates, but are rarely used on feral horses due to concerns that they may cause injury. Due to public concerns for animal welfare, an alternative to radio collars for tracking feral horses, particularly stallions, over the short term would be useful. We developed a method of attaching a global...

Removal sampling data are the primary source of monitoring information for many populations (e.g., invasive species, fisheries). Population dynamics, temporary emigration, and imperfect detection are common sources of variation in monitoring data and are key parameters for informing management. We developed two open robust-design removal models for simultaneously modeling population...

All pathogenic organisms are exposed to abiotic influences such as the microclimates and chemical constituents of their environments. Even those pathogens that exist primarily within their hosts or vectors can be influenced directly or indirectly. Yersinia pestis, the flea-borne bacterium causing plague, is influenced by climate and its survival in soil suggests a potentially strong...

Navigating the space between policy and on-the-ground natural resource management presents unique challenges. We interviewed 22 U.S. Bureau of Land Management Field Office Managers to understand their perceptions toward, and applications of, collaboration with public and private stakeholders. Interviews were transcribed and open-coded using qualitative data analysis software. Then, each...

Dryland riparian woodlands are considered to be locally buffered from droughts by shallow and stable groundwater levels. However, climate change is causing more frequent and severe drought events, accompanied by warmer temperatures, collectively threatening the persistence of these groundwater dependent ecosystems through a combination of increasing evaporative demand and decreasing...

Background Plague, a widely distributed zoonotic disease of mammalian hosts and flea vectors, poses a significant risk to ecosystems throughout much of Earth. Conservation biologists use insecticides for flea control and plague mitigation. Here, we evaluate the use of an insecticide grain bait, laced with 0.005% fipronil (FIP) by weight, with black-tailed prairie dogs (BTPDs, Cynomys...

Microbial communities, including endosymbionts, play diverse and critical roles in host biology and reproduction, but contaminant exposure may cause an imbalance in the microbiome composition with subsequent impacts on host health. Here, we examined whether there was a significant alteration of the microbiome community within two taxa of riparian spiders (Tetragnathidae and Araneidae)...

No abstract available.

No abstract available.

Root hemiparasitic plants both compete with and extract resources from host plants. By reducing the abundance of dominant plants and releasing subordinates from competitive exclusion, they can have an outsized impact on plant communities. Most research on the ecological role of hemiparasites is manipulative and focuses on a small number of hemiparasitic taxa. Here, we ask whether...

Today’s societal challenges, such as climate change and global pandemics, are increasingly complex and require collaboration across scientific disciplines to address. Scientific teams bring together individuals of varying backgrounds and expertise to work collaboratively on creating new knowledge to address these challenges. Within a scientific team, there is inherent diversity in...

Wildlife diseases are a major concern for species survival around the world. Vector-borne diseases, in particular, are problematic for both humans and wildlife. Plague is an introduced disease to North America where many species have low natural resistance to infection by the causative bacterium, Yersinia pestis. Plague in the United States is often associated with large-scale epizootic...